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Nags Head

Give candidates time

Should North Carolina play a bigger role in selecting the president? Yes.

Should we move the primary up? No.

The citizens of this country are not well-served by a primary season that ends almost before it begins. The candidates should have a chance to make their case to the nation before they are voted off the presidential stage.

If all the states try to crowd into the early months, the result will be primary seasons that start earlier and earlier as states attempt to be the first to vote and candidacies that are over before they have a chance to be heard.

Two primaries would be costly and likely depress voter turnout.

What we need is a series of 10 to 15 regional primaries that rotate so that each group of states has its chance to be first to vote.

Granted, this would require a great deal of selfless cooperation among the states, but it would best serve the citizens of this country.

Gayle Robinson

Raleigh

Make our voices heard

While North Carolina "lucked out" in this year's Democratic Primary due to the lengthy presidential race, in recent years our presidential primary has been virtually meaningless.

Under the present nominating structure, it may be decades before the presidential candidates pay attention to North Carolina's voters again. The cost of having an early, separate primary is always given as a detriment to changing our date from May to February, for example. The cost per voter would be less than what a voter would spend on a bottle of water! What a small price to pay for the involvement of more of our citizens in determining the nominees for president.

As the 10th largest state in the nation and poised to move to No. 7 in the next two decades, North Carolina's voters -- in both parties -- deserve to be a player on the national stage as we have been the past month or two.

Let's quit finding excuses not to make this change and simply pass legislation to make North Carolina's collective voices heard loudly and clearly across the nation.

Phillip J. Kirk Jr.

Salisbury

Rejoin Super Tuesday

Well, of course, North Carolina should move its primary schedule back to February. Why not back to Super Tuesday?

Why would our state and local politicians want to prevent the people who voted for THEM from having a voice in national politics? The way it is now, the only time North Carolinians get a chance to be heard is when vast amounts of money have already been spent in other states. Why then shouldn't the money be spent here and why then should North Carolina voters be muzzled by our state's politicians?

Raymond Lefrancois

Garner

Make sure we count

Moving the presidential primary forward to February would be a great idea and, I think, one that most people would look at with acceptance.

We have lived here for 43 years, and this is the first time that I really paid strict attention to the candidates -- because we had a choice that made a difference. In the past, the candidates were already chosen for us, and however we voted, really made no difference.

I believe it also was responsible for an increase in voter registration and most important, voter turnout. When else have we had a 36 percent turnout for a primary (or maybe any election)? The only alternative to this that would make a difference would be for the primaries all over the country to either be held on the same day (like the general election) or divide the country into sections of 10 states and have the primaries on five different days -- one for each 10 states.

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