Congressman Sander Levin

Fair and Representative Presidential Primaries

When I first introduced legislation to reform the president nominating process in 1986, I noted that "the present presidential nominating system is running out of control." Twenty-one years later, the system is even more out of control, resulting in a chaotic, front-loaded primary calendar that doesn't work for voters or the candidates who seek their support.

I believe it is time for a nation solution. Senator Bill Nelson and I have introduced legislation [H.R. 1523] that would ensure that every part of the country is equally represented in the presidential nominating process.

This legislation would establish six primary election dates, evenly spaced from March until June. On each of these dates, one state (or group of smaller states) from each of six regions of the country would hold its primary. The order that states would hold their primaries would be determined by a lottery and rotate each cycle, ensuring that every state would hold its primary first exactly once in a 24 year cycle.

The example map above shows what one of the six election dates might look like. In this example the following states might hold their election on the same date: Michigan, Rhode Island, Connecticut, West Virginia, Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Utah, Idaho, and Nevada.

Click here to see what a full primary schedule would look like.