Report: GOP considers overhaul of primary process after 2016
Republican Party officials have been discussing changing the primary calendar to change the way their presidential nominees are chosen in future elections, according to The New York Times.
Officials have been discussing the possibility, for example, of reordering the primary calendar so that traditionally early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina would have less influence in the nominating contest.
According to the report, one proposal suggests combining some of those early states with other states so that maybe Iowa and Minnesota would hold primaries on the same day and New Hampshire and Massachusetts would be paired on the next primary day. Colorado or New Mexico could also switch with Nevada, which is also one of the states that hold primaries early on the calendar, the report said.
The report says the changes would be a response to Trump's path to the nomination this year and the messy primary process.
Many party activists, the report said, are also lobbying to close state primaries to independent voters so that only registered Republicans will be able to vote. Officials told the Times that the party will almost certainly make changes that will be debated at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July.
While Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has gotten behind Trump as the presumptive nominee, other top Republicans like Speaker Paul Ryan have withheld their endorsement so far of the billionaire businessman.
