I'vr got a pet peeve about current elections regulations in Washington State - I thought I might be the only one, but Dori Monson, a talk show host on the top-rated centrist radio station KIRO 710, covered the subject yesterday, or at least got close to it. (Dori is the centrist station's right winger, though he claims to be more of a Libertarian.)
As you know Washington regulations concerning primaries have been the subject of recent Supreme Court Decisions and Initiatives - currently you are required to be a member of a party to participate in the primary decision. I have no problem with that, but as is usual with bureaucracy the devil is in the details.
The problem is this - County Auditors (except King County, go figure) are required to throw out any vote which is independent - either by a cross-over vote between parties or from one choosing not to identify. It's codified in 29A.52.151.
My initial thought that was this must have been some sort of administrative mis-step - perhaps with some degree of intentionality - I did a public records request to State Secretary Sam Reed's office on the subject. I found out I was wrong - one of the female people I correspondend with was kind of insulting and/or threatening when I made the insinuation that the First Ammendment would require tabulating of my vote - regardless if the parties used it or not.
FWIW, I'm a tad disappointed that Reed hasn't already sought to correct what may have been a constitutional oversight - his failure to act does go to his performance in that office. He does seem otherwise capable in his duties and I did vote for him last time around, even though I lean a shade left. I'm still researching the orignal bill that made these modifications but I do gather that Mary Margaret Haugen, someone I respected previously, but has had some suspect actions this year - including apparently supporting the powers that be around the Port of Seattle.
Go Figure.
The Monson/Reed interview, live, is at the start of this audio. Caller comments follow. The only other published reference on the subject that I'm aware of was cited by Dori on his page, from the Whidbey paper.
If your interest in this is great enough to want to see the emails from my PDC request I'd look forward to meeting you, as well as responding to your request.
Oh yeah, the lie thing - which Monson went into - you have to make an oath of party affiliation to vote in a primary. My point is that you should be able to vote independent or cross over in a single race and have the vote reported, but not applied to the Party decision. As it stands for the Presidential Race I think I'm gonna participate in the Republican Caucus and also vote in the completely non-counting Democratic Primary on the 19th.
This law needs to be repealed - it shouldn't require a court case or a big political battle. It is the constitution, arguably the most important part of it - all it should take is a single person pointing out the problem, nothing more - or less.
While you are at it - a suggestion - how about creating primary rules for independents whereby anyone can vote for them - independent or crossover - and allow them to advance if they receive one of the top two positions?
Heyo!
