Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon's Secretary of State has welcomed a decision by the state Republican Party to open some of its primaries to registered, non-affiliated voters. But she's not exactly sure how to do it.

The Republican primary for the offices of Secretary of State, Attorney General and State Treasurer will be open for the 2012 election.

Party chairman Allen Alley says the Oregon GOP is telling voters: they're wanted. even if they’re not registered Republicans.

Secretary of State Kate Brown, a Democrat, cheered the announcement. She said both parties should fully open their primaries because more than a fifth of the electorate doesn't have a voice in choosing party nominees. But logistically, she's not sure how it can be done.

"The challenge is how do we do a portion of the partisan races out to the non-affiliated voters, that's the challenge," Brown said.

Brown says she'll have to come up with a solution within a couple of weeks.

Republicans did not open their presidential primary, legislative primaries or local races to non-affiliated voters.

The executive director of the state Democratic Party says Democrats haven't decided yet what to do in this year's primary.