by Wendy Underhill
Recently NCSL published the May issue of The Canvass, and the lead article detailed the various kinds of state primaries. I wrote that story, and I thought I had squeezed just about everything there was to know about primaries into less than 1000 words.
I was wrong. Dr. H. Edward Flentje, professor of public administration at Wichita State University (and my favorite professor in graduate school) called me. It seems I left out a key part: the history of primary elections.
So here’s the rest of the story. Soon after the American Revolution, political parties made nominating decisions for statewide offices by a gathering of their state legislators; these were the first caucuses. By the early 1800s, “the legislative caucus fell before those who demanded that the people be given a voice in nominations,” says a venerable but out-of-print text, Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups, by V.O. Key, Jr.
The replacement? Statewide conventions. Key says that “the convention was a means for the expression of the ‘popular will’ of the party; it was representative government for the party.”
Conventions remained dominant for the next hundred years, but just as the caucus had before them, “the convention came to be regarded as an instrument of organization control, as a means of boss rule,” wrote Key.
What then? Direct primaries, regulated by state legislatures. Wisconsin enacted the first statewide primary law in 1903 and by 1917 primaries had spread to all but a few states.
Primaries, then, were a 20th century innovation, that replaced a 19th century innovation, that replaced a gathering of politicians. It’s all about “the push and pull between the preferences of party organizations and popular choice,” says Flentje.
In that context, it is interesting to note that Washington has indeed cancelled its presidential primary for 2012, saving $10 million by doing so. It will use caucuses instead.
For another version of the history of primaries, try the Britannica.
Comments