The on-going fight over how Washington state voters select candidates for election took another turn Friday when a U.S. District Court judge struck down the voter-approved “top two” primary.
North Olympic Peninsula GOP and Democratic party leaders said they weren’t surprised by the ruling and welcomed the news with varying degrees of enthusiasm — while the parties’ state leaders championed the decision.
The decision won’t have any effect on Clallam County voting this fall.
Clallam Elections Supervisor Patty Rosand told Peninsula News Network, the cable TV news program on Wave Broadband’s Channel 3, that it won’t cause confusion this September because this is the year there are no local partisan positions up for election, only non-partisan offices like City Council.
John Pollock, Clallam County Democratic Party state committeeman, said he was happy to hear the news.
“It wasn’t unexpected, but I’m still happy,” he said.
“It’s certainly a step in the right direction.”
Washington now will hold the same kind of primaries that are held in 48 other states, Pollock said.
