The Oregon Republican Party was unsuccesful in its attempt to bar Libertarians from the ballot. (Getty Images)
Libertarian candidates will appear on Oregon ballots in November, despite efforts from the state Republican party to disqualify Libertarians it feared would take votes from GOP candidates.
State election officials have confirmed that seven Libertarian candidates for Congress and legislative races are qualified to run, despite correspondence the Secretary of State’s Office received from an attorney for the Oregon Republican Party and a past Libertarian Party of Oregon leader urging officials to reject Libertarian nominees.
Their arguments, considered and rejected by state election officials, rested on a years-long dispute between two factions in the state Libertarian Party over the legitimacy of its bylaws. But in letters to the complainants, an investigator for the Secretary of State’s Elections Division said that the office doesn’t get involved in internal political party disputes.