You may yet get your opportunity to help nominate Donald Trump or any other candidate among the Republicans and Democrats running for president in 2016.
Earlier this spring it appeared the state would skip a presidential primary, instead allowing the state parties to use the caucus system to allocate delegates for each party’s choice before the national conventions next summer.
Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican, had proposed legislation this year that sought reforms to the presidential primary. It would have permanently moved the date up to the second Tuesday in March, a week after Super Tuesday, and it would have required each party to allocate “some” delegates to the national conventions based on the primary results rather than solely through the caucus system. “Some” was liberally defined; one candidate based on primary results would have been sufficient, Wyman said. The leverage Wyman and others used to win support for the reforms was the threat that the primary would be canceled if the legislation failed.
While the reforms passed in the Senate, they died in the House, and it appeared the primary was dead. Republicans were supportive, but many Democrats objected, concerned the primary would undermine the caucus system. But even as the reform bill failed, the Legislature still allocated the $11.5 million in the state budget that will be necessary to reimburse each county for its costs in running the election.
Wyman still wants to run the presidential primary, but only if she can convince representatives of both parties to move it up from May 24 to March 8. Wyman plans to convene a committee later this month of herself, the chairman and vice chairman of the state Republican and Democratic parties and the majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate. To win approval she needs a 6-3 vote.
The $11.5 million is worth spending, Wyman said in a recent meeting with The Herald Editorial Board, but only if the election is meaningful. A week after Super Tuesday and the primary is meaningful with most candidates still in the running; by May 24, it could be all over ‘cept the shouting. And the balloon and confetti drops.
If she can’t convince the panel to move up the primary’s date, she’ll ask the governor to call the Legislature to a special session to cancel the May 24 primary and save the state $11.5 million. Even if the primary returns, it will still be up to each party as to how the results will — or won’t — influence the allocation of delegates.
We see two reasons to have the earlier presidential primary. First, as Wyman notes, the primary would have 10 times the public participation that the caucuses have. Increasing turnout in elections and encouraging participation in the presidential campaign, as an early primary could do, is a worthwhile goal. Second, assuming the parties take some guidance from the results, the primary can help parties avoid what happened to the Republican Party in 1988 when its caucus system was manipulated and televangelist Pat Robertson was nominated for president, a result that Wyman considers “a national embarrassment.”
Besides, if we’re going to have to sit through campaign ads, we should at least get to mark a ballot.
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