Primary Envy

Its been difficult, to say the least, for many of us over the past week to see all the activity surrounding the presidential primary, held Tuesday in neighboring New Hampshire. Fear not, the primary circus will soon be with us here in the Bay State when, on February 5th, Massachusetts will hold its very own presidential primary. Of course, we will not capture the media focus the way our neighbors to the north did because our primary will be held on Super Tuesday, when 24 states hold cuacuses or primaries. By that time, we will also know the results from four additional primary elections: Michigan (1/15), Nevada (1/19), South Carolina (1/26), and Florida (1/29).

While Feb 5th is the actual day of reckoning here in Massachusetts, another date to keep in mind is January 16th. This is the date by which you must be registered in order to be eligible to vote in the primary. While most Plymouth residents are familiar with the rules for primary voting, it wouldn't hurt to give the ARTICLE written by Emily Wilcox in Wicked Local Plymouth a read. This is especially helpful if you are uncertain as to the political party for which you plan to vote.

Essentially, voters enrolled in a particular party must accept a ballot for that party's candidates; that is, registered republicans get a Republican ballot and registered democrats get a Democrat ballot. At the same time, if you are not registered for a particular party, i.e you are an independent voter, you may request any of the party ballots at the polls. If you are enrolled in one of the other parties, you may want to be sure that that party is represented on the ballot. While the Green Rainbow Party is in the Libertarian Party is out. If you are unclear about what you party registration is, you may want to take a few minutes to find out. This is especially true if you were an independent that opted for one of the parties in a previous primary. If you didn't change your registration back to independent, you might be in for a surprise at the polls.

And remember, when you cast that ballot on February 5th, it will be only 273 days until election day, November 4, 2008. Stay tuned.