Projo Politics Blog

This Political Scene reporter fended off signature requests by several campaign volunteers late last week scrambling to fill their quota. And while each party has hundreds of volunteers, most of the major candidates have paid staff coordinating the signature collection.

But Talan noted that even those candidates are having trouble this year.

“All the national campaigns tell us that Rhode Island and New York are the hardest two states to get into,” state GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione told Political Scene. “These signature dates fall right into the holiday period. … It’s hard to get people to stop to sign when they’re out there shopping for the holidays. Weather’s also been an issue.”

And things certainly weren’t made any easier by a law change pushed by the secretary of state’s office during the last legislative session that moved the signature collection period to December from November.

The change requires that signatures be submitted at least 88 days before the presidential primary, instead of on Nov. 30. It was intended, according to the secretary of state’s spokesman, Chris Barnett, to make the deadline more flexible in case the General Assembly moved the date of the primary — something that would have happened this year if not for Governor Carcieri’s veto.

“Even with the previous dates in the law, those dates were dates around a major holiday [Thanksgiving]. When you have a primary in February or March, that is just par for the course,” Barnett said. “All the campaigns are on an equal footing under the new calendar scenario.”

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