Oregon Revised Statutes
Chapter 248 — Political Parties; Presidential Electors
70 sections
As used in this chapter:
“Committee office” means chairperson, vice chairperson or other office the county or state central committee of a political party creates to govern the business of the committee.
“County clerk” means the county clerk or the county official in charge of elections.
“Elector” means an individual qualified to vote under section 2, Art…
A minor political party or a major political party shall have all the powers granted to a nonprofit corporation under ORS 65.077.
A major or minor political party shall be treated for purposes of contractual, tort or other liability as a nonprofit corporation.
Officers and employees of a major or minor political party, including officers and employees of l…
Each political party by rule shall insure the widest and fairest representation of party members in the party organization and activities. Rules shall be adopted by procedures that assure the fair and open participation of all interested party members.
An affiliation of electors becomes a major political party in this state and is qualified to make nominations at a primary election when a number of electors equal to at least 10 percent of the number of electors registered in this state are registered as members of the party not later than the 275th day before the date of a primary election. An affiliation …
Subject to ORS 248.005, a major political party may organize and select delegates to national party conventions in any manner.
The provisions of ORS 248.012 to 248.315 do not apply to a major political party if the party has notified the Secretary of State as provided in subsection (5) of this section that the party does not intend to be subject to the prov…
An affiliation of electors becomes a minor political party in the state, a county or other electoral district, qualified to make nominations for public office in that electoral district and in any other electoral district wholly contained within the electoral district, when the affiliation of electors has acted as described in either paragraph (a) or (b) of …
A minor political party shall file with the filing officer a copy of its organizational documents establishing its process for nominating candidates for public office. The organizational documents shall be filed not later than 30 days after they are adopted. The nominating process for candidates for election at the general election shall provide an equal opp…
Except as expressly required by law, the Secretary of State, a county clerk or any other elections official shall not enforce the provisions of ORS 248.005 or any other rule adopted by a political party.
The chairperson of a county central committee or state central committee shall notify by postal mail or electronic mail the entire membership of the committee not later than the sixth day before the date of an anticipated meeting. Except for the notice of an organizational meeting of a county central committee, failure to give timely notice of the time, date…
A precinct committeeperson shall be a representative of the major political party in the precinct. At the primary election a major political party shall elect from its members a precinct committeeperson for every 250 electors, or major fraction thereof, who are registered in the precinct 251 days before the primary election. In any event the political party …
Notwithstanding any provision of ORS 248.015:
An otherwise qualified person who will attain the age of 18 years after the deadline for filing a declaration of candidacy for the office of precinct committeeperson and on or before the date of the primary election, and who is registered as a member of the major political party not later than 180 days before th…
Subject to ORS 248.015 (4), a person may participate as a write-in candidate for precinct committeeperson by filing with the county elections official a declaration of write-in candidacy. The declaration shall be made on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State by rule and must be filed no later than 8 p.m. on the date of the election. The form prescribed…
An elector may nominate a separate elector as a write-in candidate for the office of precinct committeeperson if the elector making the nomination submits, not later than 8 p.m. on the date of the primary election, a write-in nomination on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State by rule. The write-in nomination shall:
Certify that both the elector makin…
Not later than the 27th day after a primary election, the county elections official shall mail a certificate of election to each newly elected precinct committeeperson within the county. The county elections official also shall mail an “Acceptance of Office” form to each person elected by write-in votes to the office of precinct committeeperson who was nomin…
A precinct committeeperson may resign from the office by filing a written notification of resignation with the county elections official. Upon receipt of this notification, the county elections official shall:
Remove the name of the person from the list of precinct committeepersons.
Declare that office vacant.
Notify the appropriate county central committ…
The members of a county central committee may fill a vacancy in the office of precinct committeeperson by selecting a member of the major political party who is registered in:
The precinct in which the vacancy exists;
A precinct adjoining the precinct in which the vacancy exists that is within the same county; or
A precinct that is both within the same co…
A precinct committeeperson who represents a precinct which is subsequently combined, consolidated or abolished shall continue to be a member of the county central committee until the end of that committeeperson’s regular term of office.
Except as provided in this section, the provisions for recall of a public officer under ORS 249.002 to 249.013 and 249.865 to 249.877, apply to a recall election of a precinct committeeperson.
A precinct committeeperson may be recalled by a petition signed by the number of party members equal to not less than 25 percent of the number of party members who vo…
COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE
The precinct committeepersons of the county shall constitute the county central committee of their party. The county central committee of each major political party is the highest party authority in county party matters and may adopt rules or resolutions for any matter of party government within the county which is not controlled by the laws of this state.
The organizational meeting of a county central committee shall be held no less frequently than every 25 months.
The retiring county central committee shall prepare a written notice designating the time, date and place of the meeting and file a copy of the notice with the county elections official not later than the 40th day before the date of the meeting. T…
At the organizational meeting of a county central committee:
The officers of the retiring county central committee shall make available to the committee the property, records and funds owned or controlled by the retiring committee.
The committee next shall elect a chairperson, vice chairperson and other officers the committee considers necessary. The perso…
If a newly elected county central committee fails to meet or to organize or if no person within a county is elected by a major political party as a precinct committeeperson, the chairperson of the retiring state central committee shall appoint a temporary chairperson of the county central committee. The temporary chairperson shall call an organizational meet…
Proxies in no instance shall be permitted to participate at any county central committee meeting. At any meeting of the county central committee, the committee may:
Adopt, amend or repeal bylaws or rules for the government of the political party in the county.
By the adoption of bylaws or of a resolution, select an executive committee and authorize the exe…
STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
The state central committee is the highest party authority in the state and may adopt rules or resolutions for any matter of party government which is not controlled by the laws of this state.
The state central committee shall consist of at least two delegates from each county central committee and other delegates from each county equal to the number of party members in the county registered on the date of the primary election divided by 15,000. If the remaining number exceeds 7,500, one additional delegate shall represent the county. The delegate…
At the organizational meeting of the state central committee:
The officers of the retiring state central committee shall deliver to the newly elected committee the property, records and funds owned or controlled by the retiring committee.
The committee shall elect a chairperson, vice chairperson and other officers the committee considers necessary. The per…
DELEGATES TO NATIONAL CONVENTIONS
After a presidential preference primary election, each major political party whose national affiliate holds a convention to select its nominee for President of the United States shall select delegates to the national convention of that party.
Delegates to the national convention of a party shall be selected in the manner provided by party rules, which shall…
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS
In a year when a President and Vice President of the United States are to be nominated and elected, each political party nominating candidates for those offices shall select a number of candidates for elector of President and Vice President equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives to which this state is entitled in Congress.
A candidate for…
At the general election in a year when a President and Vice President of the United States are to be elected, the electors of this state shall elect as many electors of President and Vice President as this state is entitled to elect Senators and Representatives in Congress.
The names of the electors shall not be printed on the general election ballot. A vot…
The electors of President and Vice President shall convene at the State Capitol on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December following their election at a time to be established by the Secretary of State by rule.
Not later than six days prior to the convening of electors under subsection (1) of this section, the Governor and the Secretary of …
An elector of President and Vice President of the United States who attends at the time and place appointed and votes for President and Vice President shall be entitled to receive from this state mileage expenses at the rate allowed to members of the Legislative Assembly.
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