The Great Primary Calendar re-shuffle Megathread

[Tender Branson]

Apparently the Louisiana caucus was moved back to April 28. Jindal apparently wants a spot in the Romney administration.

http://www.theind.com/news/9739-la-gop-sets-april-caucus

Will their March primary still be held or is it replaced with the April caucus ?

[realisticidealist]

Apparently the Louisiana caucus was moved back to April 28. Jindal apparently wants a spot in the Romney administration.

http://www.theind.com/news/9739-la-gop-sets-april-caucus

Will their March primary still be held or is it replaced with the April caucus ?

They're having both.

[Lief]

It seems the Maine caucuses are actually beginning this weekend: http://frontloading.blogspot.com/2012/01/maine-gop-begins-caucusing-saturday.html

[Mr. Morden]

There could still be further primary calendar movement.  The Texas primary was pushed back from the original March date because of the redistricting mess, and the courts may push it back again because the redistricting mess isn't settled:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/federal-court-says-april-3-primary-in-texas-still-possible-if-compromise-reached-by-feb-6/2012/01/27/gIQAHKSWWQ_story.html

That article suggests a possible new date of April 17, but some of the discussion I read about this on Twitter suggested it may be pushed back to May.

[Mr. Morden]

Here's the rundown on filing deadlines and the number of states where you can vote "Uncommitted" or write in a name:

http://frontloading.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/ill-see-your-white-knight-and-raise-you.html

Just in case any of you are still holding onto the hope of a late entry.

[Mr. Morden]

The courts might delay the Texas primary again, to possibly as late as June, if there's no compromise on the redistricting boundaries agreed to by today:

http://keranews.org/post/april-3-primary-depends-deadline-today

Today is the deadline for opposing sides to agree on Texas election maps. Without an agreement federal judges in San Antonio have said the April 3 primary elections will be delayed again. KERA’s Shelley Kofler says that could further diminish Texas’ role in the presidential election.

Texas Republicans had hoped the state’s March 6 primary would come early enough so they’d have a big “say” in choosing the GOP presidential nominee. But a legal dispute over election boundaries has pushed the Texas primary back to April 3. Now federal judges have said they will delay the primary further if republican lawmakers who drew the state’s maps don’t reach an agreement today with minority groups and Democrats.

[realisticidealist]

The courts might delay the Texas primary again, to possibly as late as June, if there's no compromise on the redistricting boundaries agreed to by today:

http://keranews.org/post/april-3-primary-depends-deadline-today

Today is the deadline for opposing sides to agree on Texas election maps. Without an agreement federal judges in San Antonio have said the April 3 primary elections will be delayed again. KERA’s Shelley Kofler says that could further diminish Texas’ role in the presidential election.

Texas Republicans had hoped the state’s March 6 primary would come early enough so they’d have a big “say” in choosing the GOP presidential nominee. But a legal dispute over election boundaries has pushed the Texas primary back to April 3. Now federal judges have said they will delay the primary further if republican lawmakers who drew the state’s maps don’t reach an agreement today with minority groups and Democrats.

A deal was struck to keep the Texas primary on April 3.

http://blogs.star-telegram.com/politex/2012/02/texas-ag-agrees-to-temporary-map-to-keep-april-3-state-primary-ap-reports.html

[Mr. Morden]

Actually, the deal has fallen apart, and it looks like we're going to have a later primary in Texas:

link

Texas is all but certain to have an even later say in choosing the Republican presidential nominee after what at first looked like a breakthrough deal in a bitter dispute over redistricting maps ended with wide rejection of the proposal.

That left the date of the Texas primaries in limbo Tuesday, a day after a court-imposed deadline for the state and minority advocacy groups to compromise came and went without temporary maps that everyone could agree on for the 2012 elections.

A San Antonio federal court had told both sides to reach a deal by Monday or see the April 3 primary date pushed back a second time. The Texas attorney general's office appeared to hit the deadline by announcing an agreement with some of the groups, but that was soon overshadowed by other prominent black and Hispanic organizations blasting the deal.

The court also appeared to reject the partial deal, as U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia urged talks to continue toward "a general agreement between all" parties.

Also, the redistricting battle in Pennsylvania may end up pushing the primary later there as well:

http://frontloading.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/pennsylvania-presidential-primary-on.html

[Lief]

So the real Super Tuesday is going to be in June then most likely. Hilarious.

[Mr. Morden]

Nothing new on Texas.  While they missed the nominal deadline on the compromise map, it's not clear that the court is going to do anything about setting a new date for the primary until next week.  So we'll wait to see what happens.

I removed Guam from the calendar in the OP, because it looks like the supposed date of the caucuses there wasn't official.  It's still unclear when it'll happen.  But Northern Marianas will select their delegates at a convention on March 10:

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=116333

so I've added that to the calendar.

[Mr. Morden]

So it looks like the judge in the redistricting case in Texas is pushing hard to get a compromise map done quickly.  (Hearings on this will be held this week, on the 14th and 15th.)  This could result in the primary staying in April, but possibly delayed until the 17th or 24th.

http://www.texasgopvote.com/2012-elections/redistricting-update-viii-court-wants-april-primary-003847

[Minnesota Mike]

Looks like the earliest the Texas primary will be is May 22, maybe as late as June 26.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEXAS_REDISTRICTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Mr. Morden]

One of the 3 judges on the case says that it's likely the court will delay the primary until May 29, but nothing official yet:

http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/02/15/san-antonio-3-judge-panel-suggests-that-texas-primary-will-be-may-29/

[Mr. Morden]

I've updated the calendar in the OP to list Texas as TBD, since it's now obvious that the primary won't happen on April 3.  The 3 judge panel has said as much, but hasn't set a new date yet.  They claim that the earliest realistic date is May 29th, but it might go to June.

[realisticidealist]

I don't know if anyone's noted this yet or not, but the Missouri caucuses actually are taking place from March 15 to March 24, with the majority of the counties voting on March 17. St. Louis County and Jackson County (Kansas City) are both voting on March 24.

[Erc]

The Texas GOP is apparently close to giving up on the primaries and running its own County Conventions on April 14 or April 21.  The plan will be voted on by the State Republican Executive Committee this upcoming Wednesday.

http://hardincountyconservatives.blogspot.com/p/texas-gop-draft-plan-temporary-and.html

[Lief]

I'm sure that will be run smoothly with little delay or controversy.

[Mr. Morden]

The courts have issued compromise maps in Texas that will likely allow the primary to go forward on May 29, though not official yet:

http://azstarnet.com/news/national/federal-court-issues-new-political-maps-saving-texas-primary/article_ef735481-8611-5780-8c6d-efa213f1d217.html

Looks like the GOP is OK with the maps, but the Dems are less happy.  But as of yet, there's no indication that the coalition of minority rights groups will try for another appeal.  If they don't, then it looks like the May 29 primary would go forward.

[Yelnoc]

According to Wikipedia [citation needed] Ohio is a "semi-closed" primary.  Is that true, and if so, what does that mean?

[BushKenya]

If Texas does move to May 29, the Republican race could still be in flux by then, which means the two biggest prizes in any contest will vote just a week apart, Texas on May 29 and California on June 5.  How interesting...

[Tidewater_Wave]

I'm all for states doing whatever they want in these types of situations, but I would like to see the Ohio plan adopted by the GOP.  It would give less wealthy candidates a chance and still mandate that larger states have more pull.

[True Federalist]

According to Wikipedia [citation needed] Ohio is a "semi-closed" primary.  Is that true, and if so, what does that mean?

It's a "closed" primary in the sense that only registered Republicans can vote in it, but if a non-Republican shows up and asks for a ballot they get one as their party registration will be changed to Republican.

[Tidewater_Wave]

According to Wikipedia [citation needed] Ohio is a "semi-closed" primary.  Is that true, and if so, what does that mean?

It's a "closed" primary in the sense that only registered Republicans can vote in it, but if a non-Republican shows up and asks for a ballot they get one as their party registration will be changed to Republican.
[/quote

That's another thing I can't stand along with early voting. Republicans should vote in the GOP primary and Democrats should vote in their primary. Independents must wait until election day. This prevents people from rigging each other's primaries. I know states should decide most things, but in this case I'm actually considering favoring the federal government being involved.

[True Federalist]

That's another thing I can't stand along with early voting. Republicans should vote in the GOP primary and Democrats should vote in their primary. Independents must wait until election day. This prevents people from rigging each other's primaries. I know states should decide most things, but in this case I'm actually considering favoring the federal government being involved.

If the parties want to control who selects their candidates, they need to start paying for their primaries themselves instead of having the taxpayers foot the bill.  So long as this independent taxpayer is being forced to pay for the political activities of the major parties, then the parties will just have to put up with me voting in their primaries.

[Tidewater_Wave]

That's another thing I can't stand along with early voting. Republicans should vote in the GOP primary and Democrats should vote in their primary. Independents must wait until election day. This prevents people from rigging each other's primaries. I know states should decide most things, but in this case I'm actually considering favoring the federal government being involved.

If the parties want to control who selects their candidates, they need to start paying for their primaries themselves instead of having the taxpayers foot the bill.  So long as this independent taxpayer is being forced to pay for the political activities of the major parties, then the parties will just have to put up with me voting in their primaries.

I think the parties should pay for their primaries 100%. I'm completely against alot of soft money too but that's a different story lol.