Georgia wants SEC primary

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is invoking his region’s powerhouse football conference in an attempt to build a coalition of Southern states that would hold their presidential primary elections on the same day in 2016.

{mosads}According to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kemp sent a letter to his counterparts in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama seeking support for what he calls an “SEC” presidential primary. It would be held on the first Tuesday in March 2016.

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a dominant college football conference and money-making machine that includes the University of Georgia, as well as schools in the other states Kemp hopes to bring on board. The goal behind the same-day presidential primary is to boost participation across the region in the block of deep-red Southern states.

“It is my hope that our region will participate together that day and that the voters of the Southeast will have a major impact in the selection of the presidential nominees of both parties,” Kemp said in a letter obtained by the Atlanta newspaper.

It reported that Tennessee has already agreed to hold its primary on that first Tuesday in March, and Mississippi is in the process of doing the same.