Paul Damian Wells

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Paul Damian Wells

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 21, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Purdue University, 1984

Graduate

Portland State University

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Marine Corps

Personal

Birthplace

Terre Haute, Ind.

Profession

Retired

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Paul Damian Wells (Democratic Party) ran for election for Oregon Secretary of State. He lost in the Democratic primary on May 21, 2024.

Wells completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Paul Damian Wells was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. Wells served in the U.S. Marine Corps starting in 1978. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1984 and a graduate degree in electrical engineering from Portland State University. As of 2024, Wells was retired but had previously worked as a design engineer and CNC machinist.

Elections

2024

See also: Oregon Secretary of State election, 2024

General election

General election for Oregon Secretary of State

Tobias Read defeated Dennis Linthicum and Nathalie Paravicini in the general election for Oregon Secretary of State on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tobias Read (D / Working Families Party / Independent Party)	54.4	1,166,447
		Dennis Linthicum (R / Constitution Party)	41.9	897,704
		Nathalie Paravicini (Pacific Green Party / Progressive Party)	3.6	76,170
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2,011

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,142,332
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Oregon Secretary of State

Tobias Read defeated James Manning, Jim Crary, Paul Damian Wells, and Dave Stauffer in the Democratic primary for Oregon Secretary of State on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tobias Read	69.4	303,089
		James Manning	22.3	97,427
		Jim Crary	3.7	16,340
		Paul Damian Wells	2.2	9,425
		Dave Stauffer	1.8	7,921
		Other/Write-in votes	0.6	2,515

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 436,717
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Oregon Secretary of State

Dennis Linthicum defeated Brent Barker and Tim McCloud in the Republican primary for Oregon Secretary of State on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dennis Linthicum	66.0	199,243
		Brent Barker	20.2	61,011
		Tim McCloud	13.0	39,109
		Other/Write-in votes	0.8	2,560

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 301,923
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

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Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Wells in this election.

2016

See also: Oregon Secretary of State election, 2016

Wells filed to run as an Independent Party of Oregon candidate for Oregon Secretary of State in the 2016 elections. He competed in the November general election with Oregon Commissioner of Labor and Industries Brad Avakian (D, Progressive, Working Families), state Rep. Dennis Richardson (R), Sharon Durbin (Lib.), Constitution Party candidate Michael P. Marsh, and Pacific Green Party of Oregon candidate Alan Zundel.

The following candidates ran in the Oregon secretary of state election.

Oregon Secretary of State, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Dennis Richardson	47.44%	892,669
	Democratic/Progressive/Working Families	Brad Avakian	43.27%	814,089
	Independent Party of Oregon	Paul Damian Wells	3.45%	64,956
	Pacific Green Party of Oregon	Alan Zundel	2.53%	47,576
	Libertarian	Sharon Durbin	2.50%	46,975
	Constitution Party	Michael P. Marsh	0.81%	15,269
Total Votes				1,881,534
Source: Oregon Secretary of State

2012

See also: Oregon secretary of state election, 2012 and Oregon state executive official elections, 2012

Wells lost the Democratic nomination for Oregon Secretary of State to incumbent secretary Kate Brown in the primary election on May 15, 2012.

• Primary
  
  • Wells was defeated in the primary race, receiving 9% of the vote.

Oregon Secretary of State Democratic Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kate Brown	91.1%	277,052
Paul Damian Wells	8.4%	25,568
Write-ins	0.5%	1,400
Total Votes		304,020
Election results via OregonLive 2012 Primary Results.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Paul Damian Wells completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wells' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I have been a voting rights activist in Oregon for over 30 years. I first ran as an independent candidate for U.S. Senator in 1992 and was denied ballot access. Every two to four years since, I have run as a candidate for state office in a major party primary to protest the exclusion of independent voters. In 2024, over 43% of Oregon voters are not affiliated with a major party. By law every excluded voter will receive a blank ballot for U.S. President in the May primary.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I support Ranked Choice Voting. RCV ensures a fair election outcome by eliminating vote splitting. It's decades overdue. Al Gore should have been elected U.S. President in 2000. Thanks to all the individuals and organizations that worked to get this measure referred to the 2024 general election ballot in Oregon.
• I support Oregon Prospective Initiative Petition 2026-025. This initiative will overhaul the U.S. Presidential race in Oregon by adopting a "Lincoln Primary" and "Final Five Voting." The existing closed primaries will be replaced by a single six-month long tracking poll. (Lincoln Primary) From February thru July, voters can go online and endorse a presidential candidate. On August 1st, only the top five candidates advance to the general election. This initiative also allows electoral college delegates the authority to vote for the winner of the national popular vote instead of a party candidate.
• I intend to "write-in" the word "N.O.T.A." (None of the Above) for each federal office on my general election ballot. I'm encouraging other progressive voters to do the same. After so many years, it's obvious that too many Democrats will not support free and fair elections until forced to do so. It takes 50% support of the electorate to pass a ballot measure, but it takes less than 10% of the electorate to deny democrats any federal or state office. In 2016 a Republican candidate for Secretary of State was elected with only 47% of the vote, because a small group of progressive voters rejected the Democratic candidate for not supporting free elections.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Free and Fair Elections. The era of voting for the lesser of two evils needs to come to an end.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

In Oregon, the Secretary of State is the chief elections officer, and takes an oath to uphold both Oregon and U.S. constitutional voting rights. The individual elected to this office should use the office to secure equal voting rights for all Oregon voters - not just major party members.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I'm a voting rights advocate. Just like the women and blacks who fought for decades to gain the right to vote - I was successful simply because I wouldn't give up.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

In Oregon, by law, the Secretary of State has the power to issue orders to subordinate election officials just like a judge. The Secretary can and should declare partisan primaries unconstitutional and order that all statutory law relating to partisan office null and void until upheld by a jury in a civil court. In the interim, every partisan office shall be treated as a nonpartisan office where a top-two primary is mandated by law. The Secretary of State is the only public official in Oregon that can successfully force a constitutional review of partisan elections.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Paul Damian Wells campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Oregon Secretary of State	Lost primary	$0	$0
Grand total			$0	$0
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also

2024 Elections

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External links

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