Sen. Raye Submits Bill for Maine POTUS Primaries by 2016

Good there is light at end of Caucus Chaos tunnel

Excellent Bill!

A great change to have a primary the first Tuesday after the New Hampshire Primary. This would bring more attention to the state from presidential hopefuls and make a mark on the road to the presidency that couldn't be avoided.

Great job Kevin Raye.

Having delegates apportioned will also limit the perfumed princes from running away with a nomination they have not earned. I would also favor having the electoral college apportioned. The reason the National Committee encouraged states to be apportioned in the caucuses and primaries this year was to prevent California from determining the nominee with a winner take all primary. California's population is bigger than the population of Canada.

California will have a proportioned delegation but different from the way other proportioned states work. Elsewhere, it is usually a percentage of delegates akin to the proportion of the popular vote. California gives the delegates to the winner of a Congressional District. So, in June, let us hope one of the West Coast newspapers has an overlay map of the districts so we can see who actually won how many delegates. The statewide popular vote will not give an accurate idea.

And, yes, I agree with above posts that the Electoral College vote should be based on the winner of Congressional Districts rather than winner-takes-all. In 2008, Obama would not have had 100% of the Illinois electoral vote because two congressional districts downstate went McCain.

Sounds like a step in the right direction

Presidential primary proposed for Maine
Senate President Kevin Raye’s bill has support from both parties
By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
MaineToday Media State House Writer

Raye's bill has bipartisan support. House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, and House Minority Leader Emily Cain, D-Orono, are co-sponsors.

"I think it's a conversation worth having," Cain said. While caucuses and primaries have their own advantages, she said, "what you really want to do is maximize participation."

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/presidential-primaryproposed-for-main...

Bill seeks to restore Maine presidential primaries
7:01 PM, Mar 19, 2012

I e-mailed members of the Committee on Monday morning in support of the bill.
My key points:

There is no ballot integrity in the current caucus system where the ballots are not kept in a secure chain-of-evidence, as actual civil ballots are kept. As the recent Republican State Committee fiasco proved, there is no substitute for the legally-supervised voting procedures. This will restore trust in the outcome.

Costs could be less of a factor to taxpayers if the state set a fee structure and required any political party to pay its share of the cost to hold a statewide presidential primary election. A primary is actually a closed act of a private organization - e.g. a political party - rather than the civil government. The purpose of a primary is solely for the membership of the private organization to select who shall represent it before the broader body of electorate in a general election. Therefore, it only fair that the parties pay more of the cost for a primary than that paid by the general base of taxpayers; many of whom exercise their civil duty by registering to vote, but who also express the desire of avoiding party activity by registering "undeclared."

More grassroots members of the political parties would have a voice in whom their party's presidential nominee should be. On June 8, 2010, some 131,407 voted in the Maine GOP gubernatorial primary. That is more than half of the 256,520 registered Republicans. In the February 2012 caucuses, a mere fraction of that showed up which leaves the preference poll process to a small cadre of political insiders or organized dissidents.

Any law enacting a primary in Maine must take into account the early timing and include an option for "None of the Above," "Undeclared" or something similar. Obviously, candidates were in the race in January who are not by March. John Huntsmann, for instance, has been inactive since shortly after the New Hampshire primary but he goes to the GOP National Convention with two committed delegates. On the other hand, Rasmussen Poll has consistently found that nearly 30 percent of registered Republicans prefer a candidate other than the ones who are currently on the caucus and primary ballots. Therefore, should Maine go with an early primary close to New Hampshire, it should give voters an opportunity to express preference for a candidate other than the ones who file to be on the ballot at the time of the primary.

This isn't an emergency. Why is Raye submitting it now? Smacks of political posturing and responding to the "issue of the moment". Leadership??!?
I like the caucuses. It brings out the people who really want to pay attention and have a clue. We're going to caucus anyway, for other things.
I don't want any extra government expense.
The parties can just make the results binding.

Jim: Now is the best time for such a bill. Considering the advance strategy and tactics planning for a presidential run, it is only fair that Maine be on record in advance as to what it will do in the 2016 election and when it will happen. It is as important for Democrats because they will be going through in that election cycle what Republicans are doing this year. And, should Obama win reelection in 2012, both parties will have spirited contests for an open presidency. Therefore, it should be resolve now rather than to wait until 2014.

Jim - Vic makes several great points. In answer to your question - Why now? - I'll add that Sen. Raye is termed out. He will not be in the next (126th) Legislature. Now is the only time available to him.

Best,
skf

Scott, it still smacks of knee-jerk. He's had how many years to put this bill in? And so a month after the GOP caucus "controversy", he puts the bill in??
Politics as usual, sigh.

I wonder who would have won if Maine had a primary in early Feb 2012.
Not Santorum.
Not Paul. While his campaign did a great job of turning out his supporters at caucuses, I doubt there were thousands of Paul voters sitting at home.
Probably Romney, eh?

Would the outcome be better - more aligned with the Maine GOP grassroots - than the outcome of our caucus and convention process?

I would vote in a primary, I do not have time to go to a caucus. I think you would still get the informed voter to the poll, maybe not the rabid type but still informed.

Maine may return to presidential primary after controversial caucus
By Christopher Cousins, BDN Staff
Posted May 16, 2012, at 6:32 p.m.

AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill that would create a presidential primary in Maine was revived Wednesday with legislative approval to study the change over the summer.

Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, who sponsored the bill, said Wednesday that one reason for the delay between the committee’s vote two months ago and approval by the full Legislature on Wednesday was that legislative leadership had to decide whether to allow the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee to hold meetings through the summer.

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/05/16/politics/maine-may-return-to-presi...

Mainers briefly grab spotlight at GOP convention

Editorial Board
Our View |
Friday, August 31, 2012

After the Republican caucus debacle last spring, Senate President Kevin Raye submitted LD 1882, An Act to Establish a Presidential Primary in the State. The bill was ultimately sent to the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee to hold a study meeting.

Raye said it didn't make sense to nominate candidates for lesser offices in Maine while relying on the flawed caucus system to select a candidate for the highest office in the land.

He's right; it makes no sense.

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/our-view/2012/08/31/mainers-briefly-grab-...

I wonder who would have won if Maine had a primary in early Feb 2012.

We can only speculate. There is no way of truly knowing. (unless you have a working crystal ball) ;-)

For all the stupid things the state takes my tax dollars for, I'm happy to have the state foot the bill to ensure my voice is heard. I'll have some mustard on my sandwich today, thank you Raye!

I hope the bill has it where national delegates are bound to candidates based on the results of the primary. And I like the idea someone said earlier, where a "none of the above" is on the ballot and they allow write in candidates.

And I like the idea someone said earlier, where a "none of the above" is on the ballot and they allow write in candidates.

Do you actually know how much that would cost and what a nightmare that would be to election workers?

Good idea. It will be a lot easier for the establishment to fix a primary.

I sometimes wonder if we would be better to return to nominations at national conventions.

Above all, we need to get away from the same-day registration voting in primaries and caucuses. There is no reason in the world non-party voters should be electing party candidates. I'm not sure of the best way to do that, but I firmly believe it needs to happen.

Best,
skf

Steve:

You are 100% correct!

People spit out the word "partisan" as if it's a terrible, destructive thing. But it isn't! Two parties, three parties or ten parties... you've chosen to freely associate with a party for a reason. And that's fine. It's OK. It's legal. Nothing evil or mean-spirited about it folks.

It can get destructive and counter-productive when people from outside a party are mysteriously allowed to vote for ANOTHER party's nominee. It can be like a spiteful arranged marriage, where you want you enemy to be stuck with the worst possible partner instead of the best.

Or like picking the quarterback for your Brother In-Law's fantasy football team... where you'd pick the worst benchwarmer you could find!

Nope. A party should chose their party's nominees. And the best way is in a Primary... to maximize participation.

Isn't that the trend these days? People want to make it as easy as possible to vote; and have as many people involved as possible... except in a Presidential Caucus.

= = = = =

To answer a question tossed out above... I'd guess a Maine Primary, held in mid-February, 2012, would have been: 1) Romney; 2) Cain; 3) Santorum; 4) Gingrich; 5) Paul; 6) Bachmann

Just a guess.