AUGUSTA — Problems with last month’s Republican presidential caucuses have prompted lawmakers to consider reimplementing a primary system in Maine. 

Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, has submitted a late bill that would return the state’s party selection process to a primary system. 

The bill has bipartisan support and Gov. Paul LePage’s backing. The governor last month made critical statements about Maine’s Republican Presidential Preference Poll after several communities were initially excluded from the results. 

Raye said he has always preferred a primary system. This year’s caucus controversy, he said, was the impetus for the bill. 

“I think for many people this year the caucuses sort of crystallized support for a presidential primary,” he said. 

Raye said a primary would encourage wider voter participation and increase the likelihood that Maine would be relevant in the presidential nomination process. 

The Maine experience resembled controversies in other states such as Iowa, where the head of the Republican party stepped down after the GOP caucus there originally awarded the victory to presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, but ultimately gave it to rival Rick Santorum. 

Maine’s caucus system allows political parties to set the rules for the candidate selection. The Republican caucuses are nonbinding, meaning delegates who pledged their support for a particular candidate can change their minds during the state convention held in May. 

Democrats, meanwhile, were criticized in 2008 for not releasing the caucus vote totals and for a delegate system that weighted some delegate votes more than others based on predetermined criteria, such as a who voted for Gov. John Baldacci in 2006, not on the actual turnout.

The bill submitted by Raye would allow the parties to institute a presidential primary system.

It wouldn’t be the first time Maine lawmakers have considered abandoning the caucus system. Prior to 1995, the state allowed parties to hold primaries but the parties typically settled with caucuses. The Legislature simplified the law in 1995, and several primaries were held. However, the 1995 law was repealed in 2003 and the state has had a pure caucus system ever since.

The debate over caucus versus primary systems is an old one. Caucus opponents say the primary outcomes can be swayed by media advertising. Primary advocates say the caucus system is plagued by low turnout and too heavily influenced by party establishment, meaning candidates who attempt to appeal to a different section of the electorate can be penalized for doing so.  

If the new bill passes, the Maine primary would be held the first Tuesday following the New Hampshire primary.

Recently, other states have attempted to increase their influence and media exposure by holding primaries early in the calendar year. Some states, such as Florida, have attempted to challenge New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary status.

Raye said he was not interested in putting Maine’s primary before New Hampshire’s. However, he believes it would be important to hold the primary early to increase Maine’s relevance in the nomination process. 

Primaries are more expensive than caucuses. Raye’s bill would make the state, rather than municipalities, absorb the costs of the contests. 

Lawmakers have not developed a fiscal note for the bill and they may not have to this session.

The bill has the support of most Republican and Democratic leaders, as well as Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, and Rep. Michael Beaulieu, R-Auburn.

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