NON-AFFILIATED VOTERS~ aka NAVs. Who are these people?

The most powerful “party” of registered voters in Josephine County is not a party at all. Non-affiliated voters (NAVs), people registered to vote but decline to join a political party, numbered 26,116 as of Jan. 31, 2026, according to the Josephine County Clerk’s website.

The Josephine County Republican Party has 24,658 registered voters, while the Josephine County Democratic Party comes in with 12,675. Other parties total about 1,168.

NAVs outnumber Republicans in 20 precincts in the county while Democrats are the minority in all of them.
However, NAVs do not seem to be aware that with their numbers, they could have a much bigger say in how Josephine County is governed.

If only they would vote.

During the recall election in January, almost 45 percent of registered Democrats turned out to vote while about 44 percent of Republicans did. However, only 15 percent of NAVs voted. By their numbers, NAVs could have determined that election. But their turnout was low.

Why do NAVs not vote?

It is not because they don’t care, according to Cobey Giesler, a NAV running in District 3 to replace Rep. Dwayne Yunker in the Oregon House. NAVs pay attention and talk about what is happening in government, but they feel powerless to do anything about it. NAVs think politics are corrupt and do not believe voting changes anything. To these voters, elections just replace one bad banana with another.

NAVs do not register with a political party, he says, because they don’t want to instantly make enemies by becoming a Republican or Democrat. They would also like to see extremism on both sides reduced and a middle way emerge. Yet, while they express their concerns, they hesitate to get involved. Giesler would like to change that.

He says he and the NAVs who do recognize their power are putting together a Forward Party in Oregon. Founded at the national level by Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and former New Jersey Governor Christine Tod Whitman, the Forward movement theme is not “Left” or “Right” ~ it is Forward!

NAVs focus is on goals that reduce partisan polarization, implement electoral reforms, and emphasize solutions-first approach to governing across party lines. He says NAVs are also finding a community on-line at places like goodparty.org.

NAVs do not realize they have power, Giesler says. He is hoping to set an example for the NAVs and other reluctant voters by running for office. He realizes getting involved in a campaign is sometimes the first step. It was for him. He has helped with other campaigns.

“You can’t just sit around and complain,” he says. “You have to get out and work if you want to change things.”

NAVs are welcome at Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG), the place to turn for accurate, non-partisan information about local politics.