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PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DATE CHANGE - ADVANCES- WEEK OF NOVEMBER 11, 2007
Citing potentially increased presidential primary influence and cost-savings, state leaders are rallying behind the suggestion of moving Massachusetts’s primary date up one month to Feb. 5. But any change to the date will require legislative approval because the current March primary is set in statute. There was talk last week about fast-tracking a bill so lawmakers can get it done between now and the end of the 2007 formal session calendar prior to Thanksgiving. Rep. Garrett Bradley, co-chair of the Committee on Election Laws, said he had been in contact with committee members and Secretary of State William Galvin’s office to draw up the language of such a bill. He also noted that similar bills already heard by the committee could be examined as potential vehicles for the date change. Bradley said a public hearing may not be necessary for a new bill if committee members polled favorably on it, but no decisions had been made yet. Asked if the accelerated timetable was realistic, Bradley said, “You can get whatever you want done if everybody agrees.” And so far, Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi have all indicated they support the change. In addition to joining dozens of other “Super Tuesday” states, moving up the primary would also allow the state to hold simultaneous special elections for four potential vacant House seats, which Galvin has said would increase turnout and save on the cost of holding separate special elections. The four seats in play include the one vacated by Rep. Michael Festa, who left to become the Patrick administration’s secretary of elder affairs, the one held by Rep. Douglas Petersen who plans to become state agriculture commissioner later this month, and the one held by Rep. Robert Correia, who will leave to assume the mayoralty of Fall River. A fourth seat would be vacant if any one of three incumbent representatives – Reps. James Marzilli, Charles Murphy and Patrick Natale – and not firefighter union leader Ken Donnelly wins Tuesday’s race for the 4th Middlesex Senate district, vacated earlier this year by Sen. Robert Havern, and go on to take the December 11 final election.
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