BEND, OR -- As ballots start hitting mailboxes this week, Central Oregonians may notice an increasing trend - candidates listed with more than one party affiliation.  Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship says more candidates are accepting multiple party nominations, "Like Tammy Baney who ran for Deschutes County Commissioner.  She ran as a Republican and won that nomination. There was no one running for Democrat.  The write-in votes gave her that nomination for the Democrat party, and she accepted that.  So both the ballot and the voters pamphlet will show the Republican and Democrat nomination by her name."  State Representatives Gene Whisnant and John Huffman are also listed  as both Republicans and Democrats, and a handful of other candidates have received nods from multiple lesser-known parties.  

Blankenship says legislation allows candidates to claim the nomination of more than one party in a general election, "So, this is not the first year that this has occurred.  Legislation was passed several years ago, but you’re seeing more of it."