Secretary of State
Grayson to Lead National Effort to Reform the Presidential Primary Process

(Washington, D.C)  Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson will continue to serve as Co-Chair of the National Association of Secretaries of State’s (NASS) Presidential Primary Sub-committee for the next year.  The announcement of the appointment was made by NASS’s President, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita who also announced that Secretary of State Michael Mauro (D-Iowa) will serve as the other Co-Chair.

Grayson just completed his first term as co-chair of the committee and was recently elected treasurer of NASS.  He was originally appointed to co-chair of the committee by Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz (D-Vermont).

            “This committee worked tremendously hard this past year to raise awareness about the detriments associated with a front-loaded presidential primary process and for the need to adopt something such as the Rotating Regional Primary Plan,” noted Secretary Grayson.  “We will continue to push for change in the nomination process, and I am honored to continue leading this effort.”

The bipartisan plan divides the country into four geographic areas – East, South, Midwest, and West – and rotates when each region votes, beginning with the first region in March.  The other regions hold their primary elections in April, May, and June.  The plan will start with a new region each presidential election cycle so that each part of the country votes first every sixteen years.   New Hampshire and Iowa retain their early status to allow under-funded and less widely known candidates to compete through retail politics rather than the costly media-driven campaigns required in larger states.

“I am excited that Secretary Grayson has agreed to continue his work as co-chair of this important committee for NASS,” remarked Secretary Rokita.  “Secretary Grayson has helped move the national discussion forward about the challenges with the front-loading of the national primary process, and I am confident that his work in the next year will move us closer to the adoption of the Rotating Regional Primaries Plan.”

In the past year, the Rotating Regional Primary Plan has received significant national attention. The plan has been endorsed by the Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, as well as by the editorial boards of many prominent newspapers, including: the Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Denver Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the St. Petersburg Times.

Grayson has appeared on numerous radio programs and has been quoted by numerous print media both in Kentucky and across the country about this issue; he was recently featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. 

Grayson concluded, “This position will not only allow me to work on a plan that is better for the country, but this same plan would improve the influence that Kentucky would have in the nomination process.  I have been encouraged by so many Kentuckians with their support of the plan, and I look forward to my future work to help enact it.”

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