Bill Nelson: “I am proposing today and will file legislation to create a comprehensive and nationwide process for voters to select…”

“I am proposing today and will file legislation to create a comprehensive and nationwide process for voters to select nominees every 4 years for President of the United States. This legislation will establish six Presidential primary dates--the first one in March of a Presidential election year, two in April, two in May, and one in June. Each of these contests would feature at least one State from six different regions, six geographic regions around the country. The order of States within each region would rotate every 4 years--every Presidential election. That order would be determined at the beginning by lot in order to determine the sequence. And then the next Presidential election, the ones who had gone first in March would then go to the end of the line and they would be in June, and the list would move up. It would give voters in the larger States a strong voice in selecting the nominees over that 4-month period while also giving the citizens in the smaller States a fair say, instead of the present system we have now where the small States are the ones that have an inordinate influence in selecting the nominees of the two great parties. So in this legislation, by featuring States from each of the six regions, there will be racial, ethnic, economic, and regional diversity on each of the primary dates.”