You’ll need this primer for our next primary

Voters who are confused about the Sept. 14 primary can take heart. No one younger than 93 years old has ever done it quite this way in Washington before.

Considering that voting has changed in the last seven decades – computer ballots have replaced curtained voting booths and levers – it would be fair to say all voters are equally inexperienced.

Washington residents who lived elsewhere at some point in their voting lives may have been through similar primaries in which they’ve been limited to a particular party’s ballot. In fact, voters in the rest of the country are restricted in some way in primaries and manage to survive.

Most probably don’t even give it much thought, because theirs is the only system they know.

Here’s what you need to know to handle the primary vote.

Absentee ballots

If you vote absentee in Spokane or most other counties, you’ll get four ballots in the mail later this month. One has only the nonpartisan races, and in Washington, all judgeships are nonpartisan offices, as is the state superintendent of public instruction. The others have a particular party’s candidates – Libertarian, Republican or Democrat – plus those nonpartisan races.

Pick the one ballot you wish to vote, mark it and mail it in when you’ve decided on all the races you plan to select. If you vote a partisan ballot, you may have to turn it over to mark the nonpartisan races.

Put it in the envelope supplied by the Elections Office, mail it in, with the proper signature, by Sept. 14.

Discard the other ballots. Shred them, line the bottom of the bird cage, let the kids color on them. There’s no need to mail the blank ones in.

Some other counties will have all the candidates, grouped by party, on the same ballot. Pick the party you wish to vote, mark only the candidates from that party. Marking candidates for two different parties will invalidate your ballot for the partisan races.

Voting at the polls

If you vote at a precinct station in Spokane or most other counties, you will be given four ballots after you sign the poll book. Deposit the three you don’t want to use in the locked receptacle that will be available. Take the one you do want to cast to the booth, and mark it for the candidates of your choice.

In some counties, you’ll be given one ballot with all the races, grouped by party, and you’ll have to stick with just one party’s candidates, marking the paper ballot or punching out holes in the punch-card ballot.

When you’re done, put it in the ballot box or run it through the scanner.

Remember to check for the nonpartisan races, which will be in a separate spot on the ballot, maybe on the back.

Picking a ballot

This is up to each individual voter. You don’t register by party, so you can pick any one. Or, you can skip party politics, and vote only in the nonpartisan races for judges and the superintendent of public instruction.

Some people consider themselves a member of a party, so for them the choice is easy.

People who consider themselves independents still get to pick one of the parties. For them, choosing a ballot may come down to picking the party of a candidate they strongly support or the race that most interests them. So if you really care who wins the Republican primary for the 5th Congressional District, you’d probably cast a GOP ballot, even though it has a gubernatorial race that isn’t considered very competitive.

If you really care who wins the Democratic gubernatorial primary, you might want to vote that party’s ballot, even though you have only one choice in the congressional race.

The Libertarian ballot will have only one contested primary. But that party’s candidates need to get at least 1 percent of the ballots cast in their races to advance to the general.

Candidates for minor parties – Green, Reform, Constitution, Natural Law – are not on the primary ballot, but will be on the general election ballot.

Privacy

Under state law, no one – not the political parties, the candidates or your neighbors – are allowed to know which ballot you cast. No records are kept, and the system is being designed to let you pick privately which ballot to mark or punch.

But even if a poll worker could determine which ballot you chose, the law provides penalties for giving that information to anyone else.

Complaints

Some folks are not going to like this system. Playing the blame game is never a good idea, but the people who are NOT to blame are the poll workers. They work for a pittance, and are just following orders.

Looking for someone to register your displeasure? Consider any of the following:

“ The U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 2000 that the California primary system, is unconstitutional because it doesn’t allow parties to control who picks their nominees. The principle is called Freedom of Association; it’s a constitutional right. Blame the Founding Fathers.

“ The state Democratic and Republican parties, which had opposed the old state “blanket” primary since it was approved by voters in 1935. The state Supreme Court rejected their previous attempts to get rid of it, but armed with the California case, they went to federal court.

“ The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which threw out U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess’ ruling that Washington’s system is different from California.

“ The Legislature, which passed a bill with two systems, one that had all the names on a primary ballot and let the top two finishers go to the general election, regardless of party, as the first choice. The new “personal preference” system was added as a backup.

“ Gov. Gary Locke, who vetoed the top-two system, even though that was the Legislature’s main choice. He said he feared the other system was unconstitutional, or would at least generate another court challenge.