Shifting primary good for the state

Editorial by Jacksonville Daily News, August 27, 2013.

Amid controversy over voter ID requirements and early voting changes and other modifications to North Carolina’s election statutes enacted by the General Assembly, one change escaped immediate notice.

And that’s a shame because it deserves some applause.

We’re talking about the section that changes North Carolina’s presidential primary date from the first Tuesday in May to the first Tuesday after the South Carolina presidential primary. That means voters in our state could play a pivotal role in determining the presidential nominees in 2016 by going to the polls as early as January or February instead of in the spring when the Republican and Democratic finalists have historically long been determined.

The primary switch, which has been discussed off and on — usually at about the time the nominees are sewn up in March — was pegged to a few days after the South Carolina primary because it traditionally has been the first presidential primary in the South. Leaping ahead of South Carolina would have caused problems with that state and with national Republican Party officials.

No matter. Moving the presidential primary for North Carolina is a good thing for the state, even if the time it is to be held eventually is revised to allow more distance between it and our neighbors to the south. It gives North Carolina voters a chance to be a factor in determining a presidential nominee — something that’s rarely happened with the presidential primary being held in May at the same time as primaries for state and local elections.

Except for the hotly contested Democratic primary in 2008 between then U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, it’s hard to recall many other presidential primaries in North Carolina having significant impact being held so late in the year. One notable exception occurred in 1976 when Ronald Reagan used a surprise victory over President Gerald Ford in North Carolina to energize a campaign that would ultimately carry him to the White House in 1980. Reagan couldn’t derail Ford, but four years later, Reagan was the GOP standard-bearer and North Carolina is often credited turning around his political fortunes.

If candidates spend more time in North Carolina then campaign dollars will also be plunked down here. And political candidates also come with a cadre of staff, hangers-on and media who will spend money on accommodations and food as they traverse the state.

The earlier primary will elevate the state’s political stature as well as give its economy a boost, an overall economic shot that surely would be greater than the cost of an additional primary exclusively for presidential candidates.

The biggest potential downside is the impact on local races, which usually benefit from the increased voter turnout that accompanies the bright lights of presidential politics. Will voters still go to the polls in big numbers to cast ballots for county commissioners even without the big national names on the ballot?

We’ll see. But it’s certainly worth finding out.