HOUSE BILL REPORT

INITIATIVE 99

BYrequest of the Citizens of Washington State

Presidential Primary.

House Committe on State Government

Majority Report:     Do pass.  (9)

     Signed by Representatives R. Fisher, Chair; Anderson, Vice Chair; McLean, Ranking Republican Member; Hankins, R. King, Morris, Rector, Sayan and Silver.

House Staff:Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 13, 1989

BACKGROUND:

In Presidential election years, delegates from this state to the national nominating conventions of the major political parties are selected, in large measure, through the caucus and convention systems of the parties.

A primary may be either open or closed.  Closed primaries limit access to a party's primary ballot to registered members of that political party.  Open primaries vary considerably from those that require a recorded pledge of support or preference for a party to "blanket" primaries which do not require party preference to be expressed or recorded.

Primaries for partisan elective offices in this state are conducted as blanket primaries.  In a 1981 decision, the U. S. Supreme Court held that if a state opens its Presidential preference primary to voters who do not publicly declare their party affiliation, it cannot require its delegates to a national party convention to vote there in accordance with the primary results, if to do so would violate the rules of the national party.

SUMMARY:

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY.  A Presidential preference primary must be held on the fourth Tuesday in May of each Presidential election year or on another date selected by the Secretary of State to advance the concept of a regional primary.  At such a primary, the voters may express their preferences as to which candidates should be the nominees of the major political parties for the office of President.

PLACEMENT OF NAME ON BALLOT.  The name of a candidate for nomination for President may be printed on the ballot only if:  (1) the Secretary of State so directs because the Secretary has determined that the person's candidacy is generally advocated or is recognized in national news media; or (2) members of the political party of the candidate have presented to the Secretary a petition for nomination of the candidate containing the signatures of at least 1000 registered voters who declare themselves to be affiliated with the same party as the candidate. Each signature must be accompanied by the voter's residence address and precinct name or number.  The petition must be filed not later than the 39th day before the primary and the signatures must be certified in the manner prescribed by law for initiative and referendum petitions.

The name of such a candidate must appear on the ballot unless the candidate files with the Secretary, at least 35 days before the primary, an affidavit stating without qualification that he or she is not and will not become a candidate for President at the forthcoming Presidential election.

VOTING PROCEDURE.  A separate ballot must be prepared for each major political party listing in alphabetical order the names of all candidates of the party who have qualified for the ballot and providing a space for casting a write-in vote. (The names of the candidates listed on the ballot are not to be rotated.)

A person desiring to vote in the primary must sign a ballot request form declaring the party primary in which the person wishes to participate.  The voter may cast no more than one vote on a ballot.  The Secretary must prescribe rules for providing each party central committee with a list of the voters who participated in the primary of that party.

ALLOCATION OF DELEGATES.  The results of the primary determine the percentage of delegate positions to be allocated to each candidate.  The selection of individuals to delegate positions must be in compliance with applicable state party rules and, to the extent practicable, delegates must be apportioned among the state's Congressional districts.

Except as otherwise required by national party rules, delegate positions must be allocated from the state at-large and among the candidates who receive at least 15 percent of the total votes cast for candidates of the same party.  (The votes cast for candidates who do not receive at least 15 percent of the vote are proportionately allocated to the candidates who receive at least this threshold amount.  If no candidate of a party receives the threshold amount, the state committee of the party determines how the state's delegates are to be committed.)

Each candidate for a delegate position committed to a candidate must, before the selection of delegates, sign and submit a pledge to cast his or her ballot for that candidate on the first two ballots, unless released by the candidate, and to advance the cause of that candidate at the party's national convention.

RELEASE OF DELEGATES; VACANCIES.  If, after the primary, a Presidential candidate releases the delegates committed to the candidate by providing written notice to the chair of the party's delegation, the delegates released are considered to be uncommitted.  If a candidate dies, the candidate's delegates are considered to be uncommitted.  If a vacancy occurs in a delegate position, the remaining delegates committed to the same preference as the vacating delegate must name a person to fill the vacancy.

COSTS; RULES; OTHER.  The state assumes all costs of holding a Presidential primary unless other elections are held at the same time.  In the latter case, the state is liable for its prorated share of the costs.

The Secretary of State may adopt rules to facilitate the operation, accomplishment, and purpose of this act.

State law is changed to permit special elections to be conducted on the fourth (rather than the third) Tuesday in May.

Fiscal Note:    Requested February 7, 1989.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     Ross Davis, Jocelyn Marchisio, and Steve Zemke, Citizens for a Presidential Primary; Ruth Coffin Schroeder, League of Woman Voters of Washington; and Chuck Sauvage, Common Cause.

House Committee - Testified Against: Bob Struble, citizen.

House Committee - Testimony For:     (1) Voters who cannot get to the caucuses because they are ill, handicapped, on military assignment elsewhere, or on the "swing" shift are disenfranchised by the current caucus system for nominating Presidential candidates.  (2) Surveys indicate that 70 to 90 percent of the state's voters favor a Presidential primary.  (3) All election procedures should maximize convenience, simplicity, secrecy, and impartiality; the caucus system does not accomplish these goals.  (4) The procedures established in the bill for requesting a party's Presidential primary ballot satisfy the rules of the national conventions of both the Democratic and Republican national parties.  (5) The bill would promote a regional primary.

House Committee - Testimony Against: (1) The state should have a Presidential primary, but it should have one which does not destroy the caucus system; only 15 to 49 percent of the delegates to a national convention should be selected through the primary.  (2) The selection of all delegates should not be turned over to a mass media and money event.  (3) The caucus system should not be discarded in haste as a reaction to recent events nor just because the system is not new.  The current system allows newcomers to participate in the major workings of a party.