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Count The Votes of Florida and Michigan
The votes of Florida and Michigan should be counted for determining the Democratic nominee for President. I think that everyone’s vote should count. While it is true that those two states didn’t comply with the rules of the Democratic Party, that was not the fault of the individual voters in those states. I think it is ironic that many Democrats who complained that not all votes were counted in Florida in the 2000 Presidential race but now some of those same people don’t want to count the votes in Florida’s and Michigan’s Democratic primaries.
How can anyone stand up and say, with a straight face, that she/he stands for civil rights when the right to vote of so many people are at stake and the response that those voters are getting from their political leaders is that party politics and interests come before the rights of individual’s voters. The Democratic Party will not have the moral standing to present itself as the party that is the champion and defender of civil rights if it decides to disenfranchise party members in Michigan and Florida. And by the way, why are the civil rights activists not talking about this issue?
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But in Michigan (Where I'm
But in Michigan (Where I'm from) Barack Obama wasn't even on the ballot--and chances are good that he would have won had he been. Imagine if in Florida in 2000 a bunch of ballots didn't print one of the candidates name. Would that be a legitimate election?
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Double-Edged Sword
Unfortunately, this is one of those issues that the DNC thought wouldn't really matter in the fall. They assumed that we would pick the nominee by Feb. and they could seat the Michigan and Florida delegates because it really wouldn't make much of a difference.
As for Michigan and Florida- it would be difficult to count the votes as is (although I don't know if I agree with the idea that Obama would have won for sure) because the rules around those primaries were ridiculous.
The point is- Michigan and Florida broke the law according to the DNC- I don't agree this the way the DNC runs its primary system, but Florida and Michigan knew what was going to happen if they moved up their primary dates and they did it anyways. We should have been mobilizing before the legislation passed- now its really too late to fairly distribute those votes.
This is really difficult to me to say as a Clinton supporter, but I don't know how much it would make a difference now. Obama has enough of the superdelegate and popular vote to ensure his election. Clinton can say in the race to promote her views (Ron Paul is still running) but I think we do have to accept that Obama is the nominee and whatever happens in Michigan and Florida is basically irrelevant.
The only problem this could cause is in the general, because Obama was against counting those states, and there could be a Democratic backlash in the future.
I am all for changing laws...but the states knew what would happen if they moved the primaries. They are the ones that should answer to the constituents that they disenfranchised.
Much Love
Beverly
He took his name of the ballot
Obama took his name off the ballot and that was his prerogative when deciding his political strategy to win the nomination. But that should not be a reason to deny Michigan and Florida's voters their right to have their votes counted. It seems to me that in a hierarchy of democratic values the right to vote should be higher than strict adherence to internal party rules, or the right of a candidate to plan a strategy relying on internal party rules.
Except Clinton's campaign
Except Clinton's campaign said she was going to take her name off the ballot... and then "missed" the deadline.
It's true, that Obama's campaign had a stronger sense of "internal party rules" which allowed him to win by competing in caucus states, which Hillary's campaign (mostly Penn) ignored as useless, and by getting delegates in big states (which apparently Hillary's campaign believed were "winner-takes-all").
Honestly, if Hillary or her supporters outside of Michigan and Florida has been this interested in seating MI and FL delegates when she was winning... I'd be more interested.
The Problem
The problem with your argument is although many people in MI and FL voted on election day, many more didn't because they were told that their votes wouldn't count.
You can't tell a state that their votes won't count and then decide to count them after the fact...you would still be disenfranchising voters.
MI and FL broke the DNC rules...it sucks but this late in the game I really don't know what we can do about it.
If we count the votes as is it would not be a proper representation, and we would be rewarding the bad behavior of MI and FL, leading to more instances of this is years to come.
I am sure that people are pissed, but they should channel that anger into new reforms to make primary voting more fair and campaign to get lawmakers in the state who will value the voting privileges of their constituents.
Much Love
Beverly
well put, Beverly.
it is certainly a confounded issue.
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The votes of Florida and Michigan
This is not a right way do like this ,to count a vote in proper and right way in all the palaces..
voting is all individual rights to getting from their political leaders.........
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Ramya
michigan drug rehab