Oregon Advisory Opinions December 15, 1980: OAG 80-146 (December 15, 1980)
Collection: Oregon Attorney General Opinions
Docket: OAG 80-146
Date: Dec. 15, 1980
Advisory Opinion Text
OAG 80-146.
State Senator
May a county clerk process a voter's application for reregistration, filed solely for the purpose of changing political affiliation, after the statutory deadline for such reregistration?
ANSWER GIVEN
Not during the period during which such reregistration is prohibited. If, during such period, the clerk receives an application for such reregistration, it may be retained and processed after the period of prohibition expires. Until that time, the application is of no legal effect and may be withdrawn by the voter.
A question has been raised concerning a practice assertedly followed by some county clerks. ORS 247.201 prohibits any change in party affiliation during the 20-day period before a primary election. But reregistration applications filed solely for the purpose of changing party affiliation are apparently accepted during that 20-day period. No action is taken on such applications, however, until after the primary, at which time they are pro
cessed. We conclude that the practice is proper.
ORS 247.201 provides:
"No elector may change political party affiliation under paragraph (h) of subsection (1) of ORS 247.121 from the 20th day before a primary election to the day of the primary election."
ORS 247.121(1)(h), referred to above, provides that a person requesting registration shall supply
"The name of the political party with which the person is affiliated, if any."
We see no reason why an application for change of registration which is received during the period prohibiting such change by ORS 247.201 should have to be treated as void for all time. To do so would require the voter to apply a second time for the same purpose - to enable a vote in future primaries of the party of the voter's new choice - importing no new information to the county clerk but simply repeating information which has already been received. We feel that such a requirement would be contrary to the spirit of ORS 247.005 which provides:
"It is the policy of this state that all election laws and procedures shall be established and construed to assist the voter in the exercise of the right of franchise."
Accordingly, we conclude that an application for change of party registration received by the county clerk within the period prohibited by ORS 247.201 should be treated as simply physically present in the clerk's office, but that it may be processed after the proscribed period.
Until the application may be processed, however, it remains within the power of the would-be applicant to withdraw it. We are unaware of cases directly in point but conclude that the status of the application during the interim period is analagous to that of a petition which has been signed by a voter but not yet officially filed. Here, Oregon cases have held that a voter's signature may be withdrawn until the petition is officially acted upon.
The case of State ex rel Dethlefs v. Fendall, 135 Or 145, 152, 295 P 191 (1931), held that the name of a petitioner for organization of a union high school district could not be withdrawn after "official cognizance" has been taken of the petition by its having been "officially presented."
State ex rel Postlethwait v. Clark, 143 Or 482, 487-488, 22 P2d 900 (1933) held regarding a recall petition that
Because of ORS 247.201, it cannot be said that an application for change of party registration received by the county clerk during the proscribed period has yet come under the clerk's "official cognizance," or that it has passed "into the hands of him whose duty it is to act." It therefore may be withdrawn by the applicant during such period.