We're talking about Vermont's state primary election that took place Tuesday, Aug.28. By a remarkable coincidence, that turned out to be the anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene's arrival last year, and commemorating that event was for most people, including several government officials, a far bigger deal.
Anniversary coincidence or not, the logic of having an important statewide election during the last week of August really deserves another look. While interest in the election has been dimmed by having only one interesting primary contest on the ballot - the one that determined the Democratic Party's nominee for Attorney General - the timing is terrible. Those not on vacation or busy with the start of a new school year are probably not thinking about politics just yet. Labor Day weekend is plenty soon enough, particularly given the low state to which the Presidential campaigns have sunk at the national level.
We realize that it was in an effort to count military ballots from overseas that prompted the August voting date, but there must be another way to hold such primary votes when they don't conflict with the summer months when voter's attention is elsewhere. You could argue that their attention should be on the race, but that would assume there are contested races and interesting dialogue to tune in to. Both have been in short, or at least less than abundant supply recently.
We'd urge lawmakers to figure out some
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