National Primary System

The Need For A One Day National Presidential Primary In June Of Election Year, Ending The System That Presently Exists!

Ronald Leave a comment

The present Primary and Caucus system is a terrible method that encourages an inordinate amount of attention paid to “small” states with fewer people and an unusual mix of factors that distort and manipulate the process used to choose Presidential nominees.

Why should Iowa in a caucus and New Hampshire in a primary, and South Carolina and Nevada, all totally unrepresentative of the nation and of the political parties at large, have such a dramatic effect on the whole process of nominating Presidential candidates?

If anything, it should be “large” states that represent a diversity of America which, if we are to keep the present system, should go first, such as Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Washington, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Missouri!

But a better alternative, if it could be arranged, which admittedly would be difficult, would be to have a National Primary Day in early June of the election year, similar to Election Day being in early November.

If this was arranged, there could be two to three weeks of early voting in May, as there is for the election in October.

If this idea was adopted, all campaigning would come to a peak over just a few weeks from early voting to the actual Primary Day, and it would better represent the parties as they get ready for the election, and would undermine extreme right and left from having the impact they often do because of the attention given to them by their being first to vote!

On 40th Anniversary Of Iowa Caucuses And 60th Anniversary Of New Hampshire Primary, A Proposal For Regional Presidential Primaries

Ronald Leave a comment

Forty years ago, the Iowa Caucuses began, and sixty years ago, the New Hampshire Primary began, and they have become the center of attention in the battle every four years to nominate the Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates.

There has been much discontent with this system, whereby these two small rural states, unrepresentative of the nation, have a much greater impact on the nomination process than they should be allowed to have.

So the author proposes for the future a Regional Primary system, in which there would be five “Super Tuesdays” spread three weeks apart, starting the second Tuesday in January and ending at the beginning of April, with each four years in a twenty year cycle, a different regional primary going first, and all the regional primaries being rotated so that each primary will, over 20 years, go first, second, third, fourth and last in the voting process, in order to make the system fair and equitable.

Each regional primary would have at least one major state in electoral votes as part of the process, so as to make the impact of all the regional primaries be considered balanced and approximately of equal impact.

There would be a NORTHEASTERN primary–consisting of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia–11 states and the nation’s capital–with a total of 112 electoral votes.

There would be a SOUTHERN primary, consisting of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana–12 states– with 135 electoral votes.

There would be a MIDWEST primary, consisting of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma–13 states–with 125 electoral votes.

There would be a SOUTHWEST-MOUNTAIN STATES primary, consisting of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho–9 states–and 85 electoral votes.

And finally, there would be a PACIFIC COAST primary, with Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska and Hawaii–5 states–with 81 electoral votes.

With the primaries being regional and rotating, all states over a twenty year period would have equal impact, and campaigning would be easier, as the mileage differences would be minor since all the states competing on the same day, and with three weeks between primary dates, would be convenient for campaign swings and travel.

This would be a much better system than the crazy, disjointed one we now have, and would get the American people much more motivated, involved, and likely to participate in the primaries!