There is no reason campaigns should run for a year and a half, and Congress actually has the power to end this political insanity.
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There is no reason campaigns should run for a year and a half, and Congress actually has the power to end this political insanity.
The first Republican presidential primary debate is scheduled for Aug. 23. It is but one of 10 to 12 such events, in addition to at least eight other forums hosted by outside organizations, to say nothing of the array of town halls and one-on-one interviews which will inevitably appear on cable channels, network news, and any number of fringier online video outlets.
By the time the primary race officially begins with the Iowa caucuses in January, we’ll have had dozens of opportunities to see former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the probable also-rans who populate the rest of the field deliver their finely-honed canned sniping and consultant-crafted one-liners.
And that’s exactly the problem: Our presidential elections are far too long and much too stupid.
No one wants this. Certainly, no one needs this. Congress can and should cut down on the stupidity by limiting the length, and this is something our lawmakers could manage with ample bipartisan support.
Election law, particularly where campaign finance is concerned, is often a contentious subject. Who gets to donate and how much money they can give, how and when we can vote, where to draw district lines, who will count the votes and who will check their work—these are all questions easily drawn into partisan battles because of the politically disparate effects different answers can have.
But what I’m interested in here is time, and time passes equally for us all. It also happens to be clearly within congressional purview.
Parts of our election timeline are already determined by federal law and the Constitution. Congress fixed the general Election Day in 1845, a decision prompted by the rise of the telegram. National uniformity was needed, the thinking went, because if news could travel more quickly, early results might unfairly sway decisions in later voting states.
“The sheer length of our presidential elections isn’t only annoying and inconvenient. It’s a two-year simmer, cooking our bitterness at politicians and neighbors alike into a reductive concentrate.”
The Constitution also gives Congress the authority to “determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.” That part happens in mid-December, and the electors’ votes are counted in Washington, D.C. by Congress on—I’m guessing you know this one, given how it went last time—Jan. 6.
Finally, the 20th Amendment, adopted in 1933, finishes out the schedule with the president’s inauguration date, Jan. 20, moved up from Mar. 4 due to faster modes of travel.
So here’s my very simple proposal: If Congress can determine when our presidential elections end, it should also determine when they begin. And they should begin much later than they do.
Other, similar countries do not have elections this long. (The United Kingdom, for example, allows official campaigning for just 25 working days.) They’re spared months of televised inanities. They needn’t pretend to care about the nth “debate” which doesn’t deserve the name. They don’t have a six-month primary debacle in which later votes are not just unfairly swayed but rendered completely irrelevant.
We could be free of all that stuff too. Maybe it would take a constitutional amendment, just to be safe, but I don’t think so, given that 1845 precedent.
All Congress needs to do is add three dates to our campaign law: one for the earliest launch of campaign exploratory committees, one for the launch of campaigns proper, and one for a universal primary vote and caucus day.
The crucial question, of course, is what those dates should be. I’d suggest a pretty aggressive schedule of a month for exploration, a month for primaries, and a month to pick the winner. Working back from the election in early November, we wouldn’t be in election mode until—at the earliest—Aug. 1, 2024. I’m practically salivating at the thought.
We could reclaim about 18 (mostly useless) months out of every four years. We could ignore these people’s babbling and bickering, the personal spats and the howling vacuum where policy content ought to be. Candidates would be forced to strategize more carefully, to prune their content to just the most important stuff, just what they can fit in three short months. That’s a discipline they very obviously need.
And a tightly scheduled election wouldn’t mean no debates. My timeline would allow about three debates ahead of each vote, assuming a once-weekly schedule. Paying attention to six two-hour sessions over the course of two months is a reasonable proposition for normal, busy adults who have real things to do in our lives.
From the first primary debate in early September to Election Day, the whole thing would be roughly the length of a British TV series—or a class at your gym, or a book club you actually stick with, or half a semester of school, from the first day through midterms.
We could do this—and we might even be able to do it well. Or at least a little bit better.
The sheer length of our presidential elections isn’t only annoying and inconvenient. It’s a two-year simmer, cooking our bitterness at politicians and neighbors alike into a reductive concentrate. Maybe it’s unavoidable that we’ll hit a political boiling point by Election Day.
With so much power at stake, I suspect that’s true. But it could at least be a quick boil. We might then get burned less along the way.
The difference between USA and the other countries with shorter election seasons is voting for a person to lead versus representatives who will elect their leader. Just look at off presidential elections to get an idea of a USA shortened election season. So, parliamentary governments have the citizens elect their equivalent of house and senate members; who then vote in their “president”. Good old US of A likes a cage match for the top spot, so you get the contestants parading around forever.
Between this and the huge profit motive the media has in riding this chaos train into the sunset for as long as possible, things definitely aren't gonna change.
All Congress needs to do is add three dates to our campaign law: one for the earliest launch of campaign exploratory committees, one for the launch of campaigns proper, and one for a universal primary vote and caucus day.
I agree that the country needs a single primary voting day, but I cannot see how it is possible to achieve when individual states have laws about the day of their primaries. For example, Iowa always has the first primary because it has a state law to ensure it will always have a primary before any other state. As much I believe we would all benefit from centralizing voting (one universal ballot, national holiday across all business for voting, universal primary day), the reality is that all the things that make your voting experience good or awful are under the purview of the states. I don't see any outcome for the proposal in this writing that doesn't end up in SCOTUS with an opinion that reiterates states' rights.
So I think the tactic is to look at the states like a domino run. Iowa has to be the first, but doesn't have to happen any earlier than it does. Why not instead coax the later primaries into pushing back as far as their laws permit, then slinking back primary dates for middle states, etc., until Iowa starts in July instead of March?
I will also throw in that one reason why campaigning in the US takes so long compared to countries in Europe is because we are 4000% larger in geographical area. Yes, I would like to see shorter primaries in the lead up to the general election, but candidates stand to make impact on their numbers and recruit from undecideds and independents through travel and town hall events. Some politicians such as incumbents are still juggling governing while campaigning. I don't think traipsing across the US in 1-3 months would benefit anyone other than extremely wealthy and bored candidates (as in, they don't have anything more pressing to do but travel). I'm not sure this improves the quality of our options, per se.
In addition to other points, the election machine wants it this way. Advertisers, lawyers, staff, venues, news organizations, and all the other hangers on make good money from the nonsense.
So I agree with you, changes are completely necessary. I just don't see how when the money makers pay off those who could make real changes.
Sure, but if elections were only a few months long, how would we get people all riled up and angry at each other all the time? Are you telling me we'd just have to live our normal lives?