Election Changes May Be Coming
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Legislators and others want Arkansas to have
more of a say in the front-loaded presidential primaries.
They will decide next year whether to require state political
parties to pick their national convention delegates earlier.
State Representative Jeremy Hutchinson of Little Rock filed the
bill yesterday and hopes it will be taken up during the coming
legislative session.
He said states that choose their delegates earlier get to have
earlier primaries and establish their front-runners for statewide
and national office.
The heads of both major parties in Arkansas like the idea.
Incoming Republican state director Clint Reed said it would help
and Democratic Party chairman Ron Oliver said he`s been wanting the
change for awhile.
Presidential primaries are now loaded at the beginning, in
February and March. Oliver said it hurt retired General Wesley
Clark of Little Rock that his home state didn`t hold its primary
until May, and he was forced to drop out of the Democratic
presidential race in February.
