An inappropriate invasion of voters' right to privacy

Many Washington voters will be shocked and offended to learn that their private votes will not be counted in the Feb. 19 presidential primary unless they make a "political party declaration." That declaration will be provided to the political parties and will be publicly available under the state public records act.

Under our populist traditions, a voter previously could make a primary-election choice for president in the privacy of the voter's booth, confident that the vote would be counted and the privacy of his or her party selection would be protected.

The principle has been that no one is entitled to know your party preference. It is simply no one's business except your own

The voters passed an initiative in 1988 to have a presidential primary every four years. In the last presidential primary, voters had the option to cast an unaffiliated or independent ballot, and 40 percent of voters chose to maintain their political anonymity.

In 2007, the Legislature eliminated that option, so a person wishing to vote in the upcoming February presidential primary will be required to declare a political affiliation.

Such a declaration is particularly inappropriate when it does not reflect an independent voter's actual affiliation, or lack thereof.

With one's party preference exposed for campaigns and other observers to see, targeted telephone calls and mail solicitations would inevitably follow. Voters would risk criticism by partisans on the other side because of this loss of their privacy.

If you believe that the planned "political party declaration" is an inappropriate invasion of the Washington voters' right to political privacy, please contact your Washington state legislators and demand early action in the upcoming session to repeal the written political party declarations for our February presidential primary.