A panel of Colorado lawmakers backed a plan Thursday to group states into four regional blocks for presidential primaries instead of scattering primaries randomly across the country and the calendar.
The proposal would have the East, South, Midwest and West rotate every four years, with primaries in March, April, May and June.
“The current system is so haphazard,” said Rep. David Balmer, a Centennial Republican trying to gather support for a plan developed by the National Association of Secretaries of State. “We have a system of primaries on dates that make no sense.”
Primaries earlier this week, for example, involved three time zones and states that have very little in common — Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island.
The national proposal would cause presidential candidates to spend a month focusing on each region of the country, Balmer said. Before the Western primary, candidates likely would campaign on issues of water scarcity, pine beetles and the environment, he said.
Also, Colorado likely would get more attention from candidates if it were part of a Western block. Balmer said Colorado was somewhat overlooked this year in the “Super Tuesday” battle that included 22 states. The state ranked 14th in that 22 in population, he said.
The Colorado legislature is one of more than 20 weighing in on the proposal. Supporters are hoping that if enough states support the change, the Democratic and Republican national committees would implement it for 2012.
Under the proposal, states still could choose between holding presidential primaries or caucuses. Also, states could keep their primaries open or closed — meaning they could determine whether party affiliation was a requirement.
House Resolution 1006 is headed to the full House for debate after being passed by the House State Affairs Committee 9-1.
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
