Presidential campaigns shouldn’t last so long

These days, it seems like our political campaigns never end. As soon as one election is over, the next one begins. The first in the nation Iowa presidential caucus is now less than one year from today, February 3, 2020. A year away from the first vote, and already the campaigns are lining up. Nine democrats have officially declared to enter the presidential contest, while as many as 20 more are said to be considering it. A number of candidates are already hitting the campaign trail to spend time in Iowa. No wonder we have election fatigue. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, many countries have much shorter election seasons. Many have laws regulating the length of political campaigns. Canada’s most recent election lasted 78 days. Mexico’s lasted 147 days, and the political ads must stop three days before the election. In Argentina, political ads can only begin 60 days before the election. In France, the presidential election typically lasts only two weeks. In the U.S. meanwhile, candidates began declaring more than 500 days before the election. We should pass laws to shorten the presidential campaign. Candidates wouldn’t have to raise tens of millions of dollars to run, and more importantly, voters wouldn’t be so exhausted from the political campaigns that never seem to stop.