.
Krist Novoselic, a founding member of Nirvana, is now an electoral activist (see video below), and Democratic Chairperson. He is also a member of the Grange. Krist has his own opinions about the “Top-Two” voting system in Washington State, and the part of the system that allows any person to list any party as their preference on the ballot. There is a blog post that explains it a bit: here. Also, thanks to Ballot Access News for the lead on the new commentary by Novoselic.
(excerpt from) The Seattle Weekly
The Power of a Solitary Vote, The Power of an Individual Voice
By Krist Novoselic / Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009
Last July, I filed for public office to protest Washington State’s new election law (generally known as the “top-two primary system”). Even though I’m the chair of my County’s Democratic Party, and I have many friends in the Republican Party, the stunt wasn’t about those two organizations, per se. My point is the law infringes upon the fundamental right to free association.
Libertarians, Democrats, and Republicans have been challenging this election law since 2005. (Voters approved the top-two measure, Initiative 872, the prior year.) The State of Washington and the Washington Grange filed a motion to dismiss the most recent legal challenge, but in a Federal District Court ruling last week, Judge John Coughenour denied the motions. The court may now examine evidence of voter confusion and any resulting harm to our right of freedom of association.
The plaintiffs listed above will now have to give examples, as I did in this column last year, about how the top-two system hurts free association. And however the District Court rules, you can bet on appeals all the way back to the U.S. Supreme Court (where the state law has already withstood one challenge)…
With the top-two system, as it currently stands, the State has now taken control of a private group’s name and, on a public ballot, given it away to anyone who wants it…
Voters originally passed the top-two because they hated exclusive, pick-a-party primary ballots. Since then, most people haven’t given the new election law and the legal trouble it’s in much thought. Voters just want more choices. A simple way settle the court hassles, while preserving the wide-open choices in the primary, is to drop the “prefers party” business and instead have authentic party candidates on the ballot…
Novoselic’s commentary also tells the story of his friend DiAnne Knudsen, who was very politically active, and passed away last March.
Below: Video of Krist Novoselic explaining Electoral Activism and Voter Apathy
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G71W0cKJbnA]
Filed under: 3rd party, activism, Ballot issues, elections, grassroots democracy, News, politics, progressive politics, third party, US Politics Tagged: | Constituational, Constitutional Law, election law, Free Association, Krist Novoselic, Nirvana, Right of Free Association, Top-Two, Washington
Leave a Reply