Primary voting system flawed

I struggled with voting in the primary. First, the choices were already decided by either caucus or last man standing. Second, why should I declare to the public on the outer envelope my party choice? Whatever happened to the secret ballot? Why do I have to declare a party loyalty if I vote as an Independent but have preferences? Lastly, this primary wasted $11.5 million of taxpayer money, which could have been left in the budget for something like Life Sciences Discovery Fund or some other effort that actually produced tangible results and jobs.

This system is so flawed that it’s hard to verbalize my disgust. However, I’ve voted in virtually every election since I turned 18. Not this time. The deciding factor for me was that I refused to waste another penny on this primary and, therefore, wouldn’t waste a 49-cent stamp for my mail-in ballot. I joined Bert Caldwell and voted with my scissors. Ridiculous.

Bill Savitz

Spokane