Project Mayhem got a boost in the Democratic-controlled House yesterday with the passage of a bill to hold party primary presidential elections without the actual party part.
The preferred Senate version to conduct a traditional party primary unfortunately did not, and is off the table this session.
Joey Bunch at the Denver Post says the House version is going to make a run at Senate passage today:
The Senate is expected to hold a committee hearing on the House bill Tuesday. If the bill gets approval there, it would have to pass a voice vote on the Senate floor sometime Tuesday in order to get a final roll-call vote Wednesday.
Mercifully, the action comes as the clock for the legislative session is running out of time, because this measure deserves a quick and painful death.
If passed, it would completely distort the purpose of a primary election which is to choose among one’s party candidates to elect a nominee. Instead, it would pollute the outcome.
For example, what if we were a Democrat, but identified as a Trump hater? We could have just switched our registration to unaffiliated, then come Election Day cast our ballots to cause mayhem in the Republican Party.
That’s not choosing a party’s nominee, that’s wreaking havoc, and is exactly why Colorado Democrats are pushing their bill.
Although the Senate version was better, we are not keen on pushing through a bill in the waning hours of the session. We have plenty of years before the next presidential election rolls around, and lawmakers should carefully study all options before locking us into an election.
In a turn no one could predict, the #coleg bill to make a prez primary appears destined for “a study” #copolitics
— John Frank (@ByJohnFrank) May 10, 2016
As worse ideas go, this one is only slightly …