Keep our presidential primary

In 1992, the first presidential primary was held in Washington. This was a seminal event for the people of this state — an opportunity for all individuals to express their preference for a candidate for president.

But the Democratic Party has never considered the results of the presidential primary and the Republicans have apportioned only a percentage of their delegates based on the results of the presidential primary.

On Saturday, the state Democratic Central Committee will meet in Bellingham and decide once again whether to use the vote of the people when deciding the next Democratic nominee for president of the United States. The state Republicans will make the same decision in Yakima on June 2.

If ever there were a time for the parties to consider the broader voice of the people when nominating their next presidential candidate, it is now. We haven't had such a wide-open presidential race — with no incumbent president or vice president running — since 1952. The past two generations haven't had an opportunity to vote in such a competitive primary. It doesn't get any better than this.

If we hold an early and meaningful presidential primary, the candidates will come to our state and learn our issues. It also gives us the opportunity to inform and reinvigorate our voters.

There is a reason Washington passed legislation in 1989 authorizing a presidential primary. In 1988, the Washington state Republican Party chose long-shot candidate Pat Robertson as Washington's Republican nominee for president. But, according to the polls, he was not the front-runner among Washington voters. What happened? The party had used the caucus system, rather than a presidential primary, to select its candidate. 1988 was also the year that many Democratic caucuses selected Jesse Jackson as their presidential nominee.

At least 200,000 voters felt so strongly that the caucus system was not reflecting the will of the people that they submitted an initiative to the Legislature to ensure Washington state would hold presidential primaries in the future. The Legislature resoundingly agreed and passed the measure. The people and the leaders of the entire state had spoken; they wanted a more-open, less-restrictive system that was accessible to the average voter, and they wanted the parties to listen.

If the political parties again choose to use the caucus system to select delegates to the national conventions, only a select group of political insiders will participate. The result will be that Washington voters will not participate in nominating candidates for the highest office in the land.

Yes, we are all invited to participate in party caucuses. You can attend. That is, if you aren't too elderly, disabled or sick. Of course, that's assuming you aren't working on that particular day, aren't vacationing, and can speak conversational English.

It also assumes you are not in the military serving our country outside of the state. At least 22,000 of our state's men and women are. How can we deny our servicemen and women the opportunity to participate in the nomination of the president — especially since he or she will likely hold their futures in his or her hands?

There are many obstacles to participating in party caucuses. Only 2 to 4 percent of us have participated in previous years. By contrast, nearly 42 percent of voters participated in the most-recent presidential primary in our state. That difference is staggering.

Significant groups within each party are currently fighting to keep the presidential primary alive and to use the results of the primary — at least to some degree — to select party delegates in 2008. I hope that they will succeed.

The League of Women Voters helped sponsor the initiative that mandated presidential primaries be held. The league firmly believes in open government and maximum citizen participation. It is time for the political parties to honor the promises of the people's initiative for a presidential primary. It is time to make our votes meaningful. The people of Washington deserve no less.

Barbara Seitle is president of the League of Women Voters of Washington.