Lane County Local
Socialist Party, U.S.A.
Lane County Chapter
1555 W. 18th Ave., Unit # 6
Eugene, OR 97402
Telephone: (541) 342-3882
For immediate release August 25, 2002
Fourth District Socialists Denied Ballot Access
The Socialist Party of Oregon, after having achieved a sufficient percentage of votes for its candidates over the past six years, the Secretary of State for the State of Oregon, has denied ballot access to five candidates for state office, including also a candidate for the 4th US House District. The ostensible reason for such denial is that the numbers of registered Socialist voters for the counties comprising the 4th US House District was 16 voters short of what the Secretary of State has deemed the necessary numbers of persons who are registered Socialists.
Jim Barrett, Co-Chair for the Lane County Chapter of the Socialist Party of Oregon stated that no criterion for numbers of registered voters had been given to the party prior to Barrett's attempt to file for the five candidates in Salem on Friday, August 23. That date was four days before the final date for filing party candidacies and came "as a total surprise to me and to those candidates who were prepared to file and to run for office", said Barrett.
Barrett stated that the following persons were applicants for candidacy:
John Granacki of Grants Pass for the 4th District, US House of Representatives; Jim Barrett for the 7th Oregon Senate District; Dan Weiner for the 4th Oregon Senate District; Karl Sorg for the 8th Oregon House District; and Jason Barton-Norris for the 13th Oregon House District.
Barrett, in announcing the decision of the Secretary of State, said "The whole process of voting in this country and in this state is so skewed toward the so-called 'two-party system' that minority parties have virtually no voice in our so-called "democracy". For instance", said Barrett, "the only Socialist in the US Congress is Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and even he runs as an Independent and not as a Socialist. Some day the people of this country may wake up to the realization that a true democracy will make the electoral process available to people who are not of affiliated with the two mainstream parties."