Petitioners for an open Oregon primary today were set to submit another 27,000 signatures, confident that this would be enough to get their initiative on the ballot this fall.

If voters approve it, the measure will bring about "the most profound and far-reaching change in more than a century," said Phil Keisling, one of the chief petitioners and a former secretary of state.

The petitioners need 82,769 voters' signatures to get on the general election ballot. On May 23 they submitted some 91,000, which turned out to be about 75 percent valid.

Today in Salem, they intended to submit another 27,000. Even if only half are valid - and he expects the validity rate to be much higher - Keisling said the goal will have been surpassed.

Keisling, a Democrat, and Republican Norma Paulus led the initiative effort. Paulus also is a former secretary of state, and served as superintendent of public instruction.

The initiative would do away with Oregon's primary elections by party and replace them with one primary in which every voter, including unaffiliated voters, could participate.

Candidates for state and county offices of any or no party would appear on the primary ballot together. The two top vote getters for each office would then compete in the general election.

"Party leaders will hate it," Keisling said. "This is true competition."

He was asked about the possibility that, in some districts, the two top vote getters will be of the same party.

That may happen, he said, but he noted there are big differences even among candidates of the same party, so there would still be intense competition in the general election.

Keisling said the initiative also would give minor parties a better chance. The current system, in his view, relegates minor-party candidates to irrelevancy or the role of spoilers.

The proposal is similar to an open primary adopted in Washington state, which first was struck down in court but reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court. Washington will hold its first primary under the new system on Aug. 19.

In a statement, the Oregon petitioners cited many supporters including former Govs. Vic Atiyeh and John Kitzhaber, and state Sen. Frank Morse, R-Albany.