Hello, Kossacks. Although I've been a member since 2006, this is probably my first ever diary here on Daily Kos, but I think it is important to get this information out if you are a voter in Washington State.
The Washington State Democratic Party is set to vote the weekend of April 5-7, 2019 on the primary election rules for 2020. They have posted 2 proposals at the following website:
WA Dems Election Center
They are accepting public comments and "votes" until Thursday, April 4. I will summarize the two proposals, but you should take the time to read each one and comment here if I've misinterpreted anything so as the make sure the best explanation is presented to readers.
The first proposal is called the Hybrid Primary-Caucus. The party would use the votes from the March 10, 2020 state primary to proportionally assign delegates to the candidates. The party would later hold caucuses/meetings to select delegates for the purpose of voting at the national convention. This is similar to how WA Republicans assign their delegates.
Voters who participate in the primary would have to request a Democratic ballot, and that participation would be a matter of public record (as are caucuses). Even though most voters vote by mail and have a couple weeks to return their ballots, you can register on election day in each county seat and have your voted counted. Note also that all mail-in ballots are now postage free.
One point I'm not sure of is if 17 year-olds can vote in the primary if they will turn 18 by election day in November. They can caucus since the vote is held by the party and not the state. WA law does allow them to pre-register to vote.
I'll also touch on candidate ballot access. In order for the candidate to qualify for the primary ballot, they must submit to the state Democratic Party the signatures of 1000 WA Democratic voters. The deadline is about 2 months before the March 10 primary.
The second proposal is called the Full Caucus Cycle. The party would use the results of caucuses to assign delegates to candidates as they have in previous years. If this proposal is accepted, precinct caucuses would take place on Saturday, March 21, 2020. People who are unable to attend the caucus would be allowed to file an absentee ballot without justification (previous absentee ballots required a valid reason for being unable to attend). You can register to vote on caucus day, or pre-register and caucus if you will be 18 before November 3, 2020. It appears that absentee ballots will count the same as in-person votes (unlike Iowa’s pitiful 10%).
Caucus rules do not have any requirements for candidate ballot access.
There's a bunch more stuff in the two proposals that deal with party business and such. If I missed anything that seems important, don't hesitate to post here and discuss.
Note that both of these proposals are subject to modification by the state party and/or the DNC to make sure they don't violate any party rules.
Hopefully the party will do the right thing for the Democrats in Washington State.