Since 1935, Washington's independent-minded voters have enjoyed a wide-open primary that allows them to vote for any candidate on the ballot, splitting their tickets if they wish. Voters do not register by party.

U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess, sitting in Tacoma, upheld the state's system last year after the state's major political parties brought suit.

The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 2000 that parties have a First Amendment right of association that allows them to exclude nonmembers from the process of picking party nominees. That ruling struck down a virtually identical blanket primary in California, but Burgess ruled that Washington has a distinctly different political culture and history, including nearly 70 years of crossover voting and lack of party registration.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Burgess in September, quoting heavily from the Supreme Court's earlier decision. The appeals bench refused to rehear the case, leaving the high court as the last resort.

Attorney General Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, and Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, both staunch supporters of the blanket primary, jointly announced the appeal request.

State lawyers said they will urge the high court to pay closer attention to the Washington-is-not-California argument.

"Washington's primary is very popular among voters and has withstood legal challenges dating back to 1936," Gregoire said.

"I believe Washington's blanket primary is constitutional and we will pursue this case as long as there is a chance for victory," Reed added.

Given the uncertainty of the appeal, Reed said lawmakers should prepare a backup system that can be used in 2004 and thereafter.

"If the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision is ultimately upheld, I will continue to fight for a system that gives voters freedom of political choice on the ballot and privacy," he said.

State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, chairwoman of the Senate Governmental Operations and Elections Committee, announced that her committee plans a public hearing next week on a possible replacement system.

"We won't be looking backward at how we got here, but looking forward at ideas for a new system," she said in an interview.

The hearing, at 2 p.m. next Wednesday in Senate Hearing Room 3 in Olympia, will give the parties a chance to describe their preferred system. The public will be invited to comment, either in person or via e-mail. Details were still being worked out.

Lawmakers are considering two main options:

-A "Cajun Primary," modeled after Louisiana's, where the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party. Voters can split their tickets and wouldn't register by party.

-Open Primary, Private Choice, a system Montana and other states use, requiring voters to take only one party's slate of candidates to choose from. No record would be kept of which ballot the person takes.

The parties want separate party primaries and want a record of which ballot an individual voter requests.

The political parties and many legal scholars say the state's last-gasp appeal isn't likely to succeed. Gregoire previously conceded that it's a long shot.

"The blanket primary is dead," state Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt declared after the appeals court ruling.

"Our lawyers believe this is legally the end of the line for the blanket primary," GOP Chairman Chris Vance said recently. "I don't know any lawyer who thinks the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this case."

The state Grange, the original sponsor of an initiative to the Legislature that created the blanket primary in 1935, also will press the Supreme Court to hear the case.