Primary daze
The Massachusetts Legislature had another of its patented but oh-so-predictable failures last week, proving itself unable to get its $2.7 billion supplemental spending plan done before the formal session expired — and leaving public employees and the state’s shelter system in the lurch at a time when need is high.
But the House at least showed what its real priority was. While failing in its people serving functions, representatives did vote to change next year’s primary date, as the Globe’s Matt Stout reported.
No doubt in a manner that would make things more convenient for voters, an ingenuous farm boy new to Massachusetts might assume. No, actually, scratch that. Not even the most credulous of naifs would make such an assumption.
In fact, House members voted to move the primary date from Sept. 17 to Sept. 3, the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend. That is, to a day when, for many, the primary will get lost in the kaleidoscopic complexities of daily life.
After a long holiday weekend, the vacation period of summer will have just ended. Parents will be rushing to get kids ready for school and to readjust to fall routines. That will make voting a rushed affair, one that, if past is prologue, many voters will skip.
Which is bad news for citizens but good news for incumbents. And that is exactly the point, and has long been the point, of this state’s September primary.
A late primary date also means that most of the campaign year is devoted to the primary campaign in a state where most officeholders go unchallenged. Then, post primary, challengers have two months or less to make their case against entrenched incumbents — entrenched incumbents who usually have sizable campaign war chests.
There are other complications as well. Federal law requires states to mail requested absentee ballots to military personnel and Americans overseas at least 45 days before the general election date. Combine that law with the September Jewish holidays and the window of September dates that are both available and convenient for voters is small indeed.
Because the supplemental budget failed to pass, at least for now the 2024 primary is still scheduled for Sept. 17, which would be the latest such date in the country. So let’s assume for a moment that Massachusetts legislators were interested in what works best for Massachusetts citizens, rather than Beacon Hill incumbents. Instead of trying to move the primary to
House members voted to move the primary date from Sept. 17 to Sept. 3, the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend. That is, to a day when, for many, the primary will get lost in the kaleidoscopic complexities of daily life.
the day after Labor Day, lawmakers would shift it to the spring, when most states hold their intraparty contests.
Illinois, for example, will hold its primary on the cusp-of spring date of March 19. Georgia primary voters will go to the polls on May 21. New Jersey and New Mexico are both June 4 states. Maine holds its primary on June 11. New York’s primary date is June 25.
At least 29 states will have held their primaries by the end of June.
Only three states other than Massachusetts have September primary dates. Another 14 hold their primaries in August. (Some states have a preliminary primary and then, if necessary, a runoff. If the two are scheduled to occur in separate months, they aren’t included in all aspects of this tally.)
A June primary would mean the state parties would have to hold their endorsement conventions early in the year, probably into March. It would also mean adjusting other aspects of the electoral timeline, notes Secretary of State William F. Galvin. But it’s all eminently doable.
We can’t, of course, expect the Legislature to do this on its own, any more than we can expect it to, say, deliver a budget on time. Or to get pressing matters done in formal session.
So how could it ever happen? Well, one way is through a ballot question campaign. Voters would almost certainly approve such a change — if an enterprising group of reformers took it upon themselves to bring it to the ballot.