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Brad Shannon maintains this blog. He is political editor at The Olympian and can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.

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"Top-two" warning nothing to worry about, Sam Reed says

• Published July 08, 2008

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State elections officials are shrugging off two letters from the state Democratic and Republican parties this week that warn the “top-two” primary scheduled for Aug. 19 is illegal.

“Nobody is losing sleep over here. They’re thinking everything will proceed,” spokesman David Ammons of the Office of the Secretary of State said today. “We’re past the point of no return for this year.’’

The Democrats’ David T. McDonald and Republicans’ John White Jr. both said the federal court injunction that barred the “top two” primary from taking effect in 2005 is still in effect, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that upheld the citizen initiative that put the “top-two” runoff primary in place.

See the letters here and here.

The political parties are upset because under the top two, a party nominee is not guaranteed a spot on the November general-election ballot and it improves the odds that maverick candidates can move on in the runoff. The “top-two” lets two candidates move on even if they are from the same party.

But White’s letter, which is more elaborate than McDonald’s, warned: “Proceeding with the planned August primaries and November elections in violation of this injunction will expose all of the results to challenge, potentially wasting significant taxpayer resources on elections that have to be redone.’’

Secretary of State Sam Reed rejected the warning in this statement released by Ammons:

“Ever since the courts threw out our beloved `blanket primary’ in 2003, I have led the fight for a replacement that would continue to give our independent-minded voters the rights to `vote for the person, not the party,’’’ said Reed, the state’s chief elections officer. “The voters approved our new Top 2 system in 2004 by nearly 60 percent and the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld it in a strong 7-2 opinion. This is the law of the land and we are following that. We believe the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will not depart from the direction the U.S. Supreme Court has set forth. “Despite the unfortunate comments by party lawyers, our Elections Division and the Attorney General are persuaded that we are on solid legal ground and that the will of the voters will survive any and all court challenges by parties. We will continue to vigorously defend this new voter-approved system. It’s about the rights and privileges of the voter, not the power or the preference of the political parties. We will stand with the voters every time.’”

Whether Reed is right or wrong, the parties could still take action to overturn the new runoff primary after it is run. Democrats across the state held nominating conventions earlier this year, saying it would help them preserve their rights for further legal action.