Isn't that what I argued?

It is more than that. It is another "No Trespassing" sign the parties have put up at the border of Oregon's political system. If the Legislature wanted solely to uphold the one-person, one-vote maxim, it would have passed a law that upheld a voter's first nominating act, whether it was a signature in support of an independent candidate or a vote in a primary election.

Instead, the law insists that a vote in a party primary election trumps all. If you sign a petition nominating an independent candidate for governor today, but vote in the Democratic or Republican primary in May, your signature, not your later vote, will be rejected.

This law is about making it harder for independent candidates while reinforcing the supremacy of the party. It stems from Ralph Nader's attempt in 2004 to get on the state ballot as an independent candidate for president. In the belief that a Nader candidacy in Oregon would hurt Democrat John Kerry, Republican operatives urged their members to show up at Nader's nominating convention, and later, sign nominating petitions.

None of this ended up having any effect on the 2004 elections. Yet leaders of both parties in the Legislature still felt compelled to pass the law to block independent candidates and further disenfranchise Oregonians who share the misfortune of seeing the world as more complicated than right versus left, liberal versus conservative.
[ Oregon independents: on the outside looking in ]