Late date fades state’s primary colors

Republican voters in Washington state were just days away from having more than one candidate in the race when they go to mark their ballots for the state’s May 24 presidential primary.

Following Tuesday’s Indiana primary win by Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz suspended his campaign that night; Ohio Gov. John Kasich bowed out the next morning. And ballots for the presidential primary began arriving in the mailboxes of Washington voters Friday.

So, thousands of ballots instead of the ballot dropbox or mail box are now likely destined for the recycle bin.

Those Republicans not backing Trump can pretend they have a choice. Trump supporters’ votes will count for something, adding to his tally as he approaches the 1,237 delegates he needs to officially earn the Republican nomination outright. But those who can’t bring themselves to vote for the hotel magnate and reality TV star, can register a protest vote of sorts and choose among Cruz, Kasich and Ben Carson. (Carson suspended his campaign in early March, but failed to notify the Secretary of State’s office that he had withdrawn his candidacy.)

Democrats, officially at least, still have two candidates in the race with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but Clinton holds a significant lead in pledged delegates. Yet even those ballots don’t mean as much as they might have. The state Democratic Party allocates all of its delegates using the party caucuses, which were March 26. Sanders won handily with nearly 73 percent support to Clinton’s 27 percent. Of the state’s 101 pledged Democratic delegates, Sanders earned 74 to Clinton’s 27.

As is the case for Republicans, the Democratic primary has been reduced to a straw poll, one that is costing the state taxpayers $11.5 million to run.

It might have been different.

Secretary of State Kim Wyman attempted to move up the date of the primary to March 8, just a week after the Super Tuesday primaries, and also sought to get agreement from both parties to allocate at least one national convention delegate based on the results of the primary, rather than the caucuses. Republicans signed on, but the state Democratic Party refused, preferring to use their caucuses to allocate delegates.

We agree with Wyman that using the primary to determine at least a portion of delegates is in the best interests of voters. It doesn’t have to discourage turnout for the caucuses, and yet provides for increased and meaningful participation in the primary election, with the potential to add to the popular vote totals of candidates. Wyman estimates that about 10 times as many people will vote in the primary as participated in the party caucuses.

And moving up the date of the primary also would have increased the visibility of Washington state and the issues important to its residents on the national political stage. Both Clinton and Sanders staged rallies and appearances in the state in advance of the caucuses, but the visits were fleeting. Trump visited Spokane and Lynden on Saturday, but only for a victory lap. Cruz dropped out a day after announcing a Washington state visit, which was then canceled.

Others have proposed a system of rotating regional primaries, joining Washington with Oregon and California, whose primary elections also come after both races are all but over. Even if scheduled later in the campaigns, a regional primary has the potential to put some West Coast issues, including energy, trade, water resources, fisheries and technology, on the stump for discussion.

Imagine how a Seattle debate among one or both parties’ candidates, in advance of the March 8 primary, could have elevated the discussion and brought some definition to the candidates’ stances on trade, particularly in a state dependent on exports and where agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership enjoy greater understanding and support than they do in the Midwest.

So, yes, please mark your ballot and send it in. It’s too bad it doesn’t mean more.