Opinion of the Court
Washington’s Top-Two Primary System Is Not Facially Unconstitutional
Formost of the past century, Washington voters selected nominees for State andlocal offices using a blanket primary. From 1935 until 2003, the State used a blanketprimary that placed candidates from all parties on one ballot and allowedvoters to select a candidate from any party. Under this system, the candidatewho won a plurality of votes within each major party became that party’snominee in the general election. California used a nearly identicalprimary in its own elections until our decision in California Democratic Party v. Jones, (2000). In Jones, four political parties challengedCalifornia’s blanket primary, arguing that it unconstitutionally burdened theirassociational rights…
