Democrats to change way of nominating

Unhappy with a court ruling that requires a change in Washington’s primary, state Democrats said Monday they will hold conventions to nominate their candidates for partisan offices this year.

The move, which is part of a long-running battle between the parties and state elections officials over the state’s Top Two Primary, could result in added confusion for voters and means extra meetings for party officials.

State Republicans are also studying whether they want to hold nominating conventions. The practical effect of the Democrats’ decision is hard to gauge at this time.

Democratic State Chairman Dwight Pelz said the conventions are necessary because the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the state primary initiative took away the influence parties can have in naming their candidates. Democrats will try to regain some control by having precinct officers attend nominating conventions for legislative, county and congressional seats. For statewide offices, delegates to the state convention will be asked which candidate they support.

“We don’t want precinct committee officers to nominate candidates, we want the public to do that. But that’s been taken away from us,” Pelz said.

Under last month’s ruling, candidates in the August primary will list a party preference when filing for office, but that won’t be a determining factor in who advances to the general election.

The two candidates with the most votes in the primary go to the general election, even if they list the same party preference.

The primary law was written in a way that indicates the voters are selecting candidates for an office, not choosing the parties’ nominees, the court said.

A candidate who wins the endorsement of a nominating convention will be eligible for money and other help from the party, and can list the endorsement on his or her campaign literature, Pelz said.

But it won’t show up on the primary ballot, Trova Heffernan, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Sam Reed, said. Rules for the wording of party preference on the ballot are still being drafted, but they won’t include recognition that one candidate was nominated by the party and another wasn’t.

The rules must make the candidate’s preference “crystal clear” to voters on the ballot, she said. The parties can make their preference known in other ways.

Pelz said the nominating conventions will present another challenge to state officials in conducting its first Top Two primary.

The Supreme Court ruling suggested that the system could be overturned if it was confusing to voters.

Asked whether the addition of nomination conventions would likely add to the confusion rather than clear it up, Pelz declined to answer.

It does put a strain on Democratic activists, who already have at least three more meetings – a county convention, a congressional district caucus and a state convention – between now and mid-June. They will need to call precinct committee officers to a legislative district convention. They will also have to hold a separate county nominating convention or set aside time at their regular county convention at which precinct officers can vote but other elected delegates cannot.

Congressional district caucuses on May 17 will also have to include a time when only the precinct officers in attendance can nominate congressional candidates.

Under rules adopted in 2005 when the Top Two primary first passed, all delegates to the state convention will be asked to nominate statewide candidates, Pelz said.