--[c]Zorek Richards
WAPT reports:
- Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann led last year’s measure to move the primary up arguing that the state is losing millions in advertising dollars. It passed in the House, but failed in the Senate. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves’ office said a lot of senators were worried that the state would be overlooked by presidential candidates if it were grouped with other states in Super Tuesday.
- Joe Nosef, chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party, said he is open to moving the primary date.
“It may get moved up. I think there are good arguments on both sides,” Nosef said.
“Why not leave it where it is?” 16 WAPT’s Scott Simmons asked.
“Some believe it is better to leave us more isolated, where more people may pay attention to us,” Nosef said.
Mississippi Democratic Party chairman Rickey Cole said the early the better, in terms of more influence.
“Our primary is March 8, which is still among the earliest. There are a lot more states later than we are,” Cole said.
Personally, I guess it doesn't matter to me. I can see the arguments from pro and con sides. What I think is a more important issue is to do away with Mississippi's open primary system. I personally think an Open Primary should be unconstitutional. Republicans should be the only who pick their candidates and the same with Democrats. If Democrats vote in the Republican primary then have Republicans really actually picked their candidate? And vice versa.
There are, of course, those who would want to keep them open. Those, for the most part, are those who have and/or are using the open primary for their personal purposes. One way would be to help elect a weak candidate because they know their actual candidate of choice could beat them.
If we want every vote to count...let's also try and keep them honest and close all the loopholes that could lead to a dishonest end. Closing primaries would be a good way to start that.
