A judge agreed.
Party leaders Dwight Pelz, of the state Democrats and Kirby Wilbur, of state Republicans, can’t have it both ways. They can’t get the electoral system declared unconstitutional, then sue the state for not conducting the precinct committee officer election.
Secretary of State Sam Reed, the chief elections officer in the state, wrote in a letter to party leaders, “I realize that the 2012 Legislature may pass legislation authorizing you to elect PCOs (precinct committee officers) in a new government-regulated election. But currently, as private associations, each party is free to manage its internal affairs and the election of its internal officers without interference from state law or regulation.”
Reed continued, “I do note that county election offices do not conduct elections for other private associations, such as Rotary clubs, unions, or trade associations. And almost all other jurisdictions, such as school districts and fire districts (which provide vital public services and are suffering financially), are required to pay their share of election costs; the state is the only other entity that is exempt from paying its share of regular election costs.”
We agree with Reed. The state has no business conducting public elections for what are basically private offices. Let the political parties create and pay for their own electoral system.
It’s ironic, but the top two primary election system we have in place today – one that is very popular with voters – is on the books because the political parties challenged long-standing election regulations. Voters like the new system because they don’t have to declare a party preference and can cross back and forth on the ballot selecting their candidates of choice without regard to party affiliation.
The bottom line: The parties created this system of electing public officials, so it’s too bad if they don’t like what they created.
Now all we have to do is hope the courts agree.
We have said it before and will say it again: Public elections should be for public officers. County auditors should not conduct publicly financed elections for what, in essence, are private organizations – such as the two dominant political parties.
Auditors throughout the state have maintained that they shouldn’t spend public dollars to conduct a public election to elect nonpublic officials. And they are absolutely right.
And make no mistake, precinct committee officer elections are costly. Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman has said that because the county is divided into 297 precincts, her election staff must create 297 different ballots so precinct committee officers can be elected.
And here’s the rub. Statewide election statistics show that while counties go to all the expense of creating thousands of different ballots, very few precincts have contested elections.
Statewide statistics from the 2010 election show:
• 65.3 percent of the 12,250 precinct committee officer positions up for election didn’t draw a single candidate. So we are holding costly elections for races that don’t exist.
• 32.2 percent of the PCO positions had just one candidate.
• Only 2.5 percent of the PCO elections were contested.
The solution is to let the political parties conduct – and pay for – their own elections for precinct officers and get them off the public ballot entirely. That’s what county auditors want and that’s the right solution.
Political party leaders have only themselves to blame for creation of an electoral system they now dislike. Tough luck.
