Primary choice: Satisfy independent voters or national Democrats

OLYMPIA – As they consider changes to the state’s presidential primary system to make it more relevant, legislators may be able to satisfy Washington’s notoriously independent voters or the national Democratic Party. But not both.

They could back a proposal supported by Secretary of State Kim Wyman that would include separate lists of each party’s candidates plus an alphabetized list of all candidates of both parties. Picking from the Republican or Democratic list would require the voter to declare an affiliation with that party, but picking from the unaffiliated list wouldn’t.

That would probably keep independent voters from complaining about having to designate a party for that election.

Or they could go with a proposal from Sen. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, that would give voters a list of Democratic candidates, a separate list of Republican candidates and the requirement that they declare an affiliation to the party of the candidate they choose. It wouldn’t have an option for unaffiliated voters.

That would satisfy the rules of the Democratic National Committee, and allow the state Democratic Party to use the primary results to award delegates to the national convention where the president is nominated.

Read more: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jan/19/primary-choice-satisfy-independent-voters-or-natio/