How Did Missouri Get a Caucus and a Primary That Doesn’t Count?
Tomorrow is the Presidential primary election in Missouri – but it doesn’t count. Instead, caucuses that start on March 17th will select which GOP Presidential candidate Missouri backs. How did this come about? There is no short answer, and the answer will probably not satisfy anyone.
In 2010, the Republican National Committee (RNC) set new rules for the 2012 race that would punish any state, other than Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, or Nevada, that had a primary or caucus before March 6, 2012. Any state that had a contest before that date would lose half its delegates at the national convention – meaning the state’s vote only counted for half of what it would otherwise. The RNC’s goal was to combat the trend of front-loading the primaries in which states moved them earlier and earlier.
The problem was that Missouri’s Presidential primary election was set for early February, as it had been since 2002 when the date was last changed. Unless something changed, the RNC would punish Missouri by stripping the state of half of its delegates.
In April 2011, the Missouri House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill that would move the date of the Presidential primary. The new date for the election would be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March, which was the earliest date allowed by the RNC. The bill passed with broad bipartisan support: in the House by a vote of 137 to 11 and in the Senate 31 to 2.
In July, though, Governor Nixon vetoed the bill. There were two other election related changes, dealing with write-in candidates and special elections that the Governor objected to and killed the bill. Legislative leaders were upset because Gov. Nixon had not told anyone beforehand that he objected to these provisions.
When the General Assembly went into special session in early September, the change of the primary was on the agenda. The special session in 2011 did not go smoothly, however. In the first three days of the special session, the House passed the change by a vote of 147 to 2 and sent the bill to the Senate where it stopped. The House and the Senate were in disagreement over another bill and the Senate declined to address the election issue.
The RNC set a deadline of October 1st for states to let the national party know when their nominating contest would be. With the primary bill stuck in the Senate, the Missouri Republican Party (MRP) announced on September 30th that it would use a caucus to pick the GOP nominee in 2012. The party set the date for the first round of the caucus on March 17th so as to avoid punishment by the RNC.
In mid-October, the state Senate debated a number of proposals. There was one that would move the primary up to January, one would push it back to March (the original plan), and another would abolish it. Since the primary now would be a beauty contest and would not be binding, there was an effort to eliminate the primary in 2012 to save the state of Missouri roughly $7 million. The Senate voted to skip the primary, but the vote tied at 16 to 16, which failed to pass, thus keeping the primary in addition to the caucus.
Missouri’s primary is February 7th, but the Republican Presidential nominee will be selected at the March 17th caucus – if you are interested in the race then go to your caucus.
Larry Stone
9:34 am on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
It is reprehensible that $7 million of taxpayer dollars was wasted on a causus and primary that does not count! The $7 million could have been better spent on restoring certain essential state services lost to budget-cutting. This debacle stands as yet another sad example of how "WE THE PEOPLE" continue to be adversely affected by those in whom we have placed our trust as members of the Missouri General Assembly. Constant partisan gamesmanship is not what we pay them to do for us in Jefferson City!
Lawrence Creighton Stone
Dennis Broadbooks
2:59 pm on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
@Charles: Technically speaking the GOP presidential nominee will NOT be chosen @ the March 17th caucuses which occur across the state. The process to ARRIVE at that conclusion begins on that date. As simply as I can put it, delegates & alternates to BOTH the GOP congressional district conventions (held Saturday, April 21st) & GOP state convention (held Saturday, June 2nd) will be chosen at the local caucuses held on March 17th. On April 21st at their respective congressional district conventions, those local caucus delegates will select 3 delegates (+ 3 alternates) to the national convention (8 Congressional Districts x 3 delegates/alternates = a total of 24 delegates + 24 alternates to the national convention). At the state convention on June 2nd there will be an additional 25 delegates & 25 alternates chosen by the local caucus delegates to move on to the national convention held August 27th through August 31st of this year. This means there will be a total of 49 delegates & 49 alternates elected in this 2 stage process to the GOP national convention. In addition to these delegates, the state party chairman, the state national committeeman, & state national committeewoman also comprise 3 more votes; bringing the grand total to 52 voting delegates from MO to the national convention in August. Who these 52 delegates are then committed to voting for at the national level is a completely different story.
Eileen Tyrrell
6:43 pm on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Dennis:
Well stated. Thank you for the information. Please continue with the story as to whom the 52 delegates will be committed to voting for at the national convention.
Diane Engle
6:55 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Dennis,
Thanks for the information. I didn't vote on Tuesday because, for the first time, I felt like my 'vote' wouldn't count. This just proves my point even more. When our voting process disinfranchises the votes, the process needs to be looked at and overhauled! I think it's time that the MO GOP revisit their decision to move up the primary to 'be one of the first' and to revise how delegates are determined. Eileen is correct: we have NO idea how these delegates are going to represent MO at the convention in August!
Dennis Broadbooks
8:02 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
@Diane: I can understand why one might think their vote didn't count on Tuesday, however the results of that "straw poll" are having major ramifications right now across the nation. Santorum's campaign received a shot in the arm from what transpired in MO, CO, & MN on Tuesday. It did "count" in that regard. I hope you'll be a part of the caucuses in your township on March 17th AND commit to moving on as a delegate to your congressional district convention on April 21st AND to the state convention on June 2nd. By participating in those events you most certainly can have an influence on how the delegates are going to represent MO at the national convention in August.
Julie Brown Patton
8:31 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thanks, Dennis Broadbooks, for continuing to shine light on the overall process. You are correct that what happened in Missouri this week sent an interesting ripple across the United States.
Eileen Tyrrell
9:27 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
To all voters:
Are you attending your caucuses on March 17th? I am!
Julie Brown Patton
9:42 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
As reported in a Patch article from Denise Bertacchi earlier this week: To find which township you belong to, check the Missouri Secretary of State’s voter registration website. You will need to enter your name exactly how it appears on your voter registration card, then click “view current elected officials.” The Missouri GOP will announce where caucus are held as the information is available. The links to these sites are available in the article: http://eureka-wildwood.patch.com/articles/voicing-votes-that-may-not-countwhy
Dennis Broadbooks
11:11 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Below I'm listing the direct link to plug in your address to obtain your polling place information on the Vote Missouri web page. This will then take you to a page showing what polling place location you'll be voting in IF there's an election coming up within the next six weeks. Click on the link "View Your Current Elected Officials" & you'll then be directed to another page listing all your current elected officials all the way down to the township level. There your township will be listed under the "District" heading.
http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/pollingplacelookup/
As far as finding out WHERE your township's March 17th caucus meeting will be held it is technically up to the committeman & committewoman of each township to publicize that event. A notice of each local township caucus meeting is to be published in a minimum of one newspaper of general circulation in the caucus area no less than 15 days prior to the date of March 17th. It's very possible the information will be made available prior to that date of March 2nd & when it becomes "official" I'll be glad to provide it here for Patch readers. Alternately you may check on your own by going to the link below & check periodically for caucus location updates on the MO GOP web site. St Louis County is currently not showing as locations are still yet to be determined in many townships.
http://www.mogop.org/2012stateconvention/caucuses/
Kelley Woerther
6:00 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
The Wild Horse Township will hold their caucus in the community room at the Schnuck's Wildwood Crossing at 10 am on Saturday March 17, 2012.
Julie Brown Patton
6:25 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thanks, Kelley Woerther, good to know for schedules.
L. Unnerstall
9:45 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
"In July, though, Governor Nixon vetoed the bill. There were two other election related changes, dealing with write-in candidates and special elections that the Governor objected to and killed the bill. Legislative leaders were upset because Gov. Nixon had not told anyone beforehand that he objected to these provisions." Remember this come election time folks. Our Governor cost us taxpayers almost 8 million dollars -
John Pellerito
8:01 pm on Monday, February 20, 2012
Basically, vote to hold the primary was tie at the Senate level in order to pass the bill. The lieutenant governor ( whose only legislative duty is to break ties in the Senate ), did not show up and the bill went through for lack of tie -breaking vote .