Whilst everyone was lining up and waiting with bated breath watching/listening to Heller V. DC yesterday, the Justices put out a decision pertaining to Washington State’s Top Two general election system.
Over simplified explanation: The Secretary of State is required to pick the top two vote getters from the Primary Election and put only their names on the General Election ballot.
Yes, it is as stupid as it sounds.
And yes, it could mean that people in Seattle only get to choose from two Democrats in the general election if no Republican gets more votes than the lesser of the two Democrats.
And also, yes, it means that third party candidates will probably never get on the ballot until a new process is brought into action.
And once again, yes, getting a new process around the two major parties so that third party candidates can get on the general election ballot may be nigh impossible.
So this is why I am not writing about Heller today. Writing while being in a general fit of pissed-offedness at all the Justices except for Justice Scalia and Justice Kennedy today might give off bad juju.
Nothing like having your franchise taken away eh?
I think the issue was decided as part of the Court’s renewed emphasis on tossing back “facial challenges” to the law — where the law may look really bad, but nobody’s been injured by it yet, so there’s no “case or controversy” worthy of judicial scrutiny. Trust me, they’ll be revisiting this issue in a couple of years once you have an election under these rules.
Pingback: Random Nuclear Strikes » Medium Rare