Early voting leaves no time for issues

by J Scott Christianson, Columbia Daily Tribune Columnist

Super-Tuesday, Super-Duper Tuesday, Tsunami Tuesday. Whatever you call it, today is the big day. Record turnouts are expected here in Missouri and in the 21 other states that are voting today. Most likely, the Democratic and Republican nominees will be chosen by the end of the night, effectively ending the presidential nomination process a full seven months before the party conventions and nine months before the general election.

Despite the excitement that today’s election day brings, there are some very big problems with our current primary process, and it is becoming clear that this method of choosing nominees is increasingly undemocratic.

The biggest problem with the current process is front-loading: choosing nearly half of the delegates in one early election. This quickened primary timeline leaves a lot of voters out of the process entirely and allows only those candidates who can raise a lot of money to compete. Candidates who have big money are more likely to succeed in these front-loaded primaries, whereas a candidate who has big ideas that might begin to resonate with voters over several months doesn’t have enough time to get his or her message out.

Front-loading also causes an over- emphasis on the states that vote earlier, namely Iowa and New Hampshire, because these early wins can be translated into campaign donations and media coverage.