Move presidential and local primaries to March

Published September 4, 2015

Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, September 4, 2015.

It's not quite a done deal yet, but it appears North Carolina voters will head to the polls on March 15 next year to weigh in on the presidential candidates.

This state has traditionally held its primary in early May, which was convenient for state and local candidates but in most years put us out of the running for the presidential sweepstakes, which usually is settled before the end of April.

That led to low voter interest in our primary, and low presidential-candidate interest in North Carolina. We could only look at the early-primary states and dream as the candidates swarmed over them.

The decision to move our presidential primary to March will be a good and healthy thing, letting us take an up-close-and-personal look at the Democratic and Republican contenders as they stump through this region. South Carolina's primary is third in the country and the candidates are likely to stop in this Carolina while they're in the neighborhood, if our primary is in the same month.

But until this week, legislation moving the presidential primary didn't include any other races. We'd have to go through the work and expense of holding a second primary, for state and local races, on the traditional date - next year, May 3.

Even with a presidential primary attached, the May polling has often seen a sparse turnout. Without it, only a small and unrepresentative sampling of registered voters would be likely to show up.

That's why we like the idea that legislative leaders began discussing this week: Move the entire primary to March. That would save taxpayers millions of dollars. Last year's November election cost about $9.5 million, with most of the expense covered by county taxpayers.

The primary includes statewide races for Congress, governor and the Council of State, plus county commissioners and judgeships. Putting all those races on the March ballot would raise public interest and likely lead to a much-improved turnout at the polls. Saving the expense of two primaries would be a nice bonus.

There is a down side: The filing period for candidates would have to begin late this year. It's now scheduled to open on Feb. 8.

An earlier start might produce longer campaigns. But that's an acceptable tradeoff for higher interest, bigger turnout and reduced expense.

We hope lawmakers will continue down this road the move the entire state primary to March. It wouldn't hurt if they'd eliminate runoff elections too. Fewer, bigger elections are a key to keeping voter participation high.

http://www.fayobserver.com/opinion/editorials/our-view-move-presidential-and-local-primaries-to-march/article_59d7ebb5-b25f-5daf-ac81-988adb18d933.html