Putting the circus under a single tent

Editorial by Jacksonville Daily News, September 16, 2015.

It would be something of a rush job, but the idea of moving all of North Carolina’s 2016 primary elections — from county commissioners to the presidential races — from May 3 to March 15 is a good one.

One of the state House members from Onslow County, Rep. Phil Shepard, was sponsor of a bill to move the presidential primary to March. The Jacksonville Republican now says moving all the primary races would save money and ensure voter interest. “I support it because of the cost of having two primaries, and I think it will draw a better turnout.”

Shepard is right on both points. There is a down side — with the campaign period for some very important races being shortened by six weeks or so — but in this case the pluses outweigh the minuses.

The General Assembly already has settled on moving the presidential primaries.

During past election cycles, Tar Heel voters have often felt like the last people in the buffet line, stuck with the chicken gizzards and dried-out baked spinach.

Moving the presidential primary up gives North Carolinians greater prominence in the national debate, would force candidates to pay attention to the issues we deem important, could provide an economic boost as candidates and the press move into the state and, not incidentally, would be more fun and maybe spur more voter participation.

You’d never know Election Day 2016 is still nearly 14 months off. The entry of Donald Trump into the Republican fray of 16 or so candidates has ginned up interest in that primary battle to a fever pitch. On the Democratic side, the fallout from Hillary Clinton’s choice of email options, the surprising rise of socialist candidate Bernie Sanders and the prospect that Vice President Joe Biden might enter the race have kept that race in the news as well.

There will still be plenty of interest in North Carolina’s votes, both in March and November. North Carolinians voted for the Democrat in 2008 and the Republican in 2012. We’re probably going to be a battleground state in 2016 for whoever emerges as the presidential nominees. So we should have a say in who gets to run.

The legislators are considering whether to move all the primaries up or just the presidential one. An earlier primary would force potential candidates from agriculture commissioner to county commissioners to speed up their decision-making process. Some say the high-profile presidential race might make it hard for down-ballot candidates to get attention.

But holding a separate primary for those races would result in much lower turnout on that day and would still cost state taxpayers somewhere near $9.5 million.

As we have stated previously, the overriding factors are the reduced cost and higher turnout for holding a single primary election rather than going to the polls in both March and May. It will be something of a circus, but that is becoming par for the course in the world of politics these days.

Portions of this editorial first appeared in the Wilmington Star-News, a Halifax Media Group newspaper.