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NEWS A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2019 The rise of the unaffi liated voter By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR When it comes to voting, Umatilla County residents are a bit free spirited. Going into the most recent election, 41.8% of them were not registered to any political party — the second-highest unaffi liated rate in the state. Some of them were added to the voter rolls as unaf- fi liated by default after the “motor voter” bill used infor- mation from the Department of Motor Vehicles to auto- matically register people to vote. But others wear their unaffi liated label proudly, as a conscious choice. Tammy Knight of Mis- sion said she started out reg- istered as a Democrat. “When I was growing up, my dad told me that Demo- crats were the working party and Republicans were the rich people, so that’s what I went with,” she said. Over time, however, she saw things she disliked hap- pening in both major polit- ical parties and came to believe they were both cor- rupt. So, she eventually switched to having no polit- ical party, focusing on indi- vidual candidates’ resumes and positions instead. She has voted for candidates on both sides of the aisle. “I like being the wild card, I guess,” she said. Dwayne Brown of Herm- iston has a similar story, except he started out as a Republican after being raised “very conservative.” He said he still leans conser- vative, but got “tired of poli- tics in general.” Overall, Brown said he likes feeling fl exible about how he votes — he voted for Barack Obama in 2008, for example, but not 2012. He said the best way to spur change is to focus on the best candidates instead of auto- matically voting by party. “People either want to vote for red or vote for blue or vote for the best guy out there,” he said. Exactly half of Oregon’s 36 counties now have more unaffi liated voters than vot- ers with a single politi- cal party, according to data from the Oregon Secretary of State. Most of those 18 counties are on the west side of the state, but the three that aren’t have the highest rates of unaffi liated voters. Uma- tilla County comes in second at 41.8%, Morrow County comes in third at 40.8% and Malheur County has the highest unaffi liated rate in the state at 43.1%. Wheeler County, which is majority-Republican, has the lowest number at 25.5%. The most obvious reason SWITCH & GET A for the rise of the unaffi liated in Oregon is the 2016 law that automatically registers people to vote when they get or renew a driver’s license. The newly registered vot- ers get sent a postcard asking if they want to register as a member of a political party, but a majority never send it back. The law helped increase Umatilla County’s unaffi l- iated voters from 8,424 in October 2015 to 13,141 a year later, and in 2017 unaf- fi liated voters in the county offi cially passed the number of registered Republicans. There are now 18,510 unaf- fi liated voters in the county. Unaffi liated voters had been on the rise at a slower pace for several years before that, however, matching a nationwide increase. In 2018, the Pew Research Center found that 37% of voters across the United States were not registered with a specifi c party, com- pared with 30% in 1994. Jeffery Dense, a political science professor at Eastern Oregon University, said in an email many unaffi liated voters aren’t right down the middle in their views. Pew Research Center found about 80% tend to lean toward one party or the other. “While the rise of inde- pendent/unaffi liated voters is interesting, the real issue is the United States has the lowest voter turnout rate of any industrialized democ- racy in the world,” Dense said. “If you don’t vote, you don’t count.” He said a state’s primary system can have an effect on the number of unaffi liated voters. Some states, such as Washington and California, have a primary system where the top two vote-getters from the primaries advance, regardless of party. In Ore- gon, unaffi liated voters are shut out of the primary pro- cess for partisan races, with Republicans and Democrats each holding their own con- test open only to voters reg- istered to their party. Suni Danforth, chair of the Umatilla County Repub- licans, said getting to vote in the primaries should be an incentive for people to reg- ister to whatever party most closely aligns with their views, even if they don’t agree 100% with everything that party does. That way, they can help a candidate they like move on to the gen- eral election. “When you’re an unaf- fi liated voter, that voice is mute,” she said. If people want to change their registration, she said, they can do it online, but the best way is to fi ll out a paper version by hand at the county elections offi ce. That way the state can have the most current version of their signature on fi le to compare with their ballot signature, instead of one pulled from their drivers license or other older records. Antone Minthorn, co-chair of the Umatilla County Democratic Party, said he has been involved in the Democratic Party since the 1970s and has attended many state and national Democratic conventions. He said many times in his work with the party he has been the only Native Amer- ican in the room, under- scoring what he sees as an important benefi t to belong- ing to a party. Having Native American voices directly involved in the political par- ties that control government helps them to understand Native American issues and place importance on tribal priorities, such as salmon. “They begin to see who we are, to sponsor Native American issues,” he said. Minthorn also said it takes “a whole lot of energy” at the local, state and national level to generate and support good candidates for government positions. When people lend their time and talents to a political party, they can help with that. Despite some of the bene- fi ts of choosing a party, some unaffi liated voters still see upsides to staying indepen- dent. They say they get hit up for donations to candidates and causes less often, and are bothered with fewer phone calls and mailers during an election. And some people just can’t bring themselves to adopt a label when they have been disappointed by actions on both sides. Holiday savings so good, you’ll jump for JOY The perfect holiday gift is available now! 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