The May 16 presidential primary in Oregon seems less like the heated competition it was three months ago and more like a race for an ASUO student senate seat.
“At this time, Bush, Keyes and Gore are the only nationally recognized candidates who are actively seeking their party’s nomination for president of the United States,” Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury said.
Bradbury said this year’s sparse selection of candidates is due to the current presidential primary system — one that encourages states to frontload the presidential primary calendar. By mid-March, 75 percent of all the Democratic and Republican convention delegates will have already been selected.
That, unfortunately, leaves Oregonians with little or no say in who will represent their party in this year’s presidential election.
“Due to the rush by states to conduct their presidential primaries early, Oregon voters have lost candidate options and influence in the nomination process,” Bradbury said. “To be placed in the same situation in 2004 is simply unacceptable.”
In response to this, Bradbury announced in mid-March his full support of a proposal by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) to establish a rotating regional primary system. The system would eliminate the idea that states like Oregon have no say in the direction of the presidential primary elections.
Under the proposal, states would be grouped according to their geographical position and would rotate between primaries in March, April, May and June. Iowa and New Hampshire would still retain their leading positions in the primary selection process.
In addition to the proposal by NASS, Bradbury’s chief of staff, Paddy McGuire, said Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) is sponsoring a bill that is similar to the NASS version, but does not recognize Iowa or New Hampshire with their traditional first rights to primary elections.
“It’s pretty clear that the current system is broken,” McGuire said. “This rush to the front of the line has produced a system in which there are a number of nominees in March and none in May.”
Oregon has not always been at the end of the line when it comes to selecting presidential candidates. McGuire said that before 1996, the Democratic and Republican primary races were almost always undecided by the time they got to Oregon.
“The Oregon primary used to matter when [the] California [primary] came up two weeks after Oregon,” McGuire said. “Oregon always seemed like a good bounce for candidates to try out their platform before heading to California.”
Even though the NASS proposal would set Oregon’s primary to June in 2004, every state on the West Coast would get the same treatment. In addition, Oregon’s position in the rotation would jump up by a month every election year until 2020, when it would drop back to June.
“I personally support this,” ASUO State Affairs Coordinator Arlie Adkins said. “What’s the point of having a presidential primary if the candidates have already been decided. I think it’s a good idea.”
Although this proposal will be decided in the state legislature, Adkins said students can support this proposal by registering to vote.
“Bradbury is up for re-election,” Adkins said. “If students support this proposal then they can vote for him. The other candidates may support this proposal as well. But in general, students should register to vote to make their voices heard.”