Jason Faler spends most of his weekends collecting signatures at the Salem Saturday Market.
That’s usually when the 49-year old combat veteran and former healthcare executive pitches himself to registered voters living in Oregon’s 6th Congressional District, asking them to sign a petition supporting his spot on the November ballot.
Unlike the major party candidates who paid a $100 fee to the Oregon secretary of state to run in the May primary, nonaffiliated candidates face a steep procedural hurdle. To make the ballot, Faler must collect about 3,500 valid signatures by Aug. 25 — a number equal to 1% of votes cast in his district during the last presidential election. Oregon law requires nonaffiliated voters to collect signatures or hold an assembly of electors, which would require Faler to gather signatures from more than 500 supporters in the same place at the same time…