For the Reporter

The Senate on Tuesday easily approved legislation from Senate President Pro Tem Pam Roach that is aimed at giving Washington its most meaningful presidential primary yet.

Senate Bill 5978 would move the state’s next presidential primary to March 8, 2016 – more than two months sooner than scheduled. It also would require the state’s Republican and Democratic parties to use the results of the presidential primary in selecting at least one of the 10 allowed delegates to the national Democratic and Republican national conventions.

While other states are eyeing primaries in February and early March, the Washington 2016 presidential primary is currently scheduled by law for the fourth Tuesday in May. If passed, SB 5978 would allow for the March date.

“Holding our primary in March instead of May will give candidates reason to come to our state and court our voters – to campaign here, not just to raise money here,” said Roach, R-rural Auburn.

“Taxpayers bear the cost of the presidential primary, not the political parties. These changes would make the primary and the people’s votes relevant again,” said Roach, who as chair of the Senate Government Operations and Security Committee is the Senate’s leader on election law.

Democratic and Republican state parties would have until Oct. 6 to pledge in writing that they will use next year’s primary results when allocating delegates to the national conventions. If both parties do, voters will have to choose between a Democrat and Republican primary ballot, and the parties will later receive lists of the voters who chose their respective ballots. If the parties do not both make that pledge, the March 8 primary would have a single ballot.

The bill is a priority for Secretary of State Kim Wyman, who testified in favor of it before Roach’s committee.