GOP sues to have ‘top two’ system tossed

SEATTLE – The state Republican Party filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to have the state’s new “top two” primary declared unconstitutional – thus creating more upheaval in an election system still reeling from last fall’s contested governor’s race.

The federal court lawsuit argues that the new system violates the party’s First Amendment right to association by stealing its ability to select its own candidates for office. The Democratic Party sought Thursday to join the lawsuit, which names nine county auditors or elections managers as defendants.

“We have nominating rights under the statutes of the state of Washington,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt. “The election officials are flagrantly ignoring the law.”

Washington’s longtime “blanket” primary system – which allowed voters to pick a favorite for every office, even if they skipped back and forth across party lines – was finally terminated last year, four years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar system in California. Last November, voters replaced it with Initiative 872. Under it, the top two vote-getters in the primary advance to the general election, regardless of party.

The GOP and other critics argue that two candidates from the same party could wind up on the final ballot. They also say that someone could run as a Republican even if the Republican Party does not want that candidate, and that voters who oppose the party could wreak havoc by voting for weaker GOP candidates in the primary.

“The party and its adherents are irreparably injured by the forced adulteration of the party’s nomination process, by the state’s active encouragement of cross-over voting and ticket-splitting, and by the resulting dilution and potential suppression of the party’s message,” the lawsuit said.

The secretary of state’s office declined to comment Thursday, saying it had not seen the lawsuit. The Washington State Grange, which sponsored the original blanket primary seven decades ago and I-872 last fall, said it was looking forward to the legal fight.

“The people have the right to vote in whoever they want for leaders, instead of letting the party pick who it wants for leaders,” said Grange President Terry Hunt. “We feel very confident this is going to withstand any challenge that comes along. So let’s see. Bring it on.”

The nine auditors and elections managers named in the lawsuit are from counties holding partisan primaries this September. They are King, Snohomish, Spokane, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Wahkiakum and Jefferson.

After the state’s blanket primary was struck down by the courts, the Legislature passed a top-two system similar to the one now in place. But Gov. Gary Locke, under pressure from the political parties, partially vetoed it.

His creative decision left a Montana-style system that required voters to select one party’s primary ballot and pick candidates from that. That was the system used in last fall’s primaries, a system that was supplanted when the voters passed I-872 by 60 percent.

The lawsuit asks the court to reinstate the Montana-style system.

Though the Republican and Democratic parties were on the same side in federal court Thursday, halfway across the state they prepared to go to trial next week in Chelan County Superior Court over the governor’s race. Democrat Christine Gregoire won by 129 votes after two previous counts that had Republican Dino Rossi winning.

The GOP is seeking to have the result invalidated, citing voting irregularities in King County and elsewhere.