Consensus Nears For Mail-In Revote In Florida

AP via Los Angeles Times:

A consensus began to emerge today that the best way to give Florida's Democrats a voice in electing a candidate for president lies with the U.S. Postal Service.

The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of all their convention delegates -- a total of 313 -- for holding their primaries too early, making both contests meaningless. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won both states, but no delegates. Her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, did not appear on Michigan's ballot.

But the disqualification of Florida and Michigan has created a headache for the Democratic party due to the unexpected closeness of the race between Obama and Clinton. Officials from both states are trying to figure out how best to resolve the issue before the national convention in August.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean said a mail-in primary is "actually a very good process."

"Every voter gets a ballot in the mail," the former Vermont governor said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "It's comprehensive, you get to vote if you're in Iraq or in a nursing home. It's not a bad way to do this."

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Read the whole story: AP via Los Angeles Times

Comments

[iPolitics]

In other news, THe DNC will have a re-vote in any state Obama won. They will also award more delegates to any states Hillary won since some states are more important

[hank48188]

It's the small States like Wyoming that get more delegates than they deserve. Wyoming has about 60,000 registered DEMS, but their Caucus that takes about 6 hour to cast your vote only drew 8690 voters. They get 12 delegates for their 8690 votes, or 1 delegate for every 725 votes. Florida had 1,700,000 DEM voters in the primary that didn't count, if they got 1 delegate for every 725 voters that would be about 2300 delegates. The disparity is absurd, representation should be equal, votes in Wyoming should have 10 times the value of a vote in Florida or any other big State.

[SShaw490]

I think the point was, there are rules to be followed to get elected, and if you go around changing the rules because the party bosses are getting worried that their hand-picked candidate is losing, maybe it's time for a little revolution. Like, say, an independent Obama run? The Democrats need him a hell of a lot more than he needs them.

The Democratic National Committee is bankrupt in more ways than one.

[Tyrione]

You had me there until you said Votes in Wyoming should have 10 times the value of a vote in Florida or any other big State.

If you change that to: should not have, then your original comment makes sense.

[Ashall]

Please look again at that number you posted. These are not total voters but are elected "delegates" - there are a lot more people that show up at caucuses but not everyone goes home a delegate. Delegates are awarded proportionally on how many supporters are in each group.

[MrDeadeye2U]

Delegates are based on population not voters, dipstick. Those who actually go to vote decide who represents the entire population. So if you don't want somone else to devide who leads participate.

[foreffectivegovernment]

No, just the ones where open caucauses were held. Just the ones where Republicans and Independents who will all vote for McCain in November voted for Obama.

Before you Obama supporters start calling me names, I am not talking about the Republicans who really "Love" Obama and are ready for "Change" or those like Chris Matthews who feel something up their legs whan they hear him speak.

[bajaboy]

Okay, sit down, take a few deep breaths, and attempt to focus here. The only states involved in this are FL and MI. Quit succumbing to your paranoid fantasies. No one, and I mean no one, has ever suggested re-voting in any other states than FL and MI. Get a grip.

[Zhonni]

This is very advantageous to Hillary no doubt. Obama's younger supporters I am afraid may not be as involved as they could be. Writing and sending mail is not my strong suit and I am sure it is the same for a lot of under 30s. Why not a HYBRID internet/mail-in?

[kevenhussienseven]

Hey, Obama is winning in no small part due to his organizing machine. He will do well, not win perhaps, but Clinton will have a smaller margin than she did in OH.

[meileen]

I'm confused by the responses here. I would think you Obama folk would want a re-vote.

If not, they have to go by what the original tally was as both candidates were on the ballot and neither candidate campaigned there (although Obama did run ads). They should just save the $ and seat the delegates from FL as is, frankly, as the folks there could get pissed about having to vote twice and be angry enough to stay home in November. And we need them to win against the GOP.

[jeffhas]

Internet Absentee voting has NEVER been approved in any primary or election... yet.

While it would seem to be the future, with all of the posts already about the worry of mail-in malfeasance, could you imagine the internet hacking taking place??

[yukoner1]

Boo fucking hoo! It's too much trouble to drop a card in the corner mailbox? If you can't afford the postage give me your address and I'll send you a dollar. Keep the change.
Steve

[LisaSurfing]

I guess the rules only matter when certain people want them to matter. Hey, we had an ice storm here in Ohio - can we have a do-over?

[kevenhussienseven]

The rules permit FL and MI to hold contests within the sanctioned calendar. We are within that calendar now. There is no issue of violating any rules here.

[VOTER]

They let THEM PAY FOR IT!

ALL OF IT!

[LisaSurfing]

I believe they violated the timing providions of rules when the decided to move up their primaries before super Tuesday despite the fact that they had previously agreed to these rules, including the timing provisions. They were informed of the consequences and the DNC is following through with those consequences. If it was this important to Florida and Michigan, then they should have abided by the rules to begin with and not moved up their primaries. Personnaly, I think the DNC rules should be changed to allow each state to choose when to hold their primary or caucus. Until then, Florida and Michigan should not get to have another primary just because they handled their first ones so badly.

[bajaboy]

I have no problem with re-votes. I think the mail-in process is a good idea. to cut down on costs. I think Sen Levin, of MI, is an ass.

[in4success]

and you're a naive ass if you think the fix won't be in . . . AGAIN!!!

[bajaboy]

The fix? What, are they going to spirit the ballots away on black helicopters, take them to area 51, and have them altered by advanced space alien technology? thanks for the early morning amusement!

[bajaboy]

What fix? Oh, you mean the one that Area 51 coordinated?

[Yasmine]

I am glad they are going to do a RE -VOTE,,,,,,,,,,,but I think the CANPAIGN THAT BROKE THE RULE should pay for it....ie THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN.
THE Obama campaign should not pay a dime , because they did not break the rules set by DNC.
Governor DEAN should make sure of this because those who break the rule MUST PAY A FINE, and that is the Clinton Campaign who participated in MIchigan and FLORIDA.
and SINCE IT IS DEFINITELY TO THEIR ADVANTAGE, WHY NOT ? .................HELL , WHY NOT??

[icenzi13]

I not sure if you are from Florida or not but Obama did sneak him self down here just like Hillary for some fund raising dinners so lets not pretend Obama is innocent.. We should not have to revote. Period!.

[teamster4obama]

Nor should your delegates count. As per the agreed upon rules. Period!

[Obama08Supporter]

I never heard about Obama being here but I sure did hear about the Clintons on more than one occasion. Also, when I went to vote there were Hillary signs with people holding them. These people (Clintons) definitely campaigned in Florida, they simply redefined the word "campaign" just like Bill redefined the word "sex"

Whatever works for this is great for the DNC family, since they all owe the Clintons something, just politics I guess.

The Clintons will never have my vote! Even if it means allowing the next Republican in the chair, it will be like having the Clintons any way. Remember both she and McCain have the experience and Obama has a speech. How ignorant a statement, especially when you want to be on the same ticket with someone. Oh and don't forget he would be the second commander in chief but he is not good enough to the first commander in chief, WOW, what a lunatic this woman is.... those who are independent thinkers can see right through to her dirty conniving heart.

[kevenhussienseven]

Should, should, should.

Do you have any idea how infantile all that sounds?

How in the hell do you think Dean would enforce such a fine?

Thankfully for you, many, many stupid posts appear on this site, so yours will not be the stupidest today.

Not for want of trying.

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

woould you like to explain what rule you think Clinton broke? The rule was that no one could campaign in the state before the primary. Both candidates were allowed to hold private fund raisers in the state. If you want to get technical, Obama broke the rules in FL by running TV commercials there.

Clinton arrived in FL after the voting was done to thank her supporters. That broke no rules. Clinton has been supporting the voters in thee two states in the quest to get their delegates seated. Again, this breaks no rules.

As far as MI goes, Clinton left her name on the ballot as did some of the other candidates. But, there was no rule that said you had to remove your name from the ballot. In fact the MI dem party begged all the candidates to leave their names on the ballot. The only rule was that you couldn't campaign there. And, if you want to get technical again both Obama and Edwards broke that rule by asking their supporters to vote for uncommitted in MI.

[jeffhas]

Can you not google before you post?... I mean how did Hillary break the rules?... They all agreed to NOT campaign in either state, and neither did. Obama CHOSE to remove his name of the Michigan ballot as several other Dem nominees did too (except Kucinich).

In FL, neither candidate campaigned, although both Hillary and Obama came down for fund raisers that were within the rules signed by each candidate.... Obama actually ran an ad in FL, which was against the rules, but claimed he couldn't buy the ads in other states without overlapping FL (which depending on who you believe may or may not be true).

Please, next time, save me some time and energy in having to educate you about how things work in this world.... you have the internet, please use it.

[langstonhughesfan]

I think it stinks that FL and MI get a do-over. Only for the Clintons would the DNC consider any of this crap! If it were Obama screaming for the delegates to be seated and for do-overs, they'd never consider it...

The DNC (I hate to say it, but here it is...) IS RACIST!!!

[jsinclair]

I've come to hate Hillary in the past few months, but I have to support the idea of some kind of a do-over (ie. something FAIR).

You just can't disenfranchise Democrats in two states because of intra-party bickering. It would have bad consequences for the convention and beyond.

That said, I hope Florida doesn't live up to its reputation as corrupt when it comes to elections.

[dajay]

This is hysterical. Now the DNC are racists! And what do you base that on. The fact that the votes of two states should be counted.

Who are you to say that the people in Michigan and Florida should not have their votes counted?

Another thing who is to say that this is benefiting HIllary. Obama wasn't even on the ballot when they first voted and most likely he will win there.

If Obama had won both states, I am sure you would hear screaming from the OBama supporters they they candidate was not being treated fairly and there needed to be a doover.

Maybe they would even be screaming RACISTS!

[LeftLeaner]

I think a do-over is the second best choice, apart from just LEAVING the votes as is in Florida.

After all, they were arrived at fairly, and Senator Cliinton won very comfortably.

All candidates names were on the ballot evenly, so WHY should there be a redo.

CLINTON WON - PERIOD!

Give her the delegates

[rmetz74]

They were not "arrived at fairly."

The voters were told the vote wouldn't count, so - as many have stated in the press - lots of people didn't bother. Campaigning wasn't allowed - though both Obama and HRC cheated a bit, they didn't go full force.

We get it, your side won, so you don't want to risk a re-vote. But that's the fair, honest, democratic (and that's the point, isn't it?) thing to do.

[teamster4obama]

You're delusional. Not nearly as many people showed up to vote after being told their vote wouldn't count. The Florida primary was ripe with the seasoned party faithful and not many charged, young voters showing up to cast a ballot for naught.

[Obama08Supporter]

The reason there should be a do over is because you have a person who happens to be married to the former president with name recognition and a person that does not share that same name recognition.

Obama should have had the right to campaign in Florida and Michigan to allow people to get to know him, after all it is a contest and people should know those in the contest. Secondly, once Obama is on the ground the entire landscape will change and everyone knows that including the Clintons, which is why they want the mail in votes, which I as a Floridian totally oppose.

Either they should proceed without counting Florida and I would not feel bad, we broke the rules, or they should have campaigning and then voting.

[prestochango]

It's really hard to understand how anyone can logically believe that Clinton won either Florida or Michigan.

Michigan was originally scheduled to caucus, before they moved the date up. Now a caucus isn't acceptable to Clinton since she has learned that Obama's ground game is kicking her organizations ass.

It's easy to understand that not as many people would turn out to vote because they were told the results wouldn't count. Obviously campaigning in the state would have greatly benefitted both Clinton and Obama, but especially Obama since Hillary has a last name that carries a lot of weight.

I'm tired of the refrain that Obama ran ads in Florida too. The only ads that were shown were because of a national cable buy, impossible to exclude Florida. The Obama campaign were told "unequivocally by a Dem Party chairperson" that they would not be violating the pledge.

[Egghead]

My cat won the contest for Best Cat in the Pet Contest when I was in sixth grade, too. Of course, he was the only cat there.

I enjoyed the trophy, though.

[kevenhussienseven]

What do-over?

Those states have the privilege to conduct contests within the sanctioned calendar, which they have as yet to do.

Racist? You really need to quit while you are ahead, as rare as that circumstance may be.

[bajaboy]

langstonhughesfan (I hate to say it, but here it is...) IS SEXIST!!!

[broncofan]

Senator Levin is the one who wanted to move up the primary...how come we have not heard from him...he should pay for it.

[realistxxx]

Good! Let's get this settled fair and square.

[nazirmo]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_blacks

[in4success]

oh yeah . . . there won't be any corruption or shenanigans coming out of five million mail-in votes in "florida" will there?

HA!

and what bout MI..?

what a joke . . . and remember... according to hillary: if she doesn't win that state's not important anyway.

when asked about her and obama on the same ticket: "we'd have to figure out who woild be on the top of the ticket...and, the people of ohio have said that should be me."

oh really? what a bout the people in TX, VA, GA, MO or the other twenty states she lost?

it's beginning to be absurd.

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

well actually, the people of TX voted for Clinton. She won the popular vote there by 100,000 votes. I understand that Obama will get more delegates because of the weird caucus part of the vote. But, just how many caucuses do you think there are going to be in the general election?

[drippinhun]

Amazing - fifty years of political involvement as a Democrat and if this mail-in, yippie weasel Dean is the cause of this (I supported him in 2004. Imagine that.) takes place, I'm changing my affiliation to Independent. Spinelessness, pandering and uninspiring are just a few choice words I have for this party. I can't stomach McCain the Crook, so it looks like I will probably vote for the spoiler from 2000 that I was unforgiving for the past over the past eight years.

[bbbbmer]

good riddance -- democrats don't need anyone who's dumb enough to vote for nader...

[Tyrione]

If you think Obama will get the victory in either State you're truly delusional.

[stupidme]

Screw Michigan and Florida .... YOUR elected officials gambled and/or manipulated away your vote! This idea that "we need to influence the election" is bullshit. If early primary states had any real influence, Jerry Brown would have been the nominee in '92 instead of Hillary's husband. While I do feel some level of empathy, tough shit. What Florida and Michigan need to do now is to say, we screwed up, we're sorry, and for the good of the party we are going to drop out and let the remaining states and uberdelegates make the decision!

[nochickenhawk]

We have mail in balloting in Oregon, and it has worked excellently here so I hope someone will not be able to dicker with it in Florida or Michigan. At least there is a hard copy of every vote.

[Dazedandamazed]

Sure it works good the first time around, you have to vote Dem. or Rep. On this do over those who voted in the Republican primary will now get to vote again in the Democratic primary. They get to help pick their candidate and ours. How stupid can the leaders of the Democratic party be? If they go with this option it only prove that they are to stupid to run a horse show. Hell why don't we appoint Michael Brown as chairman of the DNC, even he couldn't screw it up any worse than our current party leadership. "Your doing a heck of a job Deano"

[markusmarkus]

Actually, you're wrong. Ballots will be mailed to democrats only. The rethug$ won't have a chance to muck it up by voting for Hillary.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

I second what the Duck said!

[Mikeblackbear]

To anyone reading this post, you need to go to you tube and search out "The Hillary Movie" and watch all 9 segments and then ask yourself if you could vote for her .