Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is rejoicing a federal judge's decision that the system allowing two candidates with the most votes in the primary election to pit each against other in the general electionâeven if they're both Democrats or both Republicans or both Goodspaceguy Nelsonâis Constitutional:
Washingtonâs voter-approved Top 2 Primary system is constitutional, says U.S. District Judge John Coughenour. The jurist, in an order that dismissed challenges brought by the political parties, ended a decade of litigation over the primary system. [...]He said the system âdoes not create the possibility of widespread confusion among the reasonable, well-informed electorate.â He did, however, conclude that the wide-open election system does not work for election for PCOs. He declined to order a fix.
I know individual voters aren't stupidâokay, maybe some of themâbut I don't have piles of confidence in a consistently "reasonable, well-informed electorate." A full quarter of them don't know that GOP and Republican are the same thing.