BEND, OR -- Supporters of a plan to make Deschutes County Commissioner seats non-partisan are celebrating getting the issue on the November ballot. Of Oregon’s 36 counties, only 10 still have partisan Commissioner elections.

Commissioner Phil Chang believes the current partisan primary system favors extreme candidates, "It disenfranchises over 50,000 registered voters in Deschutes County. So, if you are registered Independent, nonaffiliated, if you’re Working Families, if you’re Libertarian, any of those minor parties, you didn’t have any say in who was going to come out of the May election season." He tells KBND News, "Often it’s the most partisan registered voters in either party who participate in the Primaries. There is very little room for the moderate, pragmatic, centrists in our community to come forward and throw their hat in the ring to run for Commissioner."

A campaign to ask voters to shift to non-partisan positions is now underway. Commissioner Chang has fought for the change since his 2020 campaign and credits 90 volunteers for working 15 months to get Measure 9-148 to voters. “Basically, this is a ‘good government’ measure," says Chang, "These people’s commitment to good government, these people’s understanding of what nonpartisan Commissioner seats can do for our community, in terms of creating opportunities for different kinds of leaders. I am just so appreciative of the work that those volunteers have done to get this measure on to the ballot.”

The other two Commissioners, Patty Adair and Tony DeBone are both up for re-election this year. In 2021, both voted against referring the issue to the ballot, which led to the initiative petition. DeBone said at a recent forum he now supports the idea.

If M9-148 is approved in November, Chang’s seat would be the first up for election under the new guidelines.