Forum

Gov. Gary Locke’s late partial veto of the Legislature-passed “Bill to Establish a Qualifying Primary” was calculated to give little time for opponents to bring lawsuits or ballot measures.

Locke knew there would be suits against his elimination of the main intent of the legislation. But he hoped any legal action against his veto would come too late to stop a partisan primary for 2004.

Maybe he’ll get what he wants for this year, but expect the Washington State Grange’s “People’s Choice” initiative to establish a qualifying primary for future years.

Initiative 872 “would allow voters to select among all candidates in a primary. Ballots would indicate candidates’ party preference. The two candidates receiving most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party.”

Members of the Cedar Valley Grange in Lynnwood have started circulating petitions at shopping areas. Many people like me are working on it at home.

Cedar Valley Grange Master Harry Sherman, a former Mountlake Terrace mayor, says that people can get copies of the initiative by calling him at 425-776-1578 or by calling the State Grange at 1-800-854-1635.

The initiative would give us the same kind of primary ballot we have had for 69 years, but would have the advantage of producing a one-on-one general election, eliminating situations in which a candidate wins without getting a majority in November.

The State Grange is seeking to get 250,000 signatures of legal Washington voters by June 30. State law requires about 198,000 signatures, but the Grange wants more than needed to account for invalid and incomplete signatures.

A good idea from a nearby school district

Starting next year, students at the Mukilteo School District’s two high schools will have their class ranks weighted by the number of honors and advance-placement courses they take.

I became an advocate of this a few years ago at a high school graduation. During the announcement of the top 5 percent of the class, I noticed that many students from honors classes were not recognized, including a girl who had been named a National Merit Scholar.

The Mukilteo system would have pushed someone with such a schedule ahead of people with similar or higher grade averages but fewer high-demand academic courses.

Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor.