Except for the tree pollen, we find ourselves in some of the most wonderful weather of the year. Spring is reaching its crescendo, and our thoughts are turning to summer. It’s graduation season, a time of new beginnings.
It’s a beautiful time for a primary.
Current Massachusetts law (Chapter 53, Section 28) sets the date for our state primary:
State primaries shall be held on the seventh Tuesday preceding biennial state elections and on the fourth Tuesday preceding special state elections, except that primaries before special elections for senator or representative in congress shall be held on the sixth Tuesday preceding said elections. If a religious holiday falls on or immediately before the second Tuesday in September in an even-numbered year, the state primary shall be held on a date set by the state secretary within 7 days of the second Tuesday in September.
The 2020 election was held on Tuesday, November 3. Count back seven weeks and the law dictated a state primary date on Tuesday, September 15. Was this a religious holiday? Checking my calendar of religious holidays, Rosh Hashanah began at sundown on Friday, September 18. Diversity Resources list of interfaith religious holidays indicates there were no religions holidays between September 11 and Rosh Hashanah.
It appears Rosh Hashanah had a bit more significance in changing last year’s primary date, but in a secular way. By coincidence, Rosh Hashanah was 45 days before the November 3 election, which coincides with a federal deadline:
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), as amended by the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, requires absentee ballots be sent to UOCAVA voters at least 45 days before a federal election.
If Massachusetts held its primary on Tuesday, September 15, they would have needed to certify results, print ballots, and place them in the mail no later than Saturday, September 19. In the best of times this is an impossible task, and when something goes wrong (such as last year’s 3,000 primary votes in Franklin that weren’t found and counted for ten days) the tight deadline can push us into electoral chaos.
We can applaud Secretary Galvin for creating a new religious holiday (Tuesday too close to the Federal ballot deadline) to exercise his authority under Chapter 53, Section 28 to move the 2020 primary. At that, he pushed the limit of the law requiring the primary to be held within 7 days of the second Tuesday in September, as our September 1 primary was a full week before the second Tuesday (September 8) and six days before Labor Day.
There is no doubt our law needs to be changed. We need an earlier primary. The questions before us are when the primary should be held, and when any proposal to move the primary will overcome the usual inertia in our Great and General Court.
Setting the date
Secretary Galvin pushed beyond the envelope to set a Tuesday primary that was a week before Labor Day. Though some school districts begin instruction before Labor Day, this is a prime vacation week for folks who can tack a week off onto a three-day weekend. It comes at the end of a summer season in which canvassers knock on the unanswered doors of voters who are out enjoying pleasant summer days.
In contrast, we are now at a time when we are filled with civic engagement. Here in Arlington, we are in the midst of our Annual Town Meeting. All Massachusetts towns hold elections and town meetings in the spring, resulting in civic minded folks gathering to conduct the business of the town. While folks in cities don’t have political events in the spring, the process of developing and approving a municipal budget is also a time of civic engagement.
Memorial Day begins the distractions of summer. A primary date on the Tuesday preceding Memorial Day would be the capstone of a spring season of civic engagement.
The May primary offers significant improvements to our democratic process. A May primary would encourage more candidates to run for office, as it places the weeks before the primary during a prime time for engaging with voters. It would encourage participation by college students, as the campaign would be held at a time when they are on campus. It would give candidates who emerge from a primary time to gather resources and prepare for a general election campaign after Labor Day.
Overcoming the inertia
Hopefully, the members of the Great and General Court would see the merit of a May primary and would support legislation to move out of its current legal soup. However, legislation is likely to sit in a subcommittee until the end of the legislative session, when it would be dispatched to the oblivion of a study order.
The state’s initiative process offers us a way to pluck a May primary off of its path to a study order and onto a November ballot. The window for the first step is on the horizon.
Initiative petitions first must be prepared by the petitioner, signed by at least 10 registered voters, and submitted to the Attorney General’s Office by the first Wednesday in August. Generally, initiative petitions are filed in odd-numbered years to appear on the ballot at the next statewide biennial election (held in even-numbered years).
We can make this happen! Who is with me?
Count me in!
I’ve never understood the objection to a September primary. Particularly in a state where so much of the action is with one party I actually think having summer as part of the primary season has its advantages.
What are the advantages and who benefits from them?
My first thought is lesser-known candidates having the whole summer to build name recognition. If we already had an earlier primary I wouldn’t necessarily be pushing for a later one, but if it ain’t broke…
This is an incumbent protection act.
The system IS broken, as the current date does not allow for certification and printing ballots in time to meet the federal UOCAVA deadline.
A lesser-known candidate would need to knock on doors and gatherings of voters to win. If you have ever canvassed in the summer, you know how difficult it is to find someone at home. People aren’t paying attention to politics or government during the summer.
Spring is a great time to meet folks and build name recognition. Summer is the worst time.
If it doesn’t meet federal deadlines, then how have we gotten away with it all these years? New Hampshire’s is often a week later than ours. I still think the more time for candidates to get to know voters the better. I’ve canvassed in the summer. It can be hot but contact rates are still decent.
I’ll admit to not knowing about town elections in April until I moved to one. This year we had a contentious school Committee election and related (albeit non binding referendum) on the Native American mascot. I’ve had a few neighbors stop and say hi in the last week as my wife and I ate our dinner al fresco on our porch. So people are eager to be out and about now.
I had to canvass one of those post-Labor Day primaries and nobody was home and those that were did not want to be bothered. I’ve found this to be similar doing summer member canvassing for the MTA. Most folks aren’t home, and unless it’s a contract year, most folks don’t want to talk to a union rep. So I second Pablo’s idea.
I also think the rank choice advocates made a huge mistake (and I’ve told Greg and Evan as much directly) without pushing for an Alaska style blanket or jungle primary followed by a ranked choice general for the top 4 finishers. This is essentially an elegant synergy of the change Pablo wants and I want and it’s much simpler for voters to understand and folks to count. The New York ranked choice election could be a logistical nightmare since it’s a very crowded field. It’ll also produce one winner in each party rather than a top 4 finisher across the parties.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Alaska_Measure_2
I’ll add Boston’s runoff should be interesting to see as a possible test case for a switch to a ranked system.
Given the problems the NYC Board of Elections have with a simple election, their venture into RCV could be a real train wreck.
As it happens, I was on a webinar with the author of the Alaska ballot question. I stated that I would have supported the Alaska ballot question using RCV for a blanket primary and the general election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFoQBIKrjyk