Parties should give up and let Washington voters have their top-two primary

THOUGH a federal ruling last week kept alive a challenge to Washington's new top-two primary, voters will be able to keep their popular new system.

Judge John Coughenour said the new qualifying primary law could not be struck down completely and he narrowly limited the scope of the challenge the state's major political parties could make.

Now is the time for the state Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties to just get over it. They should give up their efforts to control voter choices and let the people have the primary election they want.

The parties started this battle when they succeeded in getting Washington's trusty old blanket primary ruled unconstitutional.

The parties succeed in getting a partisan primary through the Legislature in 2004, but the people said "No" that fall. Almost 60 percent of voters approved Initiative 872, adopting a qualifying primary where the top two vote-getters, no matter their party affiliation, advanced to the general election.

The parties sued again and won in lower federal courts. But the U.S. Supreme Court batted down their objections to the primary in a strong 7-2 ruling.

Yet the parties continue to argue voters are "confused" by the top-two primary. And the judge said, go ahead, and make your case.

That will be a tough case to make, especially considering the care Secretary of State Sam Reed's office took in implementing the top-two primary and how smoothly county elections officials reported the 2007 primary went.

Better idea: The parties should stop the litigating and let the voters have the primary they want and like.