OLYMPIA — It’s been less than a month since a new president took office and already Washington lawmakers are talking about the state’s role in picking the next one.
Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman is seeking to change state law to conduct the presidential primary earlier and give Washington voters greater influence in choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees.
She’s pushing a bill to move up the date from the fourth Tuesday in May to the second Tuesday in March, which in 2016 would have had Washington voters casting ballots ahead of those in states like Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Instead, Washington’s primary occurred May 24, one of the last on the political calendar.
“We think this will increase participation and increase relevance of Washington in the presidential nomination process,” she said Friday in a hearing on the legislation held by the House State Government, Elections and Information Technology Committee.
House Bill 1469 would address two other issues experienced in the 2016 election cycle.
It would give the secretary of state authority to remove presidential candidates from the ballot who are no longer competing. Current law requires presidential candidates to file an affidavit requesting their name be taken off ballots in this state. The secretary of state cannot do so absent such an affidavit.
Wyman didn’t have one from Republican Ben Carson, which is why voters saw his name even though he had been out of the race for some time.
A second change proposed by the bill would allow people to vote without aligning themselves with either the Democratic or Republican parties.
Under current law, in order to vote in a presidential primary one must pick a party and sign an oath on the ballot envelope affirming your allegiance to that party. Those who do not sign the oath will not have their ballots counted.
Under the proposed bill, voters would be able to cast a ballot without aligning with either party. Their ballots would be counted and vote totals posted on the secretary of state’s election website. However, the Democratic and Republican parties would not be required to use them in their respective nominating processes.
“This will give people a voice and parties can decide what to do with the results,” Wyman told the committee.
County auditors support the changes. No one signed in against the bill at Friday’s hearing.
This isn’t Wyman’s first attempt to change the primary date.
In August 2015, she tried to convince Democratic and Republican party leaders to move up the date of the 2016 primary, arguing it would boost Washington’s clout in the national nominating process. Only members of her party agreed.
Susan Hutchison, chairwoman of the state Republican Party, said Friday she backs Wyman’s latest effort.
“We have always felt it was better for the state to hold it earlier. The May primary was pretty meaningless on our side,” she said. “If we were to put this to a vote of the people I think the people of Washington would much prefer to have it earlier in the (election) season than later.”
A state Democratic Party spokesman said it’s too soon for this conversation.
“The bill is premature. The 2020 elections are a long way off and the parties haven’t even decided how they’re going to be deciding delegates and nominees for that year,” party spokesman Alex Bond wrote in an email.
“We have important midterm and local elections to get through first,” he wrote. “We’re not strictly opposed. It’s worth considering but there are more pressing voting issues right now that could have a bigger impact that we’re more focused on.”
Wyman said with the 2016 election still fresh in people’s minds, lawmakers do seem more willing to consider it.
“Now is a really good time to talk about it neutrally,” she said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com Twitter: @dospueblos.
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