Washington reverts to 'Montana-style' party ballots

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Washington reverts to 'Montana-style' party ballots

By Barney Burke
Leader Staff Writer

Like it or not, Washington voters are heading back to Montana for the Sept. 20 primary election.

On July 15, U.S. Judge Thomas Zilly ruled that Washington's "Louisiana-style" primary, approved by voters in November 2004, is unconstitutional. The state's Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties had sued to prevent that primary system – in which the top two voters advance to the general election no matter what their party affiliation – from ever being used here.

Unless that decision is overruled on appeal or the state Legislature steps in, last week's decision means Washington voters will use the "Montana-style" primary, said Chief Deputy Jefferson County Auditor/Elections Coordinator Karen Cartmel.

The state has used the Montana system only once before, in the September 2004 primary election. Voters replaced it with the Louisiana-style primary when they passed Initiative 872, which had been sponsored by the Grange.

In the Montana system, voters do not have to declare membership in any party, but they must choose only one party's ballot or a nonpartisan ballot. For about 70 years, Washingtonians were able to pick and choose candidates from all parties. Another federal judge previously ruled that system unconstitutional.

http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=12648

:shrug:

CSSD (Cloneproof Schwarz Sequential Dropping) in the executive, proportional representation in the legislature, voter-verified paper ballots everywhere.

Until then it's pure gibberish.

Sometimes it is advantageous to vote for the weaker GOPig to go up against the strongest Dem -- especially if you know darn well that the Dem candidate has plenty of votes and there is a wide field on the GOP side.

And then -- sometimes the Dem isn't a dem -- and the Republican could be a better choice. This has happened when the old Republican party was still alive in WA state.

I voted for Sherry Appleton when she was a Republican -- but she has seen the light and switched to the democratic party -- as have many of the real conservative Republicans.

The right wing religious nuts began their take over of the Republican party in the early 1980s -- back then the Republicans were rather decent folk. Now the GOPigs are just rabid jerks -- or cult members.

I suppose it really doesn't matter -- because I haven't seen a GOPig in WA that I'd vote for even to get the weaker candidate into the November election is perhaps 15 years.

The great thing about the Washington system -- is that you don't have to register in any party and that takes one tool of the GOPigs to manipulate the vote -- or mess up registration.