Majority party state lawmakers are trying to prevent a repeat of 2012, when Missouri spent seven-million dollars on a meaningless presidential primary.
The National Republican Party refused to recognize the results of the Presidential primary because the legislature refused party demands to hold it later. GOP convention delegates had to be picked in caucuses. Senate Elections Committee Chairman Jay Wasson of Nixa says, “Nobody wants to have a caucus again, at least most nobodys that I know.”
Wasson supports Senator Will Kraus who wants to move the primary to March. Kraus had thought of having it in April, but local elections officials talked him out of it. He says waiting until June would make the primary “irrelevant,” leaving March the best possibility.
He says the 2012 primary was a flop because only one major candidate campaigned here. And he says the caucuses deprived the large majority of voters a chance to say who they wanted as their nominee.
The Senate will send the March primary bill to the House later this week.
