Since 1889, Washington’s political parties have used three different systems for nominating their candidates. In the early years, candidates were nominated at party conventions. In 1907, the state legislature required an “open party primary system,” under which all voters could participate in the primary of one or the other major political party. In 1934, a voter-approved initiative established Washington’s unique “blanket primary,” under which voters may participate in nominating the candidates of different political parties at the same time. This is the primary system we have had in place until last summer.
In 1996, California copied our blanket primary law. It was promptly challenged by four political parties and resulted in a ruling in June 2000 in which the court invalidated the blanket primary as an infringement upon the constitutional free speech and freedom of association rights of the members of political parties.
In July 2000, Washington’s blanket primary was similarly struck down. The court’s preliminary injunction requires that all Washington primaries, beginning in 2001, be conducted on a partisan basis. That means Republican candidates must now appear on one ballot and Democrat candidates must appear on another ballot. Voters may choose to vote in one party’s primary or the other, but not both.
This Policy Brief will compare the variety of legislative proposals now under consideration to replace the court’s temporary preliminary injunction. Over the next several months, Washington’s political parties, the legislature and the courts will be resolving how the constitutional rights of political parties will be exercised and how a party’s nominees will be selected in the future.
Read the full Policy Brief here