Move Wisconsin presidential primary to February

It is time to change Wisconsin’s election schedule and assure the state’s voters have a real voice in presidential primaries.

On April 7, Wisconsin voters will finally get their chance to weigh in on which Democrat should run against President Donald Trump in next fall’s general election.

At the current rate of candidates dropping out of the race, the Wisconsin presidential preference primary will likely be a waste of time. Of the 12 candidates whose names will appear on the ballot, only four remain in the race as of Monday afternoon. With Super Tuesday’s elections this week, the field of candidates is expected to further drop as hopefuls broker deals to throw their support behind a stronger candidate in exchange for having a voice at the table in setting the party’s platform in the coming election or consideration for a future appointment.

The current process of picking a presidential nominee is a mess. With candidates on the campaign trail years before the general election, it is a war of attrition rather than an exchange of ideas and issues. The victors are those that can muster the financial support to keep plugging away and who can leverage those dollars into polling results that show their continued viability.

Under the current system, many of the best ideas are left by the wayside because the money stopped flowing to the candidates when they failed to climb in polls and early primaries.

Wisconsin will be an important state in the November general election. The historically purple state is one where ideas and individuals have always played a larger role than blind loyalty to a party. Wisconsin is an important swing state and candidates and their proxies work hard to woo voters here.

However important the state is in the general election, given the late date of the primary, the state’s impact on the primaries is often inconsequential. While things could be worse, New Mexico and New Jersey don’t have their primaries until June, things could be much better.

Wisconsin has held the presidential preference primary as part of the April spring election for most of its history with the exception of 1996 when it was in March and in 2004 and 2008 when it was held during the February primary. It was only changed back to April because the national parties threatened to cut delegate totals of states that moved to have earlier primary dates. These types of threats should be countered by law and in the courts to ensure all voices are heard and not just those party leaders want to be heard.

At the same time, federal action must be taken to follow the lead of other industrialized nations and set time limits on when active campaigns can occur. This would prevent voter fatigue and put more emphasis on ideas and individuals and less on who is able to spend the most.

It is time to take the primaries out of the hands of party insiders, who have a vested financial interest in prolonging the campaign season, and give the voters more say in narrowing the field of candidates.

A staggered primary season will likely always exist, meaning there will be states that go first and those that go last. However, moving up Wisconsin’s primary would give renewed importance to the issues that matter to state residents rather than forcing voters to pick through the scraps left over from voters in other states.