Washington's Fickle Voters

I was just looking at the top-two primary FAQ on the Whatcom County Auditor's webpages and it got me to thinkin' about how fickle Washington State voters can be.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the top-two primary (I-872) could go ahead. I-872 was passed in 2004 but had been on hold because of court challenges. Voters passed the top-two primary because they didn't want to pick-a-party on the primary ballot.

The top-two primary (I-872) removes all political party's from the election process. The State Primary is no longer about selecting major party (D's & R's) candidates for State and Federal offices and the General Election ballot will no longer have a place for each political party's candidates.

It used to be that minor party's selected their candidates at nominating conventions and major party's candidates were selected in the State Primary. With the adoption of the top-two primary, State law no longer dictates how political parties conduct their nominations.

Here's what really puzzles me: How can Washington's voters have passed an initiative (I-872) that removes the political party nominating function from the State Primary, denies political party's candidates a place on the General Election ballot and yet still feel free to criticize Washington State Democrat's for using caucuses instead of the State imposed Presidential Primary to select their delegates to the Democratic National Convention?