Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Zilly hears arguments against Top Two

From the Associated Press:
The state Republican, Democrat and Libertarian parties returned to federal court Wednesday to argue that Washington's new primary system, approved by voters as Initiative 872 last fall, is unconstitutional.

In arguments before Judge Thomas S. Zilly, Republican lawyer John White contended the new system infringes on his party's First Amendment right to free association by allowing anyone to run as a Republican in the primary.

"The state is forcing the Republican Party to associate with candidates it may not want carrying its banner," White said.
We hope Zilly rules that the "top two" primary system we have now is unconstitutional. It would be good to permanently abolish and do away with this ridiculous primary system.

The parties attacked the fundamental flaw with the "top two" system:
Parties also argued that the system is unconstitutional because it allows voters to skip back and forth across party lines in selecting a favorite candidate for each office.

Washington's old primary system, known as the "blanket primary," was struck down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003 for that same reason. The court said that infringed on a party's right to choose its own nominees.
More information is available in our Special Report on the Top Two Primary System.

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