Editor,

In response to Edward Plitt’s letter to the editor in the Feb. 26 Whidbey News-Times regarding the party identification on our primary ballot, I would like to point out that Washington state does not have what is known as an “open” primary for the office of president of the United States.

That means that registered Democrats can vote for Democrats and registered Republicans voters can vote for Republicans.

If we voted in voting booths in a presidential primary, we would still have to declare a party and the machine would be set so we could only vote for candidates of that party.

The purpose of this is to prevent registered Republicans from voting for Democratic candidates that they think will lose in the general election.

It also prevents Democrats from doing the same thing to Republican primary candidates. Generally, if you skip a primary election, that will reset your party identification to not declared/independent.

Unless you live in a state that has an “open” primary, that is how it works.

In the general election, we can vote for Republicans, Democrats, independents, Greens or whatever without having to identify our party. I have lived and voted in other states and that is how it works. It is to prevent partisan “dirty tricks” in the opposition party’s primary.

If you don’t want to declare a party affiliation, then you skip the primary and just vote in the general election.

It is not a plot.

Marcia Nelson

Oak Harbor