Projo Politics Blog

As the General Assembly mulls moving up the state’s presidential primary, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis is backing a plan that would see different states host early primaries each election season on a rotating basis.

The plan, from the National Association of Secretaries of State, would divide the country into four regions -- Eastern, Southern, Midwestern and Western. In each presidential election cycle, states in one region would hold a presidential primary in March; the other three regions would follow in April, May and June, respectively. That way, each state would participate in the earliest primary once in every four cycles, or every 16 years. And the plan would stem the current pattern of states shifting their primaries ever earlier.

“If the trend of moving primaries earlier continues, election cycles will begin running into one another and voters will be disserved,” Mollis said in a statement. “In their efforts to become more relevant, states will essentially make themselves irrelevant.”

The plan for rotating regional primaries arose out of the organization’s annual winter meeting in Washington, D.C. Mollis serves on the association’s subcommittee on presidential primaries.

The plan would make exceptions for two states -- New Hampshire and Iowa -- to hold the earliest primaries each year, to allow those states to continue their historic role and “to allow under-funded and less widely known candidates to compete through retail politics, rather than the costly media-driven campaigns required in larger states,” according to the statement.

Rhode Island’s primary is currently scheduled for March 4, 2008, but a plan to move it up to Feb. 5 is getting attention from Assembly leaders. Meanwhile, at least three other states: California, New Jersey and New York -- are considering moving their primaries to Feb. 5 from later dates.

New Hampshire law requires the primary there be held one week before any other state presidential primary. Other states’ actions may force New Hampshire to shift its primary, currently scheduled for Jan. 22, earlier still.

“Frontloading primaries will mean most Americans will not have a say in choosing the presidential nominees and those that do will have only a few weeks to make this important decision,” Mollis said in the statement.

Comments

Eugene Meade said:

The country really needs this system to fix an otherwise crazy situation but I would go further and put Iowa and New Hampshire in their respective regions with NO special priviledges. The two largely rural states with little diversity should be treated just like everyone else.

Link | October 25, 2007 11:34 AM
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