In just more than three months, on Feb. 7, 2012, state law requires Missouri to hold a presidential primary election. This primary election will be one of the country’s first. Why isn’t the Missouri Presidential Primary more prominent nationally – will it even matter?
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Yes, says our state’s foremost election officer, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. She hails this exercise as the hallmark of democracy (her opinion published in the Oct. 26 edition of the Kansas City Star). Others add how a primary election encourages presidential candidates to visit or campaign in Missouri.
Really? Well, opinions are like bellybuttons: everybody has one. So, here’s another. February’s primary election is a big waste of money. And what’s unfolding is confusing to average taxpayers like me. It undermines confidence in our political system. Let me count the ways.
First, Missouri backed into this upcoming impotent primary because of legislative inaction. Secondly, the state’s Republican Party plans to ignore the primary election results.
Let’s review. Under the caucus system delegates are selected at Congressional district caucuses and at the state convention. These are private, political party affairs. On the other hand, presidential primary elections involve citizen voters where election results determine how many delegates are sent to each party’s national convention. Obviously, most elected officials at least publicly endorse presidential primaries.
Now let’s look ahead. With the incumbent President being Democrat and a candidate for re-election in 2012, there is no primary election on the Democrat ticket. On the other hand, Republican candidate hopefuls are many – and the State Republican Party has announced they will use the caucus system to choose their candidates.
Can a political party ignore votes cast by Missourians in a primary and instead let only party members who show up at a caucus decide how delegates will be awarded? Yes. This sets the stage for renewed debate on how to, and then whether to conduct presidential primaries in Missouri.
This debate was take up during the special session just ended. Four separate votes on amendments to existing law were taken. One idea proposed in special session last month was to eliminate the primary in favor of a caucus; another idea was to retain the primary but move it to January.
Meanwhile, both Democrat and Republican national leaders warned the state that national convention delegates might not be seated if Missouri moved its February primary date to a later month. The inability to reset Missouri’s primary election date contributed to gridlock; nothing changed. So, we have a primary with problems because of legislative inaction, one essentially ignored on the national level.
Regardless of primary election votes cast on Feb. 7, Republicans will only let party members who show up at a caucus on March 17 decide how delegates will be awarded. Is this legal? Yes. It certainly would be odd if caucus delegate selections contradict popular vote. But there is no legal instrument binding the political parties to Missouri’s primary election results.
No wonder some call the upcoming presidential primary in our state a meaningless “beauty pageant.”
Thirdly, it is fiscally impractical for Missouri to conduct a “meaningless” Presidential primary election in 2012. The estimated cost is $8 million when we don’t have the money to spare.
Perhaps $8 million is not a very large sum in the scheme of things on a statewide basis. Still, Sen. Scott Rupp points out that $8 million would allow 323 kids with autism to get services in our state; $8 million would pay for 1,230 additional inmates behind bars. Rupp says $8 million of taxpayers’ money is the same spent on one of our state’s child psychiatric hospitals for a year, or one annual payment to a higher education institution in Missouri.
Spending $8 million for a “feel good” primary election particularly rankles during this tough economy – with state budgets in deficits and the state not fulfilling all its obligations to counties. The state’s fudging on fiscal responsibilities plays out in various ways.
One example is property reassessment. The state pledged to pay half the costs of reassessment – $17 per parcel in Daviess County. But then the state only delivered $3.41 per parcel for its “half” of the costs!
For counties that don’t have their own jail facility, it’s worse. The regional jail here at Pattonsburg uses sales tax rather than property tax revenue from the county with state funding to cover expenses. But elsewhere, counties pay whenever state reimbursement falls short. Locally, prisoner costs are set at a rate of $30 per day ($25, and $5 for insurance). The state only reimburses at a rate of $18.58 per day! Guess who makes up that difference.
Let me be clear: Spending $8 million on a primary election that matters is a worthy investment in democracy. Spending such a sum when there’s even the possibility of ballot results being ignored is a significant waste of money and effort in the very least. It’s not what taxpayers expect.
And fourthly, political parties seem to intentionally alienate us. Think about what’s happened.
Missouri’s population is a cross-section of the national population, ideal for a successful primary election. With almost six million residents in both urban and rural areas, the state is a better representation of national sentiment than smaller primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. And yet, Missouri disconnects its primary election results to the process because some political leaders in our state put party politics first.
This isn’t a new situation. Missouri’s presidential primary has been in use since 2000. But fixing state law to elevate our Presidential Primary is easy to postpone. So, when no solution or compromise could be reached, a “last resort” tactic was debated. SS HCS HB3 proposed to cancel the presidential primary for 2012 but keep it in place for future years …in other words, push the headache off for somebody else to solve later. And, wouldn’t you know it, even that didn’t pass but ended in a 16-16 tie.
Our statehouse leaders have made Missouri’s presidential primary election something of a joke.
“There’s a reason there’s discontent with government: Elected officials are not listening to their constituents,” Sen. Brad Lager said in support of his amendment to move the primary to January. But he is only one of 16 state senators who want Missouri’s presidential primary to have a meaningful impact. State law defining Missouri’s Presidential Primary Election needs to be fixed.
Until we make our primary election results legally binding to determine Missouri’s delegates to national nomination conventions, why should anyone take your primary ballot seriously? It doesn’t matter …and they aren’t.
Thank you for reading.