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1) eliminate the Primary [by Anonymous on October 8, 2006]If the parties want their primaries then they can have them, if they can fund them. There is no reason the general public should fund these special partisan elections. As someone who doesn't belong to any party, I don't particulary like my tax dollars being spent by any party.
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I had not seen that the local options IRV bill would eliminate the primary. This is a good first step towards IRV, but I'm concerned about eliminating the primary for partisan races.
For partisan elections, the Primary election is when the members of a political party choose from their potential candidates for a specific office. IRV can be used when there are more than two candidates from a single political party. The General election is when the public chooses who should hold the office from the candidates provided by the political parties or from the general public.
For non-partisan elections, I agree that the primary is not necessary and the election could be completed in a single step.
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HB 1335 is needed to remove the requirement for first class cities to use primary elections. Unfortunately, the wording is subject to a misinterpretation to the effect that it will allow first class cities to select different primary dates from those specified in RCW 29A.04.311.
The current bill replaces RCW 29A.04.310 with RCW 29A.04.311 and adds the phrase: "except where the charter of a first class city provides otherwise" in two places.
I believe the intent of this bill is to enable first class cities to eliminate the requirement for a primary election by adopting election methods such as Instant Runoff Voting, Cumulative Voting, Choice Voting, or other types of Proportional Representation which do not require a primary election.
The phrase: "except where the charter of a first class city provides otherwise" should be amended to: "except where the charter of a first class city eliminates the need for a primary election"
The AMENDED bill would then read:
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HB 1335 (AMENDED)
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 29A.52.210 and 2003 c 111 s 1305 are each amended to read as follows:
All city and town primaries shall be nonpartisan. Primaries for special purpose districts, except those districts that require ownership of property within the district as a prerequisite to voting, shall be nonpartisan. City, town, and district primaries shall be held as provided in RCW ((DELETE:29A.04.310)) [ADD:29A.04.311, except where the charter of a first class city eliminates the need for a primary election].
The purpose of this section is to establish the holding of a primary, subject to the exemptions in RCW 29A.52.220, as a uniform procedural requirement to the holding of city, town, and district elections[ADD:, except where the charter of a first class city eliminates the need for a primary election]. These provisions supersede any and all other statutes, whether general or special in nature, having different election requirements.
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