An initiative to the people preserving the basic privileges afforded voters by the blanket primary system will be filed with the Secretary of State Monday, January 8 at 10 a.m.

AThis initiative is not just an initiative to the people, it is an initiative by the people and for the people,@ said Washington State Grange Master Terry Hunt. AThe people of this state attended the hearings held by the Secretary of State and, as Secretary of State Ralph Munro said, 99.9 percent did not want to see any change at all in our existing primary system. This initiative will see to it the most important aspects of the blanket primary, including the right to vote for whichever candidate you want regardless of their political party and the right to vote without having to divulge your political party affiliation, are preserved.@

The blanket primary was established in 1935 through Initiative 2, an initiative to the legislature drafted by the Washington State Grange, notably with help from Grange member and well-known Washington statesman Charles Hodde. The system was challenged twice, once in 1936 and once during the 1980s, both times surviving Washington State Supreme Court battles.

Last year, however, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the California blanket primary, enacted in 1996 through an initiative to the people, claiming it violated the parties= rights of association. This prompted a lawsuit by the parties of Washington State challenging our blanket primary system, and a statement by our own Attorney General indicating our system would likely fall under the same category as California=s. However, attorney Jim Johnson, who drafted the initiative to preserve the blanket primary, notes Washington=s situation is different from California=s.

AThis isn=t California,@ he says. AThe Washington State Constitution provides for absolute secrecy of the ballot. If you have to declare your party affiliation and are forced to choose from one specific ballot, that is lost. And if your party registration puts you on a list that is available to the political parties for their use, you have most certainly lost that right to privacy.@

Copies of the initiative will be available after the initiative is filed in the lobby of the Secretary of State=s office, and representatives of Grangers for Citizens Preserving the Blanket Primary will be available to answer questions regarding the initiative.

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