Anyone who wishes to hear a recording of the oral argument of November 29 in Washington Republican Party v Washington State may do so by using this link. The hearing lasted an hour.
Anyone who wishes to hear a recording of the oral argument of November 29 in Washington Republican Party v Washington State may do so by using this link. The hearing lasted an hour.
Pingback: Ninth Circuit Web Page Posts Link to Audio Recording of Oral Argument in Washington State Top-Two Case | ThirdPartyPolitics.us
It seemed like McDonald (lawyer for the Dems, GOP, and Libtns) spent (wasted) a lot of time on the 2004 election when the voters approved the Top 2 Open Primary, but also the September primary which was the first using the ill-begotten Pick-A-Party Primary.
Under the blanket primary, a voter never had to indicate a party affiliation, even in private. After California Democratic Party v Jones, the 9th Circuit ruled that Washington voters thought of themselves as being Republicans or Democrats when they voted, even though they never indicated that even in secret, and that they were thus interfering with the other party if they “crossed over” in the blanket primary. The 9th Circuit then ruled that the Washington blanket primary was not materially different than the California blanket primary in that regard.
Washington then instituted the Pick-A-Party primary, where voters would indicate their party preference or affiliation in secret on the ballot. McDonald was arguing before the 9th Circuit, that because of this, that when voters approved the Top 2 Primary 2 months later, that they were equating “preference” with “affiliation”, and that the Top 2 Open Primary, therefore forces the political parties to associate with candidates who “affiliate” with them.
In reality, voters were probably grumbling, “why did they have to mess with the blanket primary, and this new system will let me vote for who I want to” And there was massive confusion in the first Pick-A-Party primary where about 10% of votes in the gubernatorial primary were not counted.
How soon before SCOTUS gets the FINAL appeal and puts the EVIL robot party hacks OUT of their EVIL misery ???
PUBLIC Electors in PUBLIC nominations for PUBLIC officers at PUBLIC Elections according to PUBLIC laws.
Sorry — Democracy is NOT some toy for PRIVATE party hack gangs (large or small) to play games with.