Foreword
For 68 years, the State of Washington had a “blanket primary system, where voters could cast ballots for whichever party’s candidates they preferred. They could select the Democratic nominee for governor, then turn around and pick the Republican nominee for Senate, regardless of their own party affiliation. The U.S. SupremeCourt struck down a similar primary system in California Democratic Party v.Jones (2000), however,holding that voters who are not affiliated with a political party cannot helpto choose the party’s nominees in the primary election. In 2003, the NinthCircuit U.S. Court of Appeals, citing Jones,invalidated Washington’s blanket primary. The following…
