Presidential Primary ahead for voters

It will soon be the turn of Washington state voters to participate in the 2008 Presidential Primary Election.

Mail-in ballots for 2008 Presidential Primary are due to arrive in the homes of Wahkiakum County voters Friday.

On February 9, Democrat and Republican political parties will hold caucuses to elect candidate delegates for the state and national conventions. Minority parties have a different nominating process, according to Wahkiakum County Auditor Diane Tischer.

Each party is handling the delegate process differently.

The Washington State Republican Party will accept delegates from both the primary election and the caucus process. Fifty-one percent of Republican primary votes will be allocated to their candidates based on the proportion of votes they receive in the election.

The Washington State Democrat Party has decided that it will accept only delegates coming out of the caucus process.

Democrat caucuses, all at 1 p.m., are scheduled at, Westend, Rosburg Hall; Skamokawa, Fairgrounds T-Building; Elochoman, Elochoman Grange Hall; Cathlamet area and east end, River Street Meeting Room, and Puget Island, PI Fire Hall.

Republican caucus locations will be announced when available; contact Don Fullerton for more information.

To participate in the nomination of a presidential contender, voters must choose from one political party's slate of candidates. They must sign an oath declaring that they have not participated in the other political party's caucus process.

Party choices are public record, but the ballots will remain secret, election officers say. Citizens must identify themselves by signing their ballot envelopes or signing a poll book.

Sixteen of the state's 39 counties will hold special elections at the same time. Voters who wish to skip the nomination of a presidential candidate may still vote the other races and measures. These voters may skip the oath requirement but must still sign their names on the envelope as required by law.

Among the other issues will be a special levy measure for voters in the Naselle/Grays River Valley School District. Those voters will receive three ballots--Republican, Democrat and non-partisan. If they don't want to select a party ballot, they may use the nonpartisan ballot and are not required to mark a party box.

Voters may participate in both the primary and the caucus system as long as it is on behalf of the same political party.

Although the political parties will use the primary results differently to allocate delegates to the national nominating conventions, Secretary of State Sam Reed, the state's chief election officer, said he believes Washington’s Presidential Primary is meaningful.

"Every vote matters because what we are really doing is determining the electability of presidential frontrunners," Reed said. "People vote with their hearts and minds. It's chemistry, not arithmetic, that will determine our country’s next chief executive."

In the 2008 Presidential Primary, all counties except King and Pierce will conduct the election entirely by mail. Under the law, ballots for the general public must be mailed by February 1. Citizens must have their voted ballots postmarked by February 19.