State bill would move presidential primary voting day

A new state senate bill aims to give Californians an earlier say in the presidential primary nomination. Supporters say this would give voters in the state a more significant role in the election process.

Senate Bill 568 would move the voting day to the third Tuesday of March. The state usually has a June primary. Supporters of the bill say that late timing diminishes California’s impact and influence on the nomination process.

Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin, however, says this push has happened before.

“Well like I said, we’ve done it before. We did it, I believe, in 2004 we had a March primary for the president and then the November runoff, so we’ve done that before,” said Pellerin. “If they pass that legislation, we’ll do it again.”

The bill would move California’s presidential primary to after the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary. It also gives the governor power to move the date even earlier if other states move up their own election days.

Pellerin does not see the benefit herself.

“In some cases where you have an earlier primary, you feel like you’re involved in the election earlier on when there’s lots of choices to be made. In 2008 actually, when we moved the primary to February, that Democratic primary didn’t really get hot until later in the year,” she said. “Had we held it in June, we probably would have been much more influential.”

We spoke with voters as well, to see what they think.

“I mean I think it’s great that they’re making an effort, but I think that there are much bigger issues like gerrymandering, like voter suppression. So I’m not sure it will do much to help with that,” said Stephanie Antoine, a San Jose resident.

Supporters hope to pass the bill in time for the 2020 election season. That is something one Santa Cruz County supervisor hopes to see as well.

“Well, the way the current system is set up, it’s a moot point when we usually have our primary. So all the other states have pretty much picked who’s going to be the nominee,” said Greg Caput, supervisor from the fourth district. “It would have more influence if we moved up the date from June maybe to March.”

SB 568 will be heard in committee next Tuesday. There are almost 20 million registered voters in California; that far exceeds every other state in the country.