This week, elections officials in Washington’s thirty-nine counties will mail out ballots for the 2024 Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. Voters who would like to participate in the nominating process for either party must cast their ballot and return it no later than March 12th, 2024, the voting deadline.
The presidential primary is a special event in state politics that only takes place once every four years. Because it’s the subject of quadrennial confusion, we’ve prepared a Q&A to help to demystify it. We hope this information is helpful to regular and new readers alike. If you have a question the discussion below doesn’t answer, please feel free to leave a comment and we’ll respond.
Q: What is the presidential primary? Why do we have it?
A: The presidential primary is a way for Washingtonians to express a preference for a candidate seeking the nomination of one the nation’s two major political parties. Although the state classifies it as a “special circumstances election,” it is actually not an election at all, but rather a nominating event.
When you vote in the presidential primary, you are expressing a preference as to which candidate you want Washington’s share of national convention delegates allocated to at either the Democratic National Convention or the Republican National Convention. We have the presidential primary because casting a ballot through the state’s elections infrastructure is the easiest way for lots of people to express a preference. Both parties have pledged to use the results of this year’s presidential primary to allocate their delegates, so the results will be binding.
Q: Does this year’s presidential primary really matter?
A: Since the results are binding, as mentioned in the prior answer, it does matter, although at this juncture, neither party’s nomination looks particularly contested. Joe Biden has no strong opposition for the Democratic nomination and Donald Trump has just a single rival left — Nikki Haley — who hasn’t performed very well in early states. Biden and Trump seem likely to win Washington’s primary.
Q: What will the ballot look like? Who will be on it?
A: The ballot will have two columns: a Democratic column, with a blue heading, and a Republican column, with a red heading.
The following choices will appear on the Democratic side:
The following choices will appear on the Republican side:
The final choice is a line where you can write in a candidate.
To vote, simply fill in the oval for one of the choices and then place the ballot in the security envelope. Place the security envelope into the return envelope, sign it, date it, and mark the box indicating that you understand you are affiliating with the party whose nominating process you wish to participate in, then return your ballot to a drop box or post office. (To ensure delivery, NPI recommends against putting your ballot in a mail receptacle that isn’t at a post office.)
Q: Who decided which names would appear on the ballot?
A: The major political parties did. Each party has a process that spells out what a candidate must do to qualify for its column on the presidential primary ballot. State law gives them the parties this responsibility, recognizing that it is their First Amendment right to determine who their candidates should be. The Secretary of State simply utilizes the list of names that the parties provide.
Q: Why is there an option called “Uncommitted Delegates” on only one side of the presidential primary ballot?
A: Under the rules of the Democratic Party, “uncommitted” is a legitimate presidential preference. This is the option you should fill out if you are not sure or undecided, but you want to participate in the Democratic Party’s process. It’s sort of like the “not sure” option in a public opinion research survey, but in this context, it could count for something. If enough Democratic voters feel similarly, there will be uncommitted delegates at the 2024 DNC from Washington State.
Q: It looks like the ballot contains names of candidates who have dropped out. Why weren’t those candidates’ names removed?
A: That’s correct. As of press time, Marianne Williamson, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy had suspended their presidential campaigns. But you can still vote for them because they submitted the requisite paperwork, signatures, and fees to qualify for Washington’s presidential primary. State law does not allow submitted names to be removed once they are submitted.
While you can vote for a candidate who is no longer running an active campaign, candidates who have dropped out often don’t attract enough support from other voters to earn any national convention delegates. The Democratic Party, for instance, has a minimum viability threshold of 15%. If a candidate cannot meet that within a given state, they won’t get any of that state’s delegates.
Q: Why am I only allowed to vote for one candidate from one party?
A: The major political parties’ rules require that voters not participate in another party’s nominating process. Furthermore, neither party uses a voting method like ranked choice voting or approval voting that would allow you to express a preference for more than one candidate. Accordingly, you can only vote one party’s ballot — your ballot will be invalid if you fill out an oval in both columns.
Q: If I vote in the primary, will the party I affiliated with get my name?
A: Yes. If you vote in the Democratic primary, the Democratic Party will get your name. And if you vote in the Republican primary, the Republican Party will get your name. The party whose primary you didn’t vote in will also be able to figure out that you voted in the opposing party’s primary. Please note that the disclosure of the list of voted in the presidential primary to the political parties is expressly authorized by state law. This is in keeping with the idea that how you vote is a secret, but whether or not you voted is a matter of public record.
Q: I don’t want to affiliate with either party. What should I do?
A: If you are a true independent who doesn’t want to affiliate with either party, you should recycle your presidential primary ballot rather than returning it. You are under no legal or moral obligation to participate. As mentioned above, the presidential primary is not an election. You are not voting to allocate Washington’s Electoral College votes if you participate in the primary — rather, you are voting to allocate one of the major parties’ national convention delegates.
Q: Now that the parties are using the presidential primary to allocate delegates, are caucuses and state conventions a thing of the past?
A: No. The parties use the presidential primary to allocate their delegates, but they still hold caucuses and conventions for other purposes, like adopting platforms and resolutions, hearing from candidates, and fundraising.
And while the primary eliminates the need to stand in a gym, living room, or school cafeteria for hours just to express a presidential preference, Washingtonians who are interested in going to a national convention need to engage with the party of their choice to participate in delegate selection. The rules for the election of delegates and the timeframes for running differ by party.
Republicans will hold their state convention in April, in Spokane; Democrats will hold their state convention in June, at a location to be announced.
Please leave a comment and we’ll respond! Happy voting.
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