Not a political discussion just a question

[hydrotony]

Political parties are not mentioned in the Constitution. All the party election rules and procedures have been created piece by piece by the States since the Federalist Party started around 1800. All rules are ways to select the Electoral College voters assigned to each State by the Constitution (who then meet after the general election to vote for President). This is why there are a bewildering number of different election rules throughout the States. Each State has it's own unique way to select the Electoral College voters.

 

[georgina]

South Carolina, NH, and Iowa ALWAYS go first. It's in the rules- for the Republican party. Lots of states talk about moving up but few do because the penalties are so high. I believe this season failure to abide by the schedule will result in a loss of all delegates from the state. I doubt they will ever enforce that penalty but losing half or more is pretty tough. I believe there are candidate penalties for campaigning in a state that holds its primary out of turn as well but I,wasn't paying attention that closely.

They may always go first, but that is a really stupid way to do it, IMO. I don't believe those small states should have such a large role. Let's shorten the procedure and have them all decided in a shorter time frame. After our state primary a year ago I saw an editorial which asked why are the states spending money to help the parties pick their candidates anyway? Let them do it themselves. Elections are expensive.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Presidential primary should be on the same date in every state so all states get an equal amount of attention. It's crazy how much time politicians spend in Iowa. New York City and LA each have more people that live in them than the entire state of Iowa (Chicago doesn't quite make it).