Debate Over Florida Mail-In Primary Plan

Washington Post: State Party's Proposal Opens Rifts In Washington And Tallahassee

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray.

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The Florida Democratic Party is pushing forward with a plan for recontesting its primary, largely with mail-in ballots, despite vigorous opposition from Democrats in the state's congressional delegation as well as concerns from the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).

Florida officials have struggled to come up with a way to redo a January primary that was invalidated by the Democratic National Committee because it was held too early in the process. Opponents of the plan, which could be unveiled as early as today, fear that it would disenfranchise voters and cause another fiasco in a state still haunted by the debacle of the 2000 presidential election.

How Florida and Michigan, which is also considering how to redo its primary, resolve their situations has become a critical issue in the nomination battle between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) because the states carry enough delegates and stature to potentially sway the deadlocked race.

Clinton took a hard line on the controversy yesterday, saying she would absolutely not accept a negotiated apportionment of Florida's delegates, as the state's House delegation has suggested. Her win Jan. 29 would give her a net gain of 38 delegates, cutting Obama's 106-delegate lead by more than a third.

"In my view there are two options: Honor the results or hold new primary elections," Clinton told the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

But Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said "we have real deep concerns about a mail-in election." Plouffe wondered if a mail-in vote would be fair to all voters and whether it could be pulled off, given that Florida has never done it before.

All sides of the debate agree that Democrats need to find a way to seat Florida's huge slate of delegates at the party's convention in August, and Democratic leaders in Tallahassee see few alternatives to the mail-in plan.

"I don't care what the Clinton or Obama campaigns think," said the Florida Senate's Democratic leader, Steve Geller. "I don't represent Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. I'm the Senate Democratic leader of Florida. My goal is to get the votes of 4 million Florida Democrats to count."

In a document obtained by The Washington Post, dated yesterday, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen L. Thurman urged Florida's Democratic members of Congress, along with Clinton and Obama, to consider the vote-by-mail proposal carefully.

"Because of the unprecedented nature of the national race, a situation that previously was a relatively minor, party-insider issue now has the potential to result in irreparable damage for years to come," she wrote, before detailing at length a mail-in-primary process.

Under her timetable, fundraising and a public comment period would begin today and end April 12, about when ballots go to production. Overseas and military ballots would be sent out April 19. Fifty temporary election offices would be set up May 1 in poor areas to ensure access to voters with mail difficulties. On May 9, the bulk of the ballots would be shipped out, and the election would officially be on June 3, a day shared with Montana and South Dakota.

"We have reexamined every potential alternative again. Only one stands out as fair, open, practical and feasible at this time. We are positive that a combination vote-by-mail and in-person election can be conducted in the time available but only if Democratic leaders support the plan," the memo says.

The cost, estimated at $10 million, would probably be picked up by "soft money" donations largely banned from federal elections but allowed for some party functions.

With the contest between Obama and Clinton so close, a resolution of the controversies in Florida and Michigan, which have 366 delegates between them, could be critical to identifying a nominee who could win those vital swing states in the fall. Yesterday, Geller released the results of a poll of the voters who participated in the Jan. 29 primary that indicated 59 percent favor a mail-in revote. More troubling, he said, a quarter of those polled said that without a resolution of the standoff, they would either not vote for president or consider voting for the Republican nominee in protest.

"The people in Washington should take heed," Geller said. "If they continue to ignore the people's will, it will cost Democrats at all levels."

The revote plan has the backing of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). "At this late hour, mail-in balloting would be the most practical and fair way to let Florida voters have a full say in the selection of their Democratic nominee," he said yesterday.

But after a three-hour meeting with Nelson on Tuesday night, all nine Florida House Democrats -- including Clinton supporters, Obama supporters and unaligned members -- declared the plan unworkable, especially if the ballots are sent out in June. That month, many Florida senior citizens will be traveling. Students will be out of state. And African American members worry that a vote-by-mail effort will penalize low-income voters, who may not receive ballots sent to outdated addresses.

"You've got people in my district who would absolutely not trust this," said Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), who has endorsed Clinton.

Above all, House members said, Floridians do not want to be burned again. "There are very raw nerves in Florida," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a Clinton supporter.

"We'll end up with not one contested election but two," said Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), an Obama supporter.

Florida's House delegation would like to see some negotiated apportionment of its delegates, based in part on the Jan. 29 results and in part on other factors, such as the popular vote totals after the primaries end in June.

"The only way the voters will feel the results are credible is if both candidates stand next to each other and say this is legitimate," said Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.), who is unaligned.

[blkpresident]

Obama steamrolls Hillary; awaits OLD man McCain, who is ducking him and hiding behind Hillary''s apron.

[craigh9]

This is so ridiculous-

-Florida bosses make a decision based solely to get more exposure by moving up their primary.

-Florida bosses were informed of consequences of doing so but make a concious decision to go forward anyway with the new time table.

-The candidates were informed of the consequences and agreed to them, including not campainging their.

-The candidate that would benefit most from having this tainted election count is shocked that the people of Florida won''t be heard - when this information was known and agreed to months before.

-The Florida bosses are shocked that the consequences they knew about will actually be followed through on.

-The Florida bosses now claim the DNC is somehow to blame for the situation and need to take action.

I feel sorry for the people of Florida and Michigan that their votes and delegates will not count - but put your anger where it belongs - squarely on the party bosses and election officals that have made Florida the laughing stock of the nation when it comes to the election process.

The only action required by the DNC is to stand by their decision and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE the states will abide by the ground rules next time.

[kevtrick]

There is no fair way to seat the Florida Delegation. Because they weren''t allowed to campaign In Florida, Hillary had the advantage because of name recognition. Obamas had an uphill climb in most states he''s campaigned in. If Florida is allowed to vote again there will be people voting just to defend the vote that they made earlier when there wasn''t any campaigning. You make a pact with your canidate when you vote for them in a primary. The vote will always be compromised. Do we want to spend another 10 million on a revote.

[karela33]

Oregon has all voters signatures scanned into a system that validates every mail in vote. Fl and MI don''t. Not too long ago Florida had to throw out an important mayoral mail in vote because of wide spread fraud. Our party really can''t handle another one of those. And where does Mrs. Clinton get the idea that she just orders what she wants? What''s all this hard line do this or else stuff? I''m from MI and my dumb party leaders robbed me of a vote too, but I won''t dirty my sacred right to vote by trying to cheat. If the party and the states and the candidates come up with a fair way to include me, I''ll be grateful and I''ll take it as an act of goodwill. Otherwise, my state tried to cheat. Tough luck on the primary. Elected Florida Republicans did vote for this but I believe if you check you''ll find that the elected Dems overwhelmingly joined in the vote. It was a bi-partisan job.
Remember this. Both candidates are far better then another four Bush-like years. There''s not enough difference in their platforms to yell about. The real dangers lie in the Republicans in November. Let''s quit fighting each other and beat the R''s pants off. Let''s just let the rest of the states get on with it and let the one the people choose be the one. Our egos are getting way out of control. Be the democrat you can be proud of and stand for what''s really important here.

[samthetvcat]

PS I think the compromise should be that they do a revote and then give each state half the delegates they would have been eligible for if they had played by the rules. Otherwise all the other states next time around going to be fiddling around with their voting schedule which is totally going to cause even more problems . . .

How did Howard Dean ever get to be head of DNC anyway? Did people not see his scream after losing Iowa? :o

[minnick8-2009]

The Democrats knew the rules when they scheduled Florida and Michigan primaries ahead of the agreed upon date. They knew the votes would not count. Make them play by their own rules. Don''t let the Clintons play the game of changing the rules in the middle when you are not winning. I don''t even want a Democrat; I want John McCain. I''m sure glad the Replublicans aren''t boggled down in this kind of debacle.

[notopennshut]

This isn''t just about the candidates. How are you able to set up a system of mail-in voting in such a short period of time? Who can ensure the sancitity of the votes? Who is there to make sure that the person returning the vote is the actual person, or if done on behalf of someone else, is voting for the desired candidate? Sure Oregon has had it for a while, but it took them about ten years to sort out all these kinks and ensure that it is honest, to the best of their ability. Too many opportunities for fraud when you try to ram it through too quickly! Say no to the mail-in system in FL unless it has been tested and tried!! AND delegates should NOT be seated since they knowingly broke the rules. You cannot reward an offender who knowingly commits an infraction and then expect everyone to turn a blind eye. If so, think of the future where no one will abide by the rules. Remain steadfast, DNC.

[samthetvcat]

The goal of this re-vote should be legitimacy - I think the only way they can achieve this is by keeping the format as close to what''s usually done as possible. If they don''t have voting machines can they do a primary with paper ballots and absentee balloting for those who request it?

It''s dangerous to try and do a completely new format for such an important election, so caucuses and a mail-in ought to be out . . .

[tawpdawg1]

"In my view there are two options: Honor the results or hold new primary elections," Clinton told the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

Uh, yassuh Massa Clinton. We be get right on dat dere.

[beader59]

Mail-in voting has worked in Oregon and we don''t worry about cheating or corruption. Next, get rid of caucuses and every state vote on the same day.