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Top Court Approves
in the first segment of Wednesday's show
We're going to be spending most of tomorrow's talking about snitching on unsafe drivers. But news just broke today that Washington's "Top-Two" primary system has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, dramatically changing the way Washingtonians vote and run for office.
Under the Top-Two primary system, all candidates for an office are listed one after another on the primary ballot, with their party listed next to their name. The top two vote-getters in the primary move on to the general election, even if they're in the same political party. (You can read the state's full explanation (pdf) for more.)
The AP is calling the decision "a setback for the Republican and Democratic political parties in the state."
We're going to start tomorrow's show talking with Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed about the decision and the effect it will have on this summer's primary... including, perhaps, Reed's own re-election campaign.
Does this system set a precedent for other states?
How will this change campaign strategy in Washington? Will this embolden or discourage third party candidates?
And how likely is it that Washington's next election results are going to be the subject of a lengthy legal battle once the polls close?
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The top-two primary was promoted by elected officials because of the perceived independence of voters in Washington. As a former election official in the state I would here people say, "I vote for the person, not the party". But I don't see any evidence of that because 3rd party or independent candidates were rarely elected in Washington. In that state, democrats tend to behave as democrats and republicans tend to behave as republicans, and independents always lose elections. Historically, voters have not been required to register by party affilaion, and voters there are not used to identifying as a member of a party, so they just don't understand the nomination process for partisan elections. The top-two primary ignores this basic concept that the primary is held to nominate the member of the party to represent it for the general election. It is my opinion the parties have a right to have only members of there party vote for their candidates in the primary. But the only fair way to do that is to require voters to register by party. Unfortunately, Washington elected officials are taking a populist view to avoid the risk of voter backlash. In my opinion, voters don't know any better and are uninformed of the basic concepts of partisan elections.
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I see this as problematic. That is not to say that the existing system is any less problematic. This represents a restricted polling system that opens up the possibility of having two people on the fall ballot who, even combined, didn't get a majority of the vote. Indeed, there is the possibility that the two candidates won't even represent the majority position.
In an election where there are, for example, six democrats but two republicans, if 70% of the electorate were to vote democrat, but they were split evenly, the two republicans could take 15% each, vs. 11% each for the democrats. Therefore the two republicans would be the two candidates on the ballot. While this is an extreme example, it is simply to make a point.
The solution to this is to have some form of ranked-choice or instant run-off voting system. I don't understand why this option is not pursued by officials more often. -
BTW, My name is Geoff. I live in Corvallis.
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While I do worry about the effect this might have on smaller parties, as an independent voter I am pleased with this. Any step in weakening political parties is a good step. We MUST have open primaries in Oregon and soon. Where do I sign that petition?
This overwhelming majority in the Supreme Court clearly shows the court believes the will of the people is greater than the desires of the political parties.
Our country would be a much better one without political parties and the abolishment of ALL political parties should be a goal we strive for as a nation. Talk about divisive; merely having parties creates an automatic division within government. -
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