All eligible Washington voters deserve voice in presidential primary

A week ago our state presidential primary was certified with a record-breaking 2,256,488 ballots cast.

Despite the historic turnout, countless eligible voters felt left out due to the required political party declaration.

Washington voters must publicly affiliate as a Democrat or Republican to participate, since they do not register to vote by political party. The purpose of this statutory requirement is to uphold the constitutional right of association for the political parties.

Nearly 60,000 voters in our state had their ballots rejected because they refused to publicly declare their party affiliation on the back of their envelopes.

While this number may be low compared with overall voter turnout, it does not include the hundreds of thousands of voters who simply didn’t bother to fill out and return their ballots for the same reason.

This demonstrates why our historically independent electorate should have a third option to cast their vote without disclosing a political affiliation.

As the election manager elected to represent all Washington voters, I hear you. I understand there is a demand for change in the primary election, and all of us who work for you in Olympia must come together to find a solution.

For years, many of us have spoken out about a need for all voters to be included in the presidential primary. In 1996 and 2000, the primary included an unaffiliated option. Results for the Democratic, Republican and unaffiliated ballots were totaled separately.

Even though voters understood the political parties would not use the unaffiliated results in their nominating processes, more than 500,000 voters still cast an unaffiliated ballot, wanting their voices to be heard.

Reporting the unaffiliated results to the public is meaningful because it gives a wider snapshot of the statewide electorate, not just the partisans. We saw it in 2000 when Republican caucus attendees and primary voters who chose a Republican ballot supported George W. Bush, but John McCain won among unaffiliated voters. The more moderate candidate was more appealing to the more independent voters.

Voters in our state have a long history of fierce independence. Our election system is recognized around the country for being open and inclusive — the way our voters prefer it.

But in 2007, the Legislature removed the unaffiliated option. Since that time, I have heard an outcry from voters to go back to the independence we are known for.

It is unknown exactly how many hundreds of thousands of people were disenfranchised this election due to the actions taken by the Legislature 13 years ago. As it stands now, our voters need changes to be made, and it should happen in the next legislative session.

It will still be relatively fresh in voters’ minds in 2021, and the law needs to be changed early enough in the political parties’ convention rulemaking process so they can adapt their rules around it.

Many of us have urged the Legislature to make changes, whether it be a privacy envelope for voters to use or simply reinstating the unaffiliated option. Sadly, these actions have been trapped in partisan gamesmanship. Everyone should have their voice heard, no matter their political affiliation.

Earning the confidence of all eligible voters is necessary to protect the electoral process in our state. Without this cornerstone, we begin to see the fracturing of our institutions.

We must give our historically independent voters what they deserve in a publicly funded election while upholding the political parties’ right of association. We can do both and ensure the voices of all voters are heard.

Kim Wyman is Washington’s two-term Republican secretary of state.