Reed: 'Delighted’ with ruling on GOP ballot designation

OLYMPIA – Secretary of State Sam Reed says he’s “relieved and delighted” that King County Superior Court has refused to halt the printing and use of General Election ballots that use “GOP” as gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi’s party preference.

“It’s full steam ahead to November, and voters, including our military and overseas voters, will be pleased that they don’t have to worry about getting their ballots and Voters’ Pamphlets on time,” said Reed, the state’s chief elections officer.

Judge Richard Eadie, following a hearing on the challenge brought by Democratic Party attorneys, declined to require Reed to direct the state’s 39 counties to change all ballots to reflect the Democrats’ demand that Rossi be listed as preferring the Republican Party, rather than the “GOP” preference that Rossi indicated when he filed for office in early June. Rossi, the state Republicans, and the state Grange organization were allowed to intervene in the case. Reed was defended by the state attorney general.

“I am relieved and delighted that the court has rejected attempts to hamper or derail a smooth and efficient election, and to potentially imperil the voting rights of some of our military voters,” Reed said. “Judge Eadie has properly declined to overturn months of careful preparation and administration of an election system that citizens created for themselves through initiative and have expressed such satisfaction with.

By not requiring a candidate for governor to follow the opposition party’s wishes for how he designates his party preference, the court has acknowledged a central feature of the new Top 2 system: Candidates are free to file for office and express their party preference without government interference. Voters then pick their favorites and the two top vote-getters advance to the November General Election, regardless of party preference.

“This ruling again underscores that the new system is driven by and for the voters, not the political parties, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

“We regret that the court challenge was lodged at such a late hour, months after the implementing rules were made public to the parties and everyone. An adverse ruling would have caused great hardship and unwarranted expense for the taxpayers of Washington. The election season really is under way. Some counties have already printed ballots and Voters’ Pamphlets and others are in the process and had feared that delay and change would make it impossible, or nearly so, to meet stringent deadlines. Our counties are struggling mightily to run efficient and cost-effective elections.

I also worried that an adverse ruling could have led to challenge of some military ballots – the opposite of the great respect we want to show all of our military voters in this time of war and danger.”

State Elections Director Nick Handy hailed the ruling. “The good news is for our military voters, who will be getting ballots on time. The election is under way and we’re relieved that the counties will be able to proceed,” he said.

Reed, who had previously urged the parties to drop their continuing litigation over a voting system that was chosen by a landslide 60 percent vote of the people and upheld by a strong 7-2 decision of the Supreme Court, said a central feature of the new Top 2 Primary is allowing candidates to express their preference for any party, or to designate no preference at all, using up to 16 characters.

Some candidates used the `prefers GOP’ designation, while others used `prefers Republican.’ The rules of the election were written and publicized well before Filing Week in June and the Primary in August. They did not limit party-name choices, and indeed some candidates said they preferred such parties as “Salmon Yoga” or “Progressive Democrat” or other unofficial names, such as “R.”  It was the candidates’ call, not the government’s, Reed said.

The new primary is not for the purpose of choosing party nominees, but rather winnowing the field to two candidates for each office. The candidates self-describe their party preference, if any, and the voters their pick their favorite two to move on to the General Election.

The political parties first received notice on April 16 that the state would not limit candidates’ choices, other than forbidding use of profanity or implying or stating that the candidate was endorsed by a particular party.