NPR: Florida Dems "Likely to Jettison" Mail-In Ballot

Florida Dems "Likely to Jettison" Mail-In Ballot

Florida Democrats look no closer Monday to finding a way to hold a new primary after a weekend of talking about how to pull it off.

The Miami Herald reports that Democratic state Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman is "likely to jettison" the proposal to have a mail-in ballot on June 3. The question becomes "is there a Plan B?"

Democrats say there are a few options -- though none that the state party controls -- to give the state's voters a voice in picking the Democratic presidential nominee. Most of them, though, have as many political flaws as the technical hurdles involved in mailing ballots to the state's 4.1 million Democrats.

Over the weekend, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Clinton supporter, floated the idea of cutting the number of Florida delegates in half (basically give each delegate "half a vote"), and then apportioning the remaining half based on the results of the January primary. But the Clinton camp appeared to shoot it down. ''The 2.5 million people [in Michigan and Florida] who voted deserve to be counted,'' Clinton said Saturday.

Meanwhile The New York Times reported over the weekend that major donors in Florida to Hillary Clinton's campaign told Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean that they would "withhold contributions to the DNC unless it agrees to acknowledge the results of the Jan. 29 primary or schedule new elections." But Dean has repeatedly said that he will not recognize the January results, because it would not be fair to change the rules in the middle of the campaign.

12:10 PM ET | 03-17-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

What have I been telling you people all along?

Howard Dean doesn't make friends in Florida by calling Florida voters stupid.

Dean, you blew it big time when you thought you could violate state's rights by pretending you, and only you, understood Constitutional Rights.

Funny thing about Florida, is that Florida is culturally eclectic. You got yourself people from all over America living in Florida. You got yourself a melting pot view of Howard Dean.

Howard Dean, right after that Barack guy steps out of the race, you need to step down from the DNC. You have done a marvelous one-man job of screwing the Democratic Party.

Geesh. I'm a Florida Democrat, and I can't believe how screwed up the DNC has become under Howard Dean's misspent leadership.

To all my fellow Florida Democrats....don't back down. Let them take it to the floor in Denver.

Don't let Howard Dean and the DNC continue to belittle us.

You can't change the rules that are Unconstitutional. Those are not rules. Those are the ramblings of a very egotistical, but very stupid leader of the DNC.

fred camorra call

Sent by fred camorra call | 12:20 PM ET | 03-17-2008

The rules for this primary have been in place before the primary began. Everybody knew them. The only correct course of action is to follow the rules.

The rules stated that states who hold primaries before Iowa and New Hampshire will not be counted. If Florida and Michigan choose to hold another primary in compliance with the party rules, then all stakeholders should get together to form a viable and fair solution.

The only fair solution is a complete primary where all voters are allowed to cast a ballot. To make this solution viable all stakeholders should work together to provide the funding.

This is a simple solution and it will require a lot of hard work and coordination. But we owe it to the party and voters to commit ourselves to that hard work.

After this primary is over, we can re-visit the rules in place and change what needs to changed.

Sent by Chris Allnatt | 1:36 PM ET | 03-17-2008

Mr Call,
After reading your response to this blog, I can't help but wonder if you sufficiently understand the concept of the delegate count. Even with Florida???s delegates seated by January???s numbers, "that Barack guy" has more???i.e. wins. Florida should count (I agree completely with Mr Allnatt's comment), but to say that it spells victory for the Clinton campaign is naive, if not altogether delusional. Please, do correct me if I am mistaken.

Sent by Benjamin A. | 1:49 PM ET | 03-17-2008

Unconstitutional Fred? Where, exactly, did you find this is the US Constitution? The US constitution makes no mention of political parties. The first presidential primary was not until the 1912 election, and as late 1936-1968 only 13 or 14 states used primaries to select delegates. Were all those presidential elections unconstitutional Fred? Of course not! Parties are given wide latitude to set their own nomination rules. One can argue about how the Democratic party should handle the fact that the Florida & Michigan party bosses broke the rules, but to claim that following the previously established rules is unconstitutional is totally indefensible.

Sent by Kevin L. | 1:59 PM ET | 03-17-2008

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