PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon judge has rejected a Republican’s lawsuit challenging the election date for labor commissioner.
A lawyer and a campaign manager for GOP candidate Bruce Starr said Wednesday that a Marion County judge declined Starr’s request to require that the labor commissioner be chosen in the May 15 primary.
Starr and his Democratic rival, Brad Avakian, were surprised to find out recently that elections officials planned to place their race on the ballot for November’s general election. Typically, that race is on the May primary ballot, and both campaigns were working toward a May election.
Secretary of State Kate Brown, a Democrat, says an obscure state law that applies only in 2012 requires that the labor commissioner be chosen in November.
Brown’s office could not immediately be reached.
