New primary throws judicial elections a curve

A last-minute proposal to quit electing Superior Court judges in primary elections is “not really workable,” according to Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton.

Like Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed, Dalton says there isn’t enough time to make any more changes in next month’s already complicated primary.

But attorney David Larson, who is seeking a seat on the King County Superior Court bench, has filed a petition asking the state Supreme Court to strip nonpartisan judicial races with only two candidates – including his own – from the Sept. 14 ballot and move them to the Nov. 2 general-election ballot.

At issue are the state’s new primary-election rules, which require voters to choose a party ballot and vote only for that party’s candidates. Many voters may feel disenfranchised and stay home, Larson fears.

Four Spokane County Superior Court candidates are in the same situation as Larson. Incumbent Sam Cozza is being challenged by Steve Eugster, while Michael Elston is trying to unseat Greg Sypolt.

The three-way race among Harold Clarke III, Gail Schwartz and Joe Valente, who hope to replace retiring Judge Paul Bastine, will require a field-narrowing primary vote no matter how Larson’s petition is resolved.

If Larson succeeds with his petition, Reed says he will ask the Supreme Court to leave all judicial candidates on the primary ballot this year but to count only the general-election vote.

Ignoring primary results for affected judicial races would be a simple solution, Dalton agreed. People would go ahead and vote, but nothing would happen.

Dalton noted that the results of a Spokane city charter amendment vote were “suppressed” last September when a judge ruled only four days before the election that the measure was invalid. There wasn’t time to print new ballots.

This primary election will be the first in nearly 70 years in which Washington voters will be required to select a partisan ballot. The change was prompted by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that barred “blanket primaries” on the grounds that they violate political parties’ right to choose their candidates.

Voters who reject partisan ballots won’t be prevented from voting on judicial contests and other nonpartisan races and issues, Dalton noted. In addition to one of three partisan ballots, voters may choose a nonpartisan ballot that excludes partisan races.

Dalton says the voters most in danger of being disenfranchised are the 800 to 1,000 military personnel and others who are overseas. If the state Supreme Court orders changes that require new primary ballots to be printed, overseas voters may not get their ballots soon enough to return them in time, Dalton said.

Election officials are required to have absentee ballots available in their offices by Aug. 25. That’s also when Dalton wants to start mailing absentee ballots.

But that deadline can’t be met if new ballots are required, Dalton said.

“Elections don’t happen overnight,” she said. “It takes anywhere from six to eight weeks of solid work before an election with a lot of very, very tight deadlines.”

Cost also is a major issue, Dalton said.

Next month’s primary will cost Spokane County about $315,000 just to print the 1 million ballots that will be needed.

The Supreme Court may opt not to hear Larson’s petition, but Reed has been asked to file a response to the petition by today.

“Once we get that, then the court will have to decide,” Chief Justice Gerry Alexander said.

A decision is required by Thursday under state election law.

In the past, the top vote-getter in a two-candidate Superior Court primary race has won the seat without having to go on to the general election.

In state House and Senate races, on the other hand, if just one Republican and one Democrat are running, each appears on the primary ballot as a candidate for his or her party’s nomination. But no winner is declared until the general-election vote in November.

Until this year, the same was true of nonpartisan District Court races with only two candidates. But now the Superior Court system applies to District Court as well.

The judicial election system is so complicated that election clerks use a two-page instruction grid to determine how to handle each case, Dalton said. For example, she said, unopposed Superior Court candidates in counties with populations of 100,000 or more are elected without ever appearing on a ballot.

Nine incumbent Spokane County Superior Court judges already are considered re-elected, Dalton said.

Despite the possibility of more complications, Reed said he thinks Larson “has a legitimate complaint because this year the primary is different.”

“I would be supportive of changing it,” he said – but not immediately.

Dalton took no position on what should be done in the future except to say that voters should tell their legislators what they want.