As it turns out, maybe Joel Haugen (I-Scappoose) can in fact be listed as a Republican in state election material.

Haugen, the former OR-1 Republican congressional nominee who took up the Independent Party nomination after he had a falling out with local GOP officials, was accidentally listed as a Republican in the voters' pamphlet that was issued to OR-1 constituents.

"The elections division apologizes for the error and we will do our best to make sure voters in the 1st district get the correct information as soon as possible," said Elections Division Director John Lindback.

The Elections Division said it would be mailing out a postcard to district one voters to correct the error. Haugen estimated Thursday that the correction would cost the Elections Division $48,000.

Ironically, Haugen, who won the Republican primary with almost 70 percent of the vote, had originally wanted to have the Republican Party as well as the Independent Party listed next to his name on the ballot. He and the Independent Party asked a judge to overrule Secretary of State Bill Bradbury's decision to only allow one party to be listed next to a candidate's name, but the Marion County court sided with the Secretary of State.

Still, Haugen was pleased with the Secretary of State's reaction to the error.

"We greatly appreciate the Secretary of State's office for their quick and thorough efforts to remedy this situation," Haugen said. "We are confident that this was just an honest mistake. Hopefully in the future the issue of multiple party listings on the ballot can be revisited, as this situation is exactly the type of confusion we had hoped to avoid when we pushed for the dual-listing in this election."

Independent Party officials were also surprised to flip open their voter pamphlets to find their candidate incorrectly identified, but Independent Party chair Linda Williams seemed pleased with the Secretary of State's reaction.

"This was a serious matter, but one that appears to have been settled correctly," Williams said. "We are thankful for the speed of the corrective action."