Washington State: House moves primary one month earlier
The Seattle Times reports: The state's primary election will be a month earlier next year.
The state House on Wednesday voted 94-3 to move the primary from the third Tuesday in September to the third Tuesday in August starting in 2007. The legislation had cleared the Senate. Gov. Christine Gregoire has said she'll sign it.
Lawmakers have debated moving the primary for years, but the idea gained momentum after the tumultuous 2004 gubernatorial contest between Democrat Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi.
The Republican Party alleged, among other things, that election officials were too slow in mailing military absentee ballots. Moving the primary to a month earlier will give election workers more time to get out absentee and overseas ballots to voters for the general election.
"We had real problems of how tight that timetable was. There were only 19 days between the time the primary was certified and the time the ballots had to be in the mail," Secretary of State Sam Reed said. -- The Seattle Times: Local News: House agrees to bump primary to August