On January 30, the Washington State Senate passed SB 5273. It moves the date of the presidential primary from the fourth Tuesday in May to the second Tuesday in March.
Washington does not have registration by party. The bill says that when a voter asks for a particular party’s presidential primary ballot, that voter must sign a statement of membership in that party. The record of which voters choose which party’s primary vote will be public. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.
Another subversion of *secret* ballot — more PURGE lists —
part of Civil WAR II.
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NO primaries.
PR and AppV
There were two bills, SB 5229 on behalf of the SOS, and SB 5273 by the Democrats. Historically, Washington Democrats have opposed the primary because it puts too much power in the hands of the mere voters, away from the firm grasp of the party elite. But the DNC is moving toward favoring primaries, and requiring caucuses to take a statewide vote, rather than indirectly through multi-tier delegate selection. Washington Democrats are also likely embarassed by the faithless electors, which were due to Sanderistas taking over the caucuses and subsequently the state convention that chose the electors.
The Democrat bill also provided an uncommitted option, and let the parties provide the list of candidates.
The Washington primary was originally an initiative in 1988. Two of the supporters of that initiative, now quite white-haired (one remembered a whistle-stop campaign appearance of Dwight Eisenhower) testified on the bill.
One noted that California will have 29 days of early voting, permitting voters to vote before laggards like New Hampshire. He proposed Washington go a step further and report daily tallies of ballots mailed in.
Under terms of the original initiative, back before large-scale mail voting, voters were required to request a party ballot. Under an all-mail regime, voters are mailed both ballots, and then required to complete a declaration of affiliation.
The Democrats claimed that if there were an option to vote an unaffiliated ballot, that the DNC might not accept the primary and force the Democrats to use the caucus system.
In the Senate, an amendment to add a non-affiliated option was voted down on a party line vote.
On February 1, the house companion bills HB 1262 and 1310 were heard in committee. There were a lot of bad analogies used, such as letting season ticket holders of the Pittsburgh Steelers choose the coach of the Seattle Seahawks. To complete the analogy, they should have considered who was paying for the season tickets/primary.
Washington should let the seven parties that had presidential candidates (plus American Delta subject to litigation) submit presidential ballots or candidates. If they opt to have a private ballot, there would be an affidavit of affiliation.
If a voter fills out an affidavit of affiliation, the associated ballot would be pulled (separated from any identifying information). The party would have the option of having ballots delivered to the party, or having the counties do a simple tabulation. This would permit a party to use RCV, approval voting, etc.
If the voter doesn’t fill out an affidavit, then the non-affiliated ballot would be tabulated.
The parties would receive lists of voters who affiliated with them, along with a pro rata share of the cost of administering the election.
Independent candidates could also appear on the non-affiliated ballot. Any party whose candidates collectively received 1000 votes would qualify for the general election, as would any independent candidates who individually received 1000 votes.