Prepping for the top-two primary

This August, the people of Washington will cast their votes in the country's first partisan top-two primary, narrowing the field of candidates vying for precious spots on the November ballot.

The historic qualifying election will follow years of court battles over voting rights and a landmark decision for the people's democracy in the U.S. Supreme Court. Now the burden is on us to get it right, and delicately implement the new top-two primary.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the top-two primary, a system that sends the two leading vote-getters on to November regardless of party, declaring it constitutional as written. But the court made clear: Voters must understand what the candidates' political preferences on the ballot do and do not represent.

Since the decision came down, my office has been engrossed in discussions with the state attorney general, has hired a focus group to test ballot language, and has begun preparations for a public education campaign.

The ballot and voting instructions must clearly illustrate how a top-two primary works:

• The top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party;

• Voters will not have to choose a political party;

• Voters will freely choose any candidate on the ballot;

• While candidates may state their own political party preferences on the ballot, the preferences do not represent or imply endorsement by a party. Like all private organizations, political parties are free to endorse any candidate. But endorsements cannot be noted on the ballot.

As a result, top-two voters will likely see:

JOHN SMITH

(Prefers [Example] Party)

Or:

JOHN SMITH

(States No Party Preference)

The top-two primary passed by citizen initiative in 2004, carrying nearly 60 percent of the vote. The overwhelming victory, a reflection of the public's cherished independence on the ballot, was short-lived.

Instead, the top-two primary became the center of multiple court cases and capped off a kind of primary ping-pong that bounced voters from a blanket primary in 2003 to a pick-a-party primary in 2004 and, finally, to a top-two primary in 2008.

The U.S. Supreme Court honored the people's will by reinstating the top-two primary; voters are counting on us to do the same with its careful implementation.