First-ballot tie forces second-ballot runoff

Oregon Libertarians held a nominating convention in Beaverton Septembet 28th to choose the party's candidate for the 1st district congressional seat recently vacated by David Wu. The state will hold a special election January 31 to fill that seat, and minor party candidates must file nomination papers by December 1.

Beginning at 7 pm at the Baja Fresh restaurant on Scholls Ferry Road in Tigard, the names of Chuck Huntting of Portland, James Foster of Beaverton, and Joe Tabor of Portland were placed in nomination from the floor. Each candidate had five minutes to address the assembled Libertarian electors. Tabor, a former state party chair and 1st district congressional candidate, spoke last, withdrawing from the race in favor of the other two strong contenders.

Then twenty minutes were allowed for issuing and returning ballots, while the candidates spoke with individuals and small groups to answer questions and lobby for votes. When the first secret ballot resulted in a tie between Huntting and Foster, each spoke from the podium again for three minutes. Ten minutes were then allowed for second-ballot lobbying.

Once the second-round ballots were tallied, LPO chair Wes Wagner thanked both for offering such a difficult choice, and announced that James Gordon Foster had won the Libertarian nomination by a single vote. No one present could recall a previous tie vote in any LPO nomination ballot.

A graduate of UCLA's law school, Foster joined the Libertarian Party in 1980 and was active with the Colorado party before moving to Oregon. He had a private law practice before returning to his "first love," computer programming, 30 years ago.