Washington State Grange

People again have the power to vote for those they want

by Scott Dahlman, Legislative Liaison

Unless my column is the first thing you turn to each month when you get your copy of Grange News, I’m sure you’ve read about the I-872 Supreme Court ruling that came down last month. If for some reason you haven’t, be sure to read the in-depth story on the front page of this paper.

Now that you know all the ins and outs of the ruling, its time for the all important question – how does this ruling affect things in the real world?

There are two major ways that the Supreme Court ruling will affect the primaries on August 19th of this year. Your ballot will look different, and the results may as well. First of all, the thing that will make most voters very happy is the fact that you will now receive one ballot. That’s right, ONE ballot, not the three you may have received previously, expecting you to choose one and make a party-line vote. Also, this one ballot will not have the box for you to check your party affiliation, or the affidavit to sign allegiance to a particular party.

There will be multiple candidates, with multiple party preferences, and you can vote for any of them that you would like. This might not be a novel concept to those of you with memories of the old “blanket” primary, which was similar, but for newer Washington transplants, such as me, this is a welcome change to a system that disenfranchised voters from the primary process.

This is the point where I feel it is necessary to make a clarification. THIS DOES NOT CHANGE THE WAY THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY IS CONDUCTED. The new “top-two” primary will cover races from the local level (unless local laws say otherwise) up to our congressional delegation. I know many people were frustrated by the way the parties in Washington decided to choose their delegates for the purpose of nominating their candidate for president, but Initiative 872 does not change the way those presidential primaries are run. It is complicated, but the short explanation is that the state doesn’t have a whole lot of influence over how the parties choose their delegates. It is disheartening to see the parties blatantly ignore the vote of the people, but if they want to select their delegates by a caucus, that is their right. But enough with the things we couldn’t change, and back to the good news.

The other major effect of this ruling is that it could possibly change the dynamic of some races in the state, and especially for certain localities. The first challenge for a candidate now is that he or she must run as a person, not as a political party’s chosen nominee. While the parties will still have the ability to submit who their chosen candidate is, the ballot will only show a candidate’s preference. This puts the responsibility on the person running for office to make sure the voters know what positions the candidate holds. Of course this means that the voters might have to be a little more vigilant when researching their candidates, but more information shared between a candidate and the electorate can only lead to good things.

This leads to the inevitable question that many critics of the “top-two” primary bring up. What if two people with the same party preference end up being the top two vote getters in the primary? Doesn’t that limit voter’s choice?

While that may seem like a valid argument on the surface, I think in the end the voter actually has more choice. First it is important to note that, in order for this scenario to occur, a district would have to have over 66 percent of the voters split their votes evenly between two candidates sharing a common party preference. If that were to happen, it is pretty safe to say that the district heavily leans towards that party preference. This means that in the old primary process, whoever won that party’s nomination in the primary would probably win in the general election in a landslide.

This is problematic in two ways. First, the turnout for primary elections is very small compared to general elections, resulting in a smaller group of voters essentially choosing the winner in that district. Secondly, anybody voting in the general election for the candidate from the other party is basically making a statement vote, with little hope for that candidate in such a skewed district. But, with the “top-two” primary, there will be two viable candidates in the general election, and instead of just making a statement vote, everybody will get to choose someone who at least matches their views more closely, resulting in a potential moderating effect.

I know that’s a lot to consider, but it may have a big impact on some elections this year. In those heavily skewed districts, the incumbents have often had a mildly competitive primary, and a no contest in the general election. Now with the possibility of another viable candidate making it to the general election, some incumbents will need to spend a little more time with their constituents. Again this will be a very rare case, but it could have an impact – a positive one – nonetheless.

We are in for an exciting election year, and it’s great to see that the people of Washington will again have the power to vote for the person they want, regardless of political affiliation, at the next primary election – thanks to your Grange. Now that you have that power, be sure to use it.

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