(Host) Secretary of State Deb Markowitz says she’d like to see the national political parties adopt a regional presidential primary system in 2012.
Markowitz says the system used this year has been a long, drawn-out process that could end up hurting voter turnout in November.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) This weekend, the Democratic National Rules Committee will meet in an effort to decide how to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan at the party’s national convention in Denver this summer.
Both states held early presidential primaries despite warnings from the DNC that there could be penalties for holding these early elections.
Speaking on VPR’s Vermont Edition, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz says she’s relatively confident that a compromise will be found because Florida and Michigan are key states for the Democrats in the November election.
(Markowitz) “It’s a political issue at the end of the day and it’ll be resolved by the party, I believe soon. My guess is they’re waiting to see the final primaries and let the rest of the votes be counted. And at the end of the day they’ll come to some kind of compromise solution so that come August in Denver you will have a delegation from Florida and Michigan."
(Kinzel) Markowitz says the controversy surrounding Florida and Michigan is just one of the many reasons to totally reform the primary system four years from now.
She favors the establishment of a regional primary system where the order of the primaries would rotate every four years:
(Markowitz) “Not just Michigan and Florida. I think this whole, you know, how many people are tired of the primaries. It’s been going on since Thanksgiving. There’s been campaigning even before Thanksgiving. As people get fatigued from the politics you’ll find people lose interest in the general election, not to mention the sheer costs of running a campaign for so long and the personal costs of the organizations. So I think that within the political circles and, I think, within the public, as well, public opinion, there’s a sense that the system is broken."
(Kinzel) Markowitz says implementing a regional system won’t be easy because it will require individual states to work on a compromise plan with the national political parties.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier