The Washington state legislature adjourns for the year on March 11. The Secretary of State’s clean-up bill to fix legal problems with the top-two primary, SB 5681, would have revised the definition of a qualified political party, but that bill has already missed legislative deadlines and cannot pass this year.

Existing law says a qualified party is one that polled 5% for any statewide race in the last election. The test applies every two years, although it doesn’t apply in years in which there are no statewide races on the ballot. In 2010, a U.S. Senate race is on the ballot. The incumbent is Patty Murray, a Democrat, who is running for re-election.

Because parties no longer have nominees for any federal or state office (except they still have presidential nominees), no party’s nominee will poll at least 5% of the vote in 2010. Therefore, all parties will cease to be ballot-qualified. SB 5681 would have solved this problem by saying that parties that poll at least 1% for President are ballot-qualified for the next four years. But the bill can’t pass this year. The legislature declined to pass it this year because legislators want to see the outcome of the pending federal lawsuit that argues that the top-two system violates the U.S. Constitution. A trial in that case is set for October 2010.