Maine Secretary of State Proposes Ending State-Financed Primaries
August 28th, 2007On August 24, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap proposed that the state legislature abolish primary elections. He says the state can’t afford the $300,000 every other year for primaries, and says that the parties are capable of nominating by caucuses, at their own expense. Dunlap was co-hosting the radio show “Maine in the Morning” when he made this suggestion. In Maine, the Secretary of State is appointed by the legislature rather than being elected by the voters. Dunlap is a Democrat. The legislature won’t be in session until 2008.
August 28th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I LOVE this idea!
August 28th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Agreed.
Either this or have the state send a bill to each qualified party that holds a primary.
August 28th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
A good step away from a century long effort to turn political parties into an administrative arm of the State. No State-sponsored manipulation of the citizen – radical great! No State campaign finance regulation for candidates, no ballot access regulation for parties to select their candidates, private elections run by private individuals or accounting firms. Looks like an opportunity for open source politics to me.
Hmmm. Not without a fight. Look for this idea to get slammed by the entrenched politicians. The first thing they’ll do is dredge up the archaic vision of “ward bosses” and machine politics. Ironic, but national machine politics with “bosses” is what we’ve had for a century.
Today is a much different social environment – information cannot be monopolized by the few for long. Mr. Dunlap’s idea is just too realistic and practical and returns too much power to the people (populism) to go unsmeared. I can almost hear the drumbeats of kneejerkers in academe. Let’s hope Mr. Dunlap does not backpedal under pressure.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:09 am
I like the idea too, but it must go hand and hand with an IRV based system.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:20 am
I’ve never understood why primaries are publically financed anyway. Political parties should finance their own candidate nomination activities, whether they take the form of primaries, conventions, or caucuses, instead of sticking the public with the bill.