“Nothing more than a beauty contest.” Democrats change primary election date making Michigan Republican primary votes completely meaningless

Now that state legislators have adjourned two months early for the year, the Michigan primary election will be held on February 27, 2024, putting the Republican primary in violation of Republican National Convention rules so that Michigan delegates will no longer be counted towards the winner of the Republican National Convention.

The moving of the Michigan primary election from the second Tuesday of March to the last Tuesday of February was a move that was spearheaded by Governor Gretchen Whitmer and passed along strictly partisan lines, with every Democrat in the house and Senate voting for the move and every Republican opposing it.

Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said in a statement to the Associated Press that being the fifth state to hold its presidential primary "Ensures the voices of Michiganders are heard loud and clear and the primary process is truly representative of what America looks like."

"Biden is especially unpopular and vulnerable in Iowa and New Hampshire. He lost both states in 2020. Because of that, the DNC has pressed to get South Carolina and Michigan in February to get him more early momentum. Biden's 2020 nomination only became possible after he won South Carolina that year, and he's expected to carry Michigan behind the union vote" said Howell.

Unless the RNC changes its rules, which could unleash the floodgates to primaries being held nearly a year before the general election, it seems Republican voters have been forced into a choice to vote in a primary that legally amounts to just an opinion poll, or to vote in the Democrat Primary, which they are legally allowed to do in Michigan.

Last week, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson published the ballots for the Feb 27 primary.

He said, "If Republicans really want their voice to be heard in this primary election, they might consider a vote in the Democrat Primary for Dean Phillips against Biden. That would be a protest vote and the only vote of legal consequence in this year's primary." 

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