Vt.'s influence on presidential primary takes hit
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By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: April 3, 2007
MONTPELIER — For most Vermonters, next year's presidential primary is blessedly far away.
But the rush of states moving their primaries to earlier in the year will mean Vermont's already meager impact on which candidates represent their parties will be diminished even more.
By the time the primary rolls around on Town Meeting Day in March, the decision about who the Republicans and Democrats will put up against each other will basically be decided.
Next year, as many as 23 states — including large states such as California — will vote in the presidential primary Feb. 5, while other states are also moving their primaries earlier in the year.
In Montpelier, the discussion about whether Vermont should change — or even eliminate — its presidential primary is just beginning. That conversation must be completed by the end of the legislative session if any changes are to be made before next year.
Many who are watching the contest to be among the earliest primaries in the country worry that it means fund-raising will be even more important, voters will have less time to size up their options and campaigns will begin earlier.
"It means the candidates who can raise the most earlier will have a tremendous advantage," Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz said. "That's the troubling thing about the race to be first.
"Because we have these very large states having these early primaries it's a very different kind of campaign."
Even if the state makes changes to its primary date, it will be unlikely to see a lot of presidential primary campaign stops, Markowitz said.
"Will candidates ever visit us here? The answer is probably not," she said. "That's really by virtue of our population size."
There are basically four things the state could do about the presidential primary, Markowitz said.
"You then have the cost of running another election," she said. "It's really a burden for local governments"
Democrats and Republicans have just begun considering what to do.
"It really just came on our radar screen," said Rob Roper, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party. "I haven't come to a conclusion on what would be best for Vermont."
Neither has Ian Carleton, who holds the same post for Democrats.
"We are just starting to think about this now," he said.
All of the possible changes to the state's presidential primary system are interesting, but it is not entirely clear yet what the effect of them would be, he said.
"The bigger question is how much would the various proposals impact voter participation," Carleton said.
Vermont's towns run an election every year in March for town meeting, making it logical to combine decisions on school budgets and presidential candidates.
That means even if the state wanted to go through the expense of running a primary in February, for instance, it would likely be too much work for town clerks, who would be busy getting ready for town meeting.
"I would rule out doing it earlier. From January to March for clerks is a very busy time," said Deb Beckett, Williston's town clerk and vice president of the Vermont Municipal Clerks and Treasurers Association. "It would just be crazy to try and put another full election that close to the town meeting."
Voters in Vermont don't choose a party — except by picking which party's ballot to choose every two years. So a primary by mail would first require that voters tell the Secretary of State's Office by postcard or other means which party's primary they wanted to participate in.
But it would be possible to do an election by mail, Markowitz said. Oregon does all of its elections through mailed ballots and it seems to work well, she said.
The impact of Vermont's primary is pretty inconsequential anyway, Beckett said.
"It does seem to be pretty irrelevant and benefits essentially political candidates down the road," she said. That is because parties and candidates can identify people likely to be on their side.
Beckett said it might not be a bad idea to get rid of Vermont's presidential primary altogether.
"If they wanted to do away with it, I think that would be just fine with the clerks," she said.
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