Voters across the state are up in arms, and deservedly so.

We’re getting calls daily:

“Why can’t I vote for who I want?”

“What do you mean I have to pick a party?”

The people don’t want to vote for a single party’s platform. They want to vote for the candidate whose views and actions most closely match theirs. They want leaders who represent them, not the view of any single political party, or any other special interest group.

This battle is far from over. Here’s what the Washington State Grange is doing, and here’s what you need to do to get control of who chooses our legislators back from the parties.

First, the top-two primary as voted into law in 2004 by you, the voters, is not dead. We are appealing to the United States Supreme Court, whose ruling in the Jones case, which invalidated California’s version of the blanket primary and led to the demise of ours, indicated the system described in I-872 would be constitutional.

Second, we are working with a wide variety of people, looking at another top-two primary possibility. This possibility would be a very similar system to that in I-872, but without any party preference or designation of any kind on the primary and general election ballots. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down I-872 was very clear: the party preference label on the ballot was the only thing they felt infringed upon the parties’ rights. The only thing! By striking that and that alone, we can again have a primary ballot that contains the names of all candidates, and you can vote for whomever you want.

This does not mean there will no longer be Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, etc., on the ballot. It simply means that designation or preference will no longer be on the ballot. Candidates will file for office the same way they always have. They can advertise as they always have. They can conduct their business as always. The only change is the lack of party reference on the ballot. This way, it is up to the party to make sure, if they have “their” candidate; people know who that candidate is.

Here’s what you can do. Let your legislators know you are not happy whatsoever with being told who you can and can’t vote for. Don’t bother with county auditors; they are only following the law as it stands now. It’s our lawmakers who need to know you will not stand for this loss of control over who picks the people who represent you. Let the governor know as well. Letters, e-mails, phone calls, we all need to let our leaders know this is not acceptable.

This effort may require another initiative to the people. We need your support. You can get more information on how you can become a soldier in this fight by calling our communications director, Dan Hammock, at our Olympia headquarters at 360-943-9911 or 800-854-1635, or check us out on the Web at www.wa-grange.org.

Together we can win. We outnumber the opposition, and we are right. Once again, it is time for the voters of this state to come together and funnel our outrage into action to put the election process back where it belongs; in the hands of the voters.

Terry Hunt is president of the Washington State Grange.