Detailed Summary

(This text will be automatically replaced if the official summary is transferred from the legislature.)

S. 2024 is known as Fair and Representative Presidential Primaries Act of 2007.

This bill would create an interregional primary system. Six primaries would be held on six specific Tuesdays from March to June. The states would be divided into geographical regions. Each of the primaries would consist of one or more states from every region of the country. A lottery would determine the order of the primaries in the first election year. After the first election year, the sequence would rotate, so that all the states would take turns holding earlier, middle, and later primaries.

Here is how the regions and groups are arranged:

Region 1: (A) Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont; (B) Massachusetts; (C) Connecticut, Rhode Island; (D) Delaware, New Jersey; (E) New York; (F) Pennsylvania.

Region 2: (A) Maryland; (B) West Virginia; (C) Missouri; (D) Indiana; (E) Kentucky; (F) Tennessee.

Region 3: (A) Ohio; (B) Illinois; (C) Michigan; (D) Wisconsin; (E) Iowa; (F) Minnesota.

Region 4: (A) Texas; (B) Louisiana; (C) Arkansas, Oklahoma; (D) Colorado; (E) Kansas, Nebraska; (F) Arizona, New Mexico.

Region 5: (A) Virginia; (B) North Carolina; (C) South Carolina; (D) Florida; (E) Georgia; (F) Mississippi, Alabama.

Region 6: (A) California; (B) Washington; (C) Oregon; (D) Idaho, Nevada, Utah; (E) Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming; (F) Hawaii, Alaska.

The groups from each of the regions would remain consistent, so that the Group (A) states would always share the same primary, the Group (B) states would always share the same primary, and so on. When the primary sequence rotated, the groups would rotate together.

For example, if the lottery selected Group (A) to hold the first primary, the states that would participate in that first primary would be Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont from Region 1, Maryland from Region 2, Ohio from Region 3, Texas from Region 4, Virginia from Region 5, and California from Region 6. The second primary would be the Group (B) states, which would consist of Massachusetts from Region 1, West Virginia from Region 2, Illinois from Region 3, Louisiana from Region 4, North Carolina from Region 5, and Washington from Region 6.

The specific Tuesdays for the six primaries would be 2nd Tuesday in March, 1st and 4th Tuesdays in April, 2nd and 4th Tuesdays in May, and 2nd Tuesday in June. For each election, the groups would rotate through the sequence, so that if Group (A) was first in 2012, they would be last in 2016, 5th in 2020, 4th in 2024, and so on until they were first again in 2036.

The bill also includes rules for the timing of primaries for Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and other US territories.

(Source: The Library of Congress on Thomas, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.2024: )

Status of the Legislation

Latest Major Action: 9/6/2007: Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Points in Favor

1. Ends the Iowa and New Hampshire monopoly on first caucus / primary every election.

2. Stops the race by states to hold their primary as early as possible.

3. Eliminates having a huge "Super Tuesday" where nearly half the states' delegates are committed.

4. Reduces sectional influence on candidate selection, by having every primary consist of a cross-section of the country.

5. Spreads out the primaries so that candidates could focus more on the states that ARE voting each primary.

6. Increases the chances that later primaries will still be meaningful.

Points Against

1. Requires extensive travel by candidates, staff, and journalists since every primary includes every region.

2. Requires "critical mass" campaign funding before the first primary for any candidate to be a factor.

3. Reduces the ability of a relatively unknown and lesser-funded candidate to take advantage of the "retail campaigning" in a small state and thus get national exposure with minimum up front fundraising.