A group headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker III has been studying presidential election rules and recently delivered a sensible plan that could be good for the country and for Colorado.
The Commission on Federal Election Reform issued a package of proposals aimed at restoring confidence in the nation’s electoral process. One concept would require political parties to hold four regional presidential primaries after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, rather than the current system that gives early voting states enormous clout in picking candidates but disenfranchises the rest of us.
The regions would rotate the order of voting every four years. It’s an idea that could give more voters a say in picking presidential nominees.
Colorado is among eight states that don’t bother to hold a presidential primary, in part because it costs a lot of money and often comes too late to matter. Our presidential caucuses take place in April anonymity.
The commission notes that in 2000, the primaries were effectively over by March 9, when Republican John McCain and Democrat Bill Bradley ended their challenges to George W. Bush and Al Gore. In 2004, less than 8 percent of the eligible electorate cast ballots before the nominations were settled.
The commission recommends that regional primaries be held between March and June, allowing candidates to enter the race later and shifting the emphasis away from Iowa and New Hampshire “to states that more fully reflect the diversity of America.”
The panel’s idea for regional primaries originated with the National Association of Secretaries of State, which groups states into four regions. Western states would include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, plus Guam.
An effort in the late ’90s to organize a smaller Western primary failed even after the states thought they had settled on March 10, 2000, as the first date for such an election. The idea was to give eight sparsely populated states more clout on the political stage. It never went anywhere.
Last year, legislation was offered to move up Colorado’s caucuses to January, but the bill’s sponsor dropped the measure after opponents fretted that candidates would have to campaign over the Christmas holidays.
Regional primaries are an idea whose time has come. Last week’s report proposed that if political parties don’t make the changes by 2008, “Congress should legislate the change.” We agree.
