Press Release from Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp
Feb. 19, 2014

Secretary of State Kemp Proposes March 1 Primary for Georgia, Southeastern Regional Super Tuesday Primary

Atlanta, GA – In January, the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted to condense the Primary calendar for candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the 2016 Presidential election.

Under the newly passed rules, the traditional four early voting states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina – will cast ballots in February of 2016.  To protect the important role of these states in the nominating process, harsh sanctions will be levied against states that choose to hold early primaries or caucuses before March 2016.

While political handicappers postulate on how the new Primary calendar will impact would-be Presidential candidates, Secretary of State Brian Kemp is working towards a March 1 Primary for Georgia and is proposing a plan to ensure that the voice of the Southeastern United States is heard loud and clear at the ballot box.

Kemp has reached out to fellow states in the Southeast to join Georgia and hold their Presidential Preference Primary first on Tuesday, March 1 2016.

If scheduled and implemented, Republicans and Democrats in the South will have a real voice in the nominating process.  The South has experienced a major increase in population in recent years and this should be reflected in the Presidential Preference Primary process.

So far, Secretary Kemp has received positive feedback to his proposition from Party leaders in Georgia and Secretaries of State in the region.  He discussed his proposal with attendees at the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Winter Conference in Washington D.C. last week.

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 Brian Kemp has been Secretary of State since January 2010.  Among the office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, the Secretary of State is charged with conducting secure, accessible and fair elections, the registration of corporations, the oversight and regulation of securities and the administration of professional license holders.