Washington’s presidential primary counts for little

Sorry Washington voters but your votes won’t really count that much this time around.

With Donald Trump being the only candidate left on the Republican side and Democrats ignoring the results, votes from the Evergreen State are no longer critical in selecting either party’s nominee.

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The results of the primary only count on the GOP side anyway.

Washington has both a presidential primary and a caucus system, but Democrats will ignore the results of Tuesday’s primary, having chosen to continue to use the party caucus system to allocate their national convention delegates. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in March. Hillary Clinton, however, holds a commanding lead over Sanders.

Meanwhile, Republicans will allocate 44 delegates based on the primary results. What might confuse voters is the fact that Trump’s former opponents are still on the ballot. John Kasich and Ted Cruz are listed because they suspended their campaigns after the ballots were printed. Ben Carson never submitted a withdrawal of candidacy.

“People may vote for Ben Carson,” State Republican Party Chair Susan Hutchison previously explained. “They may vote for Ted Cruz, John Kasich, or Donald Trump. And, depending on those results, that is how we will allocate our delegates.”

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Because it’s an open primary, which means voters can select either party, that could help forecast which party the state will lean toward in the general election. Hutchison believes it will be the Republicans who win the primary in Washington.

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