Georgia Voters Deserve Better Say in Presidential Primary

This following is an open letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Dear Secretary Raffensperger:

As plans continue for our state’s presidential primary next year some concerns need to be addressed about just how much of an impact Georgia’s votes will have.

With our state’s presidential primary now pushed back to March 24 next year there is serious doubt as to just how much our votes will mean in the grand scheme of things. Let’s examine why.

First and foremost by the time Georgia voters cast their votes for president there will be several candidates who will have already ended their campaigns. Currently the Democratic Party has more than 25 candidates competing in its primary. That number is greater than the number of candidates that have been debating during a two-night span.

While it has not received as much attention (yet) there is also a contested Republican primary. President Trump has a legitimate challenger in two-term Massachusetts governor Bill Weld. There have also been whispers of another Republican joining the race to challenge the President.

With our primary not being held until March 24, candidates have not exactly been making appearances in the Peach State. In reality no one can blame them. The focus is on Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina along with Nevada.

Once those contests are held there will be a slew of other states which will vote before Georgia. By the time we are finally able to vote many of the Democratic candidates will have thrown in the towel on their campaign. It’s possible the challenge that Gov. Weld is trying to make will have also ended. He faces a major uphill battle of course.

The official reason for the delayed primary date in Georgia is because of the implementation of the new statewide voting equipment. While it is a good thing that the new touchscreen voting machines will print out paper ballots our voice in the 2020 presidential primary has been seriously muted.

Georgia voters have the right to know why this new system has taken so long to be put in place. Questions from the start surrounded the method that is now on the way out. It has been proven that the system could easily be hacked (and not by Russians.)

We really don’t know how many of our elections have been compromised both at the local, regional and state levels. We are fortunate that we have not gone through the embarrassments experienced by Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

In looking ahead to the 2024 presidential election I urge you to push for as early a primary date for Georgia as possible. While Iowa and New Hampshire seem to remain the sacred cows of early voting when it comes to presidential contests, there is no reason Georgia voters can’t be next.

I have nothing against any voter in any other state be it Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada. However, Georgia voters deserve to have just as much of a say in deciding who the presidential nominees are. We have certainly been delegated to second-class status (at best) for 2020.

It is very likely that our primary may have been rendered pointless by the time March 24 gets here. While the Democratic Party field is as long right now as it has ever been, we may be lucky to have two choices still in the race by the time the voting day arrives here.

There very well could be open contests for both major parties in 2024. This will happen of President Trump is elected to another term. Georgia voters deserve better than to be an afterthought in this most important process.

Our primary needs to be moved forward on the calendar, not pushed further back. Even when we were part of the Super Tuesday date I have always contended that was too deep into the primary season.

At least then, however, Georgia’s votes mattered more to some degree. Presidential primaries always spark voter interest and that goes for the Peach State as well. The key is to be able to have to have as early a primary date as possible.

I urge you to begin the process of getting our presidential primary date to be held the week after the New Hampshire primary in 2024. This would force candidates to spend time here and to work to earn our votes.

Settling for less is an insult to the people of our great state.

Sincerely,

Chris Bridges

Registered voter since 1989

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time columnist and community newspaper journalist. He has earned awards for his columns from the National Newspaper Association, the Georgia Press Association and the Georgia Sports Writers Association. He welcomes feedback about this column at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.