Restore Washingtonians' voting rights

[TechBear_Seattle]

An outstanding opinion piece from Monday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Restore Washingtonians' voting rights
MARTIN HAYES

Costa Rica is a model Third World nation. Election day is a national holiday: All eligible voters must vote or pay a fine. I hope someday Washingtonians will have their full voting rights restored, so our electoral standards will equal Costa Rica's.

Washington state's courts and Legislature have stripped citizens of full citizenship, opting instead for a "voting-lite" standard. The Party Choice Primary is a watered-down partial voting right, available to some of the people, some of the time.

Here in Kitsap County, if you want to vote for sheriff and assessor, you're out of luck. Both elections will be decided in the primary, both partisan races feature only one party. Under Washington's latest primary law, you have to declare whether you choose to vote for Democratic or Republican candidates; you can't vote for both. If you're among the fastest growing voter bloc in America, independent, you don't get to vote in the primary at all, except for non-partisan races.

When the Washington Supreme Court recently ruled the existing primary system "unconstitutional," it left the door open for a new system that is blatantly unconstitutional. Electors technically "vote" for president and vice president, but the U.S. Constitution grants U.S. citizens the right to vote for senators, representatives and all elective state and local offices.

Our right to vote cannot be abridged by the states, or even by the United States. No court or legislature can take away our birthright. Why have we let them?

The essay continues at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/285291_firstperson18.html