Voters can nip new primary in the bud
Monday, October 4, 2004 7:35 AM PDT
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E-mail this articleOn Nov. 2, Washington voters can make last month's partisan primary a one-time event. We urge them to make good use of this opportunity.
The so-called "Top 2" primary on the November ballot isn't a perfect replacement for the popular blanket primary the courts have declared unconstitutional. It advances the top two vote-getters to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. That means two candidates of the same party could advance.
While the blanket primary put everyone on the same ballot and allowed voters to cross back and forth between parties, it guaranteed that a candidate from each party would advance to the general election, whatever the vote.
This worked well for nearly 70 years, but it contributed to the blanket primary's undoing once the parties challenged it in the courts. It helped make the case that the state's primary amounted to a party nominating process, which the courts determined should be the exclusive property of the political parties.
The Top 2 primary cannot be viewed as a party nominating process. The outcome of the voting, alone, determines who advances. Parties have no assurance that they'll have a candidate on the general election ballot. For this reason, Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed and others believe the Top 2, if challenged, would pass constitutional muster.
The parties would like the Top 2 even less than the blanket primary, no doubt. And we don't much care for the idea of having two candidates of the same party on the general election ballot. But there isn't a good alternative. The parties have effectively limited our options to the partisan primary now in place or the Top 2 primary.
Given that choice, we'll take the Top 2 every time. Like the blanket primary, it provides a much broader choice of candidates. It would restore the sense of independence we lost when the blanket primary was tossed out.
Moreover, open primaries have a moderating influence on the parties, moving them toward the center. More candidates tend to be in the mainstream. That's a prescription for good government.
The Top 2 primary may not be perfect. But it's a good fit for Washington --- certainly better than what the political parties forced on the state.
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