On March 3, the Washington State Senate passed SB 5978, which provides for a presidential primary on the 2nd Tuesday of March. Current law provides for a presidential primary in May, but more times than not the state doesn’t actually hold a presidential primary, for budgetary reasons. Thanks to Jim Riley and Josh Putnam for this news.
The party bosses want to appoint the delegates to the convention, regardless of what the voters may want. Politicians will use any excuse for denying the voters an opportunity to vote for the candidates, when they have the privilege of ignoring the voters.
Some day, there are going to be enough Independents in states like Washington State that an Independent Presidential Preference can be held, and the choice of the people will be heard. It may not come within my life, but the number of Independents are growing and growing. When the day comes when Independents outnumber Democrats and Republicans 10 to 1, the Democrats and Republicans will tremble at our feet.
Won’t that be a great day?
The primary was cancelled in 2004 and 2012, but held in 2000 and 2008. The Democrats in particular don’t like the primary, and have refused to use the results to allocate delegates.
In 2008, 42% of voters participated in the primary, and 3% participated in the caucuses. While the Democrats have not used the results of the primary, they have accepted the lists of the voters who voted in their primary. The cost of the primary is a rationalization.
HB 5978 would require that all major parties allocate at least some of their delegates on the basis of the primary. If they don’t both agree to do so, then the primary would simply be a beauty contest with all Democratic and Republican candidates on a single ballot, with no pledge required.
If they do agree to allocate delegates, then voters will be asked to sign a declaration of allegiance to a party. Ballots will be separately tabulated, so a voter may choose not to sign a declaration of allegiance, and the party can decide how to interpret the results (in essence it would be a lot like the 2000 blanket presidential primary in California).