AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill that would allow Mainers to select their presidential candidates through a primary system instead of a caucus likely will be postponed until the next Legislature.
The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee voted 12-1 on Monday to replace the bill with a resolve that directs the committee to study the idea and prepare a report by December 2012.
That resolve still needs approval of the House and Senate.
The original bill, LD 1882, was introduced earlier this month by Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, who said this year highlighted the need for change.
The Maine Republican Party hosted its presidential caucuses over a period of several days in February. The party declared Mitt Romney the winner on Feb. 11, before all votes were counted, a decision that angered supporters of Ron Paul, who finished a close second.
The Maine GOP also acknowledged clerical errors but stood by its decision to name Romney the winner.
Raye’s district, Washington County, was among the areas whose results were not counted. He said the caucus process has become confusing and frustrating for many.
“I have long expressed a preference [for a primary] because I believe it encourages wider participation of Maine voters and I believe it increases the likelihood of Maine being considered relevant in the process,” he said shortly after submitting the bill.
On Monday, Raye said he was pleased with the committee vote.
“This assures that the next Legislature will have the benefit of a thoughtful and well-informed process to resolve the issue well in advance of the next presidential election,” he said.
When candidates from each major party are vying for the nomination to run for president, they compete in each state either in a caucus or a primary. Caucuses are relatively informal events that nevertheless can become technical in their discussions and often feature less participation. Primaries on the other hand mimic an election — people simply vote for their choice.
When LD 1882 came up for a public hearing early last week, many questioned why the proposal was being submitted so late in the 125th Legislature’s second regular session.
The bill as written would not take effect until the next presidential primary season in 2016. If approved, it would schedule Maine’s primary for the first Tuesday after the New Hampshire primary, which is historically the first primary in the election cycle.
By shifting to a primary, all Maine municipalities would have to hold an election. That would cost an estimated $1 million and would be absorbed by the state under the initial bill.
Some balked at the price tag during the public hearing.
Representatives of both major parties said last week they were open to the idea of a primary but both also talked about the benefits of caucuses as well.
It was just a feeble PR stunt to help the GOP save face after their caucus debacle.
Yes, and the funny thing is it would have meant that Democrats would have switched to a primary system too. The old caucus system that many registered voters cannot be a part of would be replaced by a system that we already use to determine who represents the parties in the races for Governor, US Senator and US Represenative, and State Senator and State Representative races. Of course it wouldnt make any sense to apply to the Presidential race would it? Making it so that the process could be easier understood with an increase in participation would not be a good thing would it? Those evil tea party Republican scum!
The bill as written would allow a party to have a primary to pick their choice for a presidential nominee, but it would not require it.
A tiny% of either party’s insiders could still opt for the caucus system in the bill that just got punted.
It was a meaningless farce.
So Kevin Raye and the rest of the Republicans were willing to spend $1 million of our hard earned taxpayer dollars in order to have a primary election instead of the current caucus system. Just imagine spending $1 million just to cover for “Crazy” Charlie Webster’s latest attempt to fix an election. You know what is really strange. For the past two legislative sessions all we have heard about is how we are broke and can’t afford to spend any hard earned taxpayer dollars. In fact the tea party republicans have done everything possible to toss sick, old and disabled out into the street in the interest of saving precious tax dollars for our tea party friends. I wonder how come we didn’t hear an outcry from the radical right tea party when Senator Raye proposed pissing away $1 million. on a primary that wasn’t needed?
But they didnt spend it did they? And of course you didnt have anything to say at all when the caucus thing got all screwed up this year right? Not criticism posted here on this board at all? No criticism at all becuase you would not be going to a Republican Caucus anyway right?
And this is going to shock the pants right off of you but guess what? The democrats would have changed from having a caucus to a primary too!
Kevin Raye the Republican voices concern about an old electoral process that many registered voters do not understand nor can attend do to the length of the discussions at such meetings. He wants to move to the more modern primary system for presidential candidates in this State. The same sytem that we use already to determine who will run for Governor, Senator, Representative and State Senator and State Representative in Maine. What an evil, horrible, dirt bag tea party jerk he is!
Actually I had plenty to say when it was first proposed. As far as going to a Republican caucus I don’t know of anything stopping me. I have been a registered republican since 1967 so I would suppose if I wanted to go to a republican caucus I could. Of course I like to spend the cold weather months in Florida so it would have entailed a special trip back home to cast a vote in the caucus. Which I really didn’t care to do. Now as far as it being the same as the primaries that are already in place, I would have no problem with Maine holding a Presidential Primary provided it was on the same date as the other primaries you mentioned. The only problem is that the one Mr. Raye proposed would have been held a week after New Hampshire held theirs and that would have been well before the primary you mentioned. I know for someone like you chefcater $1 million probably isn’t a lot of money. But to me it is and I would rather not have my precious tax dollars pissed away.
This was an opportunity for Kevin Raye for Maine people to see his face before the upcoming House race this fall, nothing more!!
12-1 by whose count? Charlie Webster’s? Right……
How broke are we again?
Kevin Raye doesn’t have issues more important to Mainer’s to address? Really?
I believe the BDN did a poll and those in favor were overwhelming. I don’t think the Republican/MHPC/ALEC/Tea Party like to support anything that has popular support amongst the common people.
PUNT!!!
Lets put it to a Vote!
So, no one wants to pay anything that benefits someone else. I think primary elections are political party welfare. Let the parties pay for the elections. when we have one from each party and independents then we will pay for an election. Stop the welfare!!!