Krist Novoselic (formerly the bassist from Nirvana) is running for County Clerk of Wahkiakum County in the state of Washington.
Under the rules of State Initiative 872 (sponsored by The Grange), any candidate can list any party affiliation after his or her name, whether or not the party agrees with or endorses the candidate. Here’s a crazy example: Dick Cheney could move to Washington State and run for Governor and put "Democrat Party" after his name. (We all know Cheney wouldn’t call it the "Democratic Party.")
KN will be listed on the countywide ballot as:
Krist Novoselic (Prefers Grange Party)
And here’s the weird part. The Grange is not a party – it’s a non-partisan group that never endorses candidates. But The Grange can’t stop him from putting "Grange Party" after his name. Novoselic is active in the Democratic Party (he’s Chairman of the Wahkiakum County Democrats) and he’s also a member of The Grange. He could have chosen "Grunge Party," too. There's a joke there, I suppose.
How did this happen? More after the fold.
Novoselic is angry about I-872. You can read his (fairly short) explanation here: Krist Novoselic Is Running For Office. He also includes a link to the May 2008 U.S. Supreme Court Decision.
Here’s how I-872 happened.
First, We Had The Caucus System
I’ve lived in Seattle since 1988. Back then, there was no statewide party registration (there still isn’t) – meaning the state government doesn’t keep track of people’s party preferences. There’s no such thing as a "Registered Democrat" or "Registered Republican." The state of WA doesn’t care. Also, back in the ‘80s, the Republican and Democratic parties used the caucus system to select their candidates for local and national offices.
I like the grassroots nature of caucuses (I grew up in Minnesota and was once elected to the district convention and then the state Democratic convention, which was exciting, and in Washington I was elected to the County Democratic Convention, but wasn’t elected to the State Convention).
In 1988, a poll of Washington Republicans showed 75% preferred GHW Bush and Dole. But religious zealots organized in churches and flooded the caucuses and what happened? The televangelist Pat Robertson won the majority of Washington delegates to the national Republican convention. It was a grassroots thing that pissed off the state Republican party.
So a lot of Republicans said things like, "We need to switch to a primary! On the day of the caucuses, I don’t have four hours to spend in a meeting room at a church or a community college! I have to mow the lawn! I have to go to Home Depot! I have to evict a tenant!" Republicans are always busy with things like that.
Next, We Had The Open Primary System
Or maybe it was called a blanket primary. The basic idea was you’d vote for your favorite candidate in a race and the Democrat with the most votes would face the Republican with the most votes. And no voter would have to declare which party was his or her favorite.
The Democrats and the Republicans both said, "Only members of our party should be allowed to vote in our party’s primary. We should be able to pick our best candidate." And they filed lawsuits. On the other hand, many independents sent angry letters to the local newspapers saying, "I’m an independent! I choose the best candidate according to my own criteria. I shouldn’t have to choose between registering as a Democrat or Republican. We’ve never had party registration in this state. It’s an outrage! I should be allowed to vote in the primary election! Maybe I'll vote for a Democrat for Governor and a Republican for Dog Catcher!" I don't agree with this argument, but I understand it and sympathize.
So Washington switched to an open primary system. Anyone could vote for any candidate.
I’m a Democrat and I live in Jim McDermott’s Congressional District. Let’s say McDermott doesn’t have a serious Democratic challenger. The open primary means I’m free to vote for the crazy-stupid Republican in the Republican Primary. Let’s say I vote for a Republican who believes the Earth was created by God in 1980 and that wearing tinfoil hats will prevent aliens from causing abortions. If he gets nominated as a Republican, my candidate McDermott will surely win in the general election. I vote for the crazy Republican in the primary, then vote for the progressive Democrat in the general election.
And that’s exactly what happened.
In 1996, the Republican candidate for Governor of WA was Ellen Craswell, a loony born-again Christian. The reason she got the Republican nomination was that lots of Democrats crossed over to make sure she would get the nomination (and then she lost).
Here's the Wikipedia article about Ellen Craswell: Ellen Craswell
Here's an 2004 article from the Spokane newspaper about why Democrats were voting for the weakest Republican: Spokesman-Review Article
The Republicans and Democrats hated this system because they might be forced to have the weakest candidate (such as Ellen Craswell).
Now We Have the Top Two System
We voted on it. Initiative 872, which, OMG, was sponsored by The Grange. It’s sometimes called the "Louisiana system" or "the Cajun primary."
Voters still don’t have to register with their party preference. And voters can vote for any candidate. I’m in McDermott’s Congressional District, which is heavily (HEAVILY) Democratic. So after the primary is done, I know there will be two Democrats on the ballot. The Republicans don’t have anyone on the ballot (because it's a top-two system). But if I lived in another district, I might have the choice of two Republicans.
And that’s the crazy primary system in the State of Washington. And that’s why Krist Novoselic is running for office as "Prefers Grange Party," even though it’s not a party and it doesn’t endorse people.
One more thing
In 2008, the Washington State Democrats said they were going to ignore the Presidential Primary results. So I went to my local caucus and voted for Obama. Then when the primary happened, I voted for Huckabee (because the Republicans were giving some percentage of delegates to the primary winner and I wanted the looniest Republican to win).
