Washington’s voter-approved Top 2 Primary system, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, got a mixed-blessing ruling from U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour on Thursday.

Secretary of State Sam Reed, represented by Attorney General Rob McKenna, had urged the court to dismiss a continuing legal challenge by the political parties that has persisted ever since the voters approved the new wide-open winnowing primary in 2004 as Initiative 872, even following the strong 7-2 ruling by the high court. Coughenour (pronounced Coo’-nauer)  declined to do that. He noted that the Supreme Court has held that the Top 2 system can be implemented in a way that doesn’t violate the parties’ First Amendment rights,  and noted “Plaintiffs will not be able to strike down I-872 in its entirety.

“Instead, the best that plaintiffs can achieveis to invalidate certain portions of I-872’s implementation and enjoin the state from implementing I-872 in specific ways that lead to voter confusion or other forms of forced association.”

In short, this ruling means a new round of litigation about how the new system is conducted. For example, the judge said, the state could be forced to change how they list candidates on the ballots or in the Voters’ Pamphlet.

For decades, the state had a Grange-sponsored “blanket primary” that allow voters to split their tickets, voting their favorite for every office without regard to party label. A nominee from each party moved forward. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such a system violates parties’ First Amendment rights to association to bar non-members rights to participate in their nominating process, the state voters voted 60-40 for I-872. Rather than a nominating process, Top 2 allows people to vote for their favorite candidate for each office, with the two top vote-getters advancing to the November General Election.  When candidates file for office, they choose their own party preference; the party they prefer may or may not prefer them as a candidate or standard-bearer.

Last year was the first year the new system was used.  A statewide poll by independent pollster Stuart Elway showed three-fourths of all voters, including Democrats, Republicans and independents, liked the new system and greatly preferred it to the interim “pick-a-party” plan that required voters to restrict themselves to one party’s list of candidates.

Secretary Reed has pleaded with the parties to drop their legal challenge, calling it a waste of valuable party resources and tax dollars to fight over a system that has the strong support of voters and the blessing of the nation’s highest court.

UPDATE: Here is the judge’s ruling.