Washington State Party to ignore presidential primary

[TechBear_Seattle]

The Washington State Democratic Party has decided to ignore the state presidential primary in favor of private caucuses, even as the Democrat controlled Legislature move the primary to February 19. The net effect is to turn the primary, which will cost the state an estimated $9.4 million dollars, into a pointless excercise in wasteful spending. The state party boycotted the 2004 presidential primary as well, but at least that primary was cancelled in an effort to save money.

Why do Washington Democrats hate democracy so much?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/319435_primary12.html

[razzleberry]

1. how are names chosen to get on the Nov. ballot ?

state convention,
or winner of primary?

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Names for what race?

Laws governing state and local offices are set by the state legislature. As such, state law requires that major parties* participate in the regular primary election in early September. The winner of the primary from each major party in each race is the candidate who will be on the general election ballot for that party in that race come November.

The presidential race is governed by federal law and not state law. The states can hold a primary, but they can not make the parties participate nor can they force the parties to make any use of the primary results. Instead, the state party sends delegates to the national party convention and it is there, at the convention, where the candidate is officially chosen. That candidate is the one who will appear on the general election ballot in November, regardless of who wins the presidental primary.



* Washington State makes a distinction between major and minor parties. A major party is any organization which puts forth candidates for political office which, in the last year where a governor was elected, ran at least one candidate for state-wide vote (US Senator, President, Governor, Sec. of State, etc.) with at least one such candidate receiving 10% of the total votes cast for that race. All other parties are minor parties. Washington currently has two major parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. A few years ago, the Libertarian Party was classed as a major party.

Minor parties select their candidates by open caucus on or between the last Saturday of June and the first Saturday of July. They must hold a publicly announced meeting open to all registered voters in the jurisdiction of the office for which their candidate is running and obtain at this meeting the signatures of 1000 (if statewide office) or 100 (if less than statewide office) registered voters. Any candidate who follows these rules will appear on the general election ballot.

Major parties who run candidates for partisan state and local offices are required to participate in the regular general election. Because they are participating in two elections, they are entitled to receive maximum campaign contributions for two elections (even though it is extremely rare for a major party candidate to face primary opposition.) Minor party candidates are prohibited by law from participating in the primary, which means they are entitled to receive maximum campaign contributions for only one election, effectively giving them only half of the funding of major party candidates in direct violation of the state constitution's "equal application of the law" clause.

[razzleberry]

3. state races ...

boycott the process that decides
the nominee for dozens of races?

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. They are boycotting the presidential primary, not the regular primary

They have no choice but to participate in the regular primary in September if they want candidates for state and local office to appear on the November ballot. At issue is the Presidential primary, now scheduled for February 19, 2008. Because presidential elections are regulated by federal law, it is perfectly legal for the Democratic Party to waste taxpayer money by making the presidential primary a meaningless excercise.