Bipartisan Policy Center Recommends that All States Hold Congressional Primaries in June

On June 24, the Bipartisan Policy Center issued a report, “Governing in a Polarized America: A Bipartisan Blueprint to Strengthen Our Democracy.” One surprising recommendation is that all states hold congressional primaries on the same day in June. The Report does not discuss why June was chosen. Currently, congressional primaries are held over a six month range, from March through September.

The Report does not say whether it believes Congress should legislate a uniform primary date, or whether the states should simply be asked to agree. Bills in Congress to regulate the dates of presidential primaries have been introduced starting in the 1980’s, but none has ever come close to passing. It seems unlikely Congress would ever pass a bill to regulate the date of congressional primaries.

The Report is vague about what type of primaries are best, and simply concludes that primary turnout should be encouraged.


Comments

Bipartisan Policy Center Recommends that All States Hold Congressional Primaries in June — No Comments

  1. One more band-aid report from the usual robot party hack suspects.

    The ENTIRE system is ANTI-Democracy and near to political brain cancer DEAD —
    UNEQUAL ballot access laws
    Minority Rule pack/crack gerrymanders
    Prez/Guv monarchy vetoes
    —-
    NO primaries
    NO vetoes
    NO USA gerrymander Senate
    NO USA Prez Electoral College

    P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.

  2. You cannot gerrymander a Senate seat. Senators represent the entire state.

  3. Each State is a gerrymander area — semi-permanent.

    See 1820 Maine — ex part of Mass — part of the slavery EVIL MO Compromise.

    See 1863 WV — created by Lincoln and the Union Army from part of VA.

    Minority rule math in the gerrymander Senate is now about 10-15 percent — due to many, many below average small States.
    i.e. every State having less than 435/50 = 8.7 USA Reps.
    —-
    Const Amdt – Uniform definition of Elector-voter in ALL of the USA – even the occupied foreign areas.

    A ONE house USA Congress (and ALL State/local legislative bodies) elected by P.R.

  4. Also – having the Senate with the slave/free States in 1789-1865 got about 750,000 men killed in the horrific Civil War.

    At the moment –
    53 USA Reps in CA
    1 USA Rep in WY

    CA = WY ???
    ONLY if one is N-U-T-S.

  5. The report says the States should coordinate there efforts similar to what happened with presidential primaries. I don’t think they are suggesting a Congressional mandate.

    Congress should set the first Tuesday after the first Wednesday in September as election day for States that hold open non-partisan primaries in which all candidates and voters participate. If a candidate receives a majority of the vote, then they may be elected. Otherwise a runoff must be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 8 weeks later.

  6. It was not a civil war it was a WAR OF NORNERN AGGRESSION.

    Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg
    Vice Chairman, American Independent Party of California.

  7. I just made a typo. It should of stated “It was not a civil war, it was a WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION.

    Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg
    Vice Chairman, American Independent Party of California.

  8. Why is it an issue of the United States Congress?
    The several states should make up the date they want.

    Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg

  9. Who fired the first cannon shot in April 1861 at Fort Sumter in SC ???

    i.e. Gave Prez Lincoln the excuse to declare a rebellion and call for volunteers.

  10. Congress set the November date for elections in 1872. Before then, States could hold their election at any time, and did. Many states even held their election after the start of the session. The November election date was kind of dumb, because the lame duck session of Congress elected two years earlier would meet in December through March at the end of the term and then go home. The representatives elected in November would usually not meet until the December 13 months later.

    One advantage was that this schedule would allow plenty of time for a runoff.

    The 20th Amendment changed the schedule, so that Congress would meet in January, two months after the election. But this doesn’t leave much time for a runoff and Thanksgiving and Christmas are in the way, and the weather may be more of a problem in the North. So the current law discourages the use of runoffs.

    So Congress should set a September election day for states that have open elections (currently Louisiana, California, and Washington), with a possible runoff in November.

    For California this would be better for the legislature as well since members take office in early December.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.