By John Burbank
Published February 25th 2004 in The News Tribune
On Monday the United States Supreme Court upheld a legal ruling that
found Washington's current primary system unconstitutional. Why?
Because it enables Democrats to participate in the selection of
Republican candidates and Republicans to vote for Democratic
candidates. It is a little like having the CEO of Apple Computers help
pick the CEO of Microsoft.
Sam Reed, Washington's secretary of state, is proposing to replace this unconstitutional system with a modified Cajun primary similar to the one in Louisiana. How that works is that the top two vote-getters in the primary, even if they are from the same party, go on to the general election. So in some areas, only Republicans or Democrats would make it to the November ballot.
Supporters of the major party that doesn't have a candidate in the general election just might not come out and vote. Why should they, if their party doesn't even have a candidate on the November ballot? And certainly supporters of third-party candidates, such as Libertarians and the Green Party, would be completely shut out.
I like Cajun cooking, but I think we should leave their voting system in the bayous. Now that the primary has been thrown out, we should look at some real changes, not just cosmetic ones that may mess up the system even more.
The biggest problem with our current system is that it leaves a good part of the electorate without representation.
All 18 legislators from Seattle are Democrats. So Seattle Republicans are completely disenfranchised.
One third of our legislators - 33 of them - come from east of the Cascades. Of these only four are Democrats - 12 percent. Which means that most Democrats on the other side of the Cascade curtain don't have any representation in Olympia.
More than 25 percent of the legislative contests in 2002 were uncontested. Either the Republican or Democrat got a free ride, with no opposition at all.
Pile on top of this the futile third-party candidacies, and we have a system that excludes the majority of voters from representation in Olympia. That's not too democratic. In fact, it may be in violation of our own state constitution. Article I, Section 19 reads, "All Elections shall be free and equal . . ."
It is hard to claim an equal election when, for example, in 2002 in the 42nd District in Bellingham, Democrat Georgia Gardner received 17,565 votes, Republican Dale Brandland received 18,721 votes, Libertarian Don Crawford received 724 votes and Green Party candidate Pete Tassoni received 1,006 votes. All the folks voting for Brandland got complete representation, and all those voting for Gardner, Crawford and Tassoni - the majority - got none.
There is a way out of this that ensures that each vote is actually translated into appropriate legislative voice and power. Recently Krist Novoselic, the former Nirvana bass player, launched an effort for a better and more representative democracy. He is promoting a system of nine super-districts that would elect 11 representatives each.
The elections would be by proportional representation, so that if Republican candidates got 55 percent of the votes, they would get six representatives; if Democrats got 40 percent, they would get four representatives; and if Libertarians got 8 percent, they, too, would get a representative.
Each party would nominate a list of 11 candidates. The candidates with the most votes would be elected to the Legislature if the total vote for their party's candidates entitled them to representation. As a citizen, you vote for your preferred candidate and, in doing so, the party he or she represents.
You could even do this with 33 districts electing three representatives each. This would ensure that voters for Republicans in Seattle and Democrats east of the Cascades would get some representation. It also leaves open the door for a strong grass-roots effort by a third party in certain areas.
Talk about stimulating the discussion in Olympia!
And that's the reason why this approach will not find many friends in the Legislature. The two major parties jealously guard their joint monopoly on political power. But if we are serious about democracy, we must look for ways to open up our political system and make every vote and voice count. After all, our job as citizens is to revitalize our democracy, not make the current power brokers comfortable and happy.
Sam Reed, Washington's secretary of state, is proposing to replace this unconstitutional system with a modified Cajun primary similar to the one in Louisiana. How that works is that the top two vote-getters in the primary, even if they are from the same party, go on to the general election. So in some areas, only Republicans or Democrats would make it to the November ballot.
Supporters of the major party that doesn't have a candidate in the general election just might not come out and vote. Why should they, if their party doesn't even have a candidate on the November ballot? And certainly supporters of third-party candidates, such as Libertarians and the Green Party, would be completely shut out.
I like Cajun cooking, but I think we should leave their voting system in the bayous. Now that the primary has been thrown out, we should look at some real changes, not just cosmetic ones that may mess up the system even more.
The biggest problem with our current system is that it leaves a good part of the electorate without representation.
All 18 legislators from Seattle are Democrats. So Seattle Republicans are completely disenfranchised.
One third of our legislators - 33 of them - come from east of the Cascades. Of these only four are Democrats - 12 percent. Which means that most Democrats on the other side of the Cascade curtain don't have any representation in Olympia.
More than 25 percent of the legislative contests in 2002 were uncontested. Either the Republican or Democrat got a free ride, with no opposition at all.
Pile on top of this the futile third-party candidacies, and we have a system that excludes the majority of voters from representation in Olympia. That's not too democratic. In fact, it may be in violation of our own state constitution. Article I, Section 19 reads, "All Elections shall be free and equal . . ."
It is hard to claim an equal election when, for example, in 2002 in the 42nd District in Bellingham, Democrat Georgia Gardner received 17,565 votes, Republican Dale Brandland received 18,721 votes, Libertarian Don Crawford received 724 votes and Green Party candidate Pete Tassoni received 1,006 votes. All the folks voting for Brandland got complete representation, and all those voting for Gardner, Crawford and Tassoni - the majority - got none.
There is a way out of this that ensures that each vote is actually translated into appropriate legislative voice and power. Recently Krist Novoselic, the former Nirvana bass player, launched an effort for a better and more representative democracy. He is promoting a system of nine super-districts that would elect 11 representatives each.
The elections would be by proportional representation, so that if Republican candidates got 55 percent of the votes, they would get six representatives; if Democrats got 40 percent, they would get four representatives; and if Libertarians got 8 percent, they, too, would get a representative.
Each party would nominate a list of 11 candidates. The candidates with the most votes would be elected to the Legislature if the total vote for their party's candidates entitled them to representation. As a citizen, you vote for your preferred candidate and, in doing so, the party he or she represents.
You could even do this with 33 districts electing three representatives each. This would ensure that voters for Republicans in Seattle and Democrats east of the Cascades would get some representation. It also leaves open the door for a strong grass-roots effort by a third party in certain areas.
Talk about stimulating the discussion in Olympia!
And that's the reason why this approach will not find many friends in the Legislature. The two major parties jealously guard their joint monopoly on political power. But if we are serious about democracy, we must look for ways to open up our political system and make every vote and voice count. After all, our job as citizens is to revitalize our democracy, not make the current power brokers comfortable and happy.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.