Few trail into the polls; some irritated at party oaths

Voters across the region trailed into polling places today, begrudgingly signing party oaths in order to vote in the presidential primary.

"I don't consider myself a Republican or a Democrat," said Jim Forck, a retired Boeing engineer in North Everett who declined to say which party box he checked, or for whom he voted.

So was he irritated to be forced to declare his party loyalty with a checkmark?

"Not irritated enough to not check it," he said.

In West Seattle, Teresa Britton caucused for Barack Obama. Since Democratic delegates are determined by the caucuses instead of the primary, she tossed her absentee ballot, thinking, "Why bother?"

"Then I heard about the superdelegates and I thought, 'Well, I want my say,' " she said.

She voted using a provisional ballot at the Sanislo Elementary School polling place during the lunch hour today.

Voter turnout at the polls was low all over King County. At Sanislo, only about 25 voters cast ballots before 12:30 p.m. More than six in 10 King County voters cast ballots by mail rather than go to the polls.

The North Bellevue Community Center serves 10 Redmond and Bellevue precincts and typically is among the area's busiest polling centers. But today just 32 voters showed up between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m.

"We haven't encountered anybody yet who stomped out because they didn't want to sign the party oath," said Barbara Buchan, a pollworker in Ballard. "Most of the neighbors would have done their thing at the caucuses."

Some voters didn't realize they had to pick a party.

Chuck Elson, a security worker in Snohomish County, said he'd only searched for the party-affiliation boxes after hearing a friend lament that his own vote wouldn't count, because he'd mailed his envelope before hearing about that requirement.

"When he said it, I looked," Elson said. "It's a real small thing."

The oath is printed on the envelope for absentee ballots and in the poll book that voters sign at the polls.

In Seattle, Merle Wicker declared himself a Republican in order to vote for John McCain. He wasn't sure he understood why the oath mattered, but it was worth it to "cast my vote for the person I think should do the job," he said.

Other voters shared their general dislike of the state's confusing primary and caucus system.

"I don't like it. It makes no sense," said J.D. Singer, a private business owner. "We're supposed to vote for the candidate with the best position on the issues, and party has nothing to do with that."

But for Lori King, an Everett High School history teacher, voting by party makes sense. She came of voting age in New York, and later lived in California; both states have a formal registration system for party affiliation.

"I think a lot of people in Washington ... feel something was taken from them," she said. But she added, "Primaries are for the parties, it's not for the general public."

Staff reporter Amy Roe contributed tot his story. Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com