How Oregon’s Primary Election System Works

Oregon uses a closed primary system, meaning voters must be registered with a political party in advance in order to vote in that party’s primary election. Registered Democrats vote in Democratic primaries, and registered Republicans vote in Republican primaries. Oregon also allows voters to change or update their party registration before the primary deadline.

Primary elections are used to select each party’s nominees for offices such as U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, statewide offices, and state and local positions. Voters may only participate in the primary of the party with which they are registered.

Oregon does not use statewide primary runoff elections; instead, the candidate with the most votes in each primary wins the party’s nomination for the general election.