NEWS RELEASE
August 25, 2004
--------------------------------
For immediate release
ANGERED VOTERS LOOK TO
GRANGE TO ESTABLISH NEW PRIMARY
It’s not surprising that the
Secretary of State is receiving thousands of phone calls from angry voters. The
party nominating primary created by Governor Locke at the urging of the
political party bosses prevents independent-minded voters from voting for all
of the candidates they would normally support in a primary.
The Washington State Grange’s
Initiative Measure 872 (dubbed the “People’s Choice” initiative) would restore
the right of voters to support any candidate from any party in the primary.
The Grange, like the
Secretary of State, has been flooded with calls from angry voters inquiring
about the changes made to primary election law in the last year. The new
system, often referred to as the “Montana-style” primary, will force voters to
vote a straight party ticket for the first time in nearly 70 years.
“The voters are telling us
that they are upset,” said Grange President Terry Hunt. “ We’re
concerned that many of them will not vote if they have to pick a party ballot.
“All we can do is provide
them with information and let them know that they will have to opportunity to
change the system in November by voting for the ‘People’s Choice’ initiative.”
If passed, I-872 will
establish a qualifying, or “top-two”, primary in which the two candidates with
the most votes in a primary will advance to the general election, regardless of
what party they belong to. Voters will be able to select any candidate for any
office, without limitation based on political party.
“I-872 preserves the key
elements of the old blanket primary system,” continued Hunt. “We actually liked
the old system more, but the political parties and the government made sure
that we couldn’t use that system anymore. We believe the top-two is just as
effective, because it gives the individual voters freedom at every stage of the
political process.”
The initiative, despite
showing a strong 64 percent approval rating in a July poll conducted by Stuart Elway, has come under criticism from opponents recently.
The opposition’s contention is that I-872 will reduce voter choice in the
general election.
“Our initiative will actually
give the people more choices across the board. It is the responsibility of the
voter to participate in the primary. If the voter participates, the voter has
complete choice in deciding the outcome, which leads to a highly-representative
slate of candidates in the general election.”
According to Hunt, opponents
of I-872 have perpetuated a myth that there will be a widespread occurrence to
two candidates from the same party ending up on the general election ballot.
“This is simply not true,”
continued Hunt. “And we have the figures to back it up.”
A recent study conducted by
the Secretary of State’s office regarding legislative and congressional
elections over the last ten years indicated that this scenario would have
occurred in only 3-4 percent of the races had they been run under a top-two
system. And the bulk of those races took place in “safe” districts where
candidates were running largely unopposed.
“In reality, had the top-two
system been in place, candidates in those safe districts would have had to
compete more than they do now,” said Hunt. “This would have been especially
beneficial to third party candidates, who would then only need to get the
second highest number of votes to advance to the general election. This
actually gives the voters more choices, not fewer.”
The opposition has also
stated that the third parties will be eliminated under the top-two.
“The reality is that the
top-two system is the only hope for the survival of the third parties,” said
Hunt. “The current system is going to solidify the power of the major political
parties, because no one wants to vote a straight party ticket if the third
party is only running candidates in a few of the offices on the ballot. The