Dr. Dean - Let Our Votes Count

Blog Florida Blue


Florida Governor Charlie Crist today signed an elections reform bill that moves Florida's Presidential Preference Primary up to January 29th in 2008. This puts the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee on a collision course. DNC primary rules call for draconian penalties for any state that moves its primary up before February 5th. Potentially, Florida could lose all of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

I have blogged about this before. The first time was last November on DailyKos. More recently, I blogged about the Florida Primary Conspiracy Theory, a dubious concept at best. I have also blogged about How to Have Our Primary Cake and Eat It Too. This laid out how the FDP could avoid delegate penalties from the DNC. The technique would be to declare the January 29th primary non-binding. This would then require the FDP to hold a caucus at a later date to actually select and apportion the convention delegates. It would also have the unfortunate effect of the the Florida Democratic Party telling its members that their votes on January 29th wouldn't count.

I have come to the conclusion that this is not a cake I want to eat. Our Republican dominated state legislature did this to us. Make no mistake here, though. Many Dem legislators were just as happy to move up in the primary schedule. I know I was, and continue to be. We are the largest swing state in the country. We have more electoral votes at stake than the states going before us combined. We are much more diverse than any state going before us in this process. Floridians deserve to have their voices heard as part of the presidential nominating process.

Our own state party should not be put in the position of telling us our primary votes are not going to count. Not in Florida of all places. We have a hard enough time getting our votes to count here as it is. (Although the bill that Gov. Crist signed today also does away with touch screen voting machines (almost entirely) and provides us with a voter verifiable paper trail.) No , the state party should not put us in that position.

That puts the ball squarely in your court, Dr. Dean. As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, your position on this dilemma counts for a great deal. Do you really want to tell Florida Democrats, of all people, that their votes won't count? After all, this was done to us by the Republican controlled Florida Legislature. The Dems couldn't have stopped this if they had wanted to. Speaking of Florida Democrats, Dr. Dean, you do recall how important their support was in your ascendancy to the Chairmanship, don't you? The early support from the Florida delegation to the DNC really got the ball rolling for you.

But, let's just get back to the basic issue here. There will be a presidential primary in Florida on January 29th. It is now the law of this state. The Democratic candidates are going to campaign here. This state supplies too much money, and holds too many electoral votes for the candidates to ignore us. The only remaining question is this:

Doctor Dean, are you going to let our votes count?

Blog Florida Blue

Florida Primary: How to Have Our Primary Cake and Eat It Too

The Florida Legislature has thankfully ended their regular session. I say thankfully, because it is harder for them to screw things up when they are not in session. But they are coming back in June for a special session since they could not get their act together on property tax "reform".

That's another whole diary in and of itself. Today, there is good news and bad news and it is the same news. The good news is the Legislature has voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary to January 29th. The bad news is the Legislature has voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary to January 29th.

Follow me to find out why this is both good and bad news and how to have our cake and it eat too.


The Florida Legislature limped to a close of its annual regular session with a whimper Friday afternoon. The list of the dids and did nots will provide fodder for many diaries in the days and weeks to come. Today, though, we are going to take up the topic of the Florida Presidential Preference Primary.

The Republican dominated Florida Legislature passed a wide ranging election reform bill this week. The most publicised news is that Florida is moving to voter verified paper ballots. Congrats to Pam Haengel, President, Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay (VIA Tampa Bay) and all the other folks who worked so hard to make this happen.

The other big news is that the Legislature also voted to move Florida's Presidential Preference Primary up to January 29th. This is before the primary "window" allowed by both the Republican and Democratic National committees. From the New York Times:

The national parties warned Florida that any state slating its contest earlier than Feb. 5 without express permission will lose half its delegates to the party’s national conventions in the late summer of 2008. In addition, Democratic Party rules stipulate that any candidate who campaigns in a state that has violated Democratic scheduling rules will forfeit delegates the state retains — in effect, shutting out the state altogether.

That sounds pretty draconian, particularly on the part of the Dems. Maybe Karen Thurman should call Howard Dean and remind him that the Florida Legislature is dominated by the other guys. A little help with the 50 state plan might be more in order than threatening us with punishment for the sins of others.

But there is another option that is entirely within the control of the Florida Democratic Party. Also noted in the New York Times:

DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton said in a statement that the committee is hoping to work with the state to reach a solution. “This is not the first time that a state legislature has set its primary on a date outside DNC party rules,” Paxton said. “As with similar situations in the past, the DNC is working closely with the state party to look at the alternatives for proceeding in accordance with the rules on or after February 5th.”

Alternatives might include holding a party-run event such as a caucus, making the primary a non-binding event.

This may be the saving grace for for Florida Democrats. The FDP could choose to make the January primary non-binding. They would then need to create a mechanism for the awarding of convention delegates to the candidates. A caucus is one method that the FDP would totally control. The only real problem the FDP is going to have: Figuring out how to make it snow so the caucus goers will have to wade through the obligatory snow to get to the caucus locations.

FLORIDA MOVES to paper ballots!

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3 May 2007

Contact:
Susan Pynchon, Cell: 386-804-3131
Pamela Haengel, Cell: 727-244-9064
Kindra Muntz, Cell: 941-266-8278
Dan McCrea, Cell: 305-984-2900

FLORIDA MOVES to paper ballots!

Florida Voters Coalition congratulates governor crist and the florida legislature for ending PAPERLESS voting.

TALLAHASSEE: In a historic vote, the Florida House today unanimously passed CS/HB 537, already passed in the Senate, that provides almost all voters paper ballots in time for the 2008 Presidential election, and bans paperless DREs outright by 2012. The bill now goes to the Governor where he’s sure to sign it since it’s his initiative.

Counties will have the option to pitch DREs immediately and provide ballot marking devices for voters with disabilities. “FVC urges all 67 counties to convert to uniform paper ballot systems without delay and leave no voter behind voting on failed electronic voting machines,” said FVC Co-Founder, Dan McCrea.

The bill is funded with $27.9 million in HAVA funds and there’s plenty more money in that account should more be needed next year. Counties will get help from the state to purchase optical scan equipment to count the paper ballots; ballot-on-demand equipment to ease paper congestion problems in Early Voting; and ballot marking devices to serve the disabled.

While there was talk earlier in the legislative session about retrofitting printers to failed touchscreen DREs, that talk faded as legislators saw it would be throwing good money after bad. Additionally, they are sure to have understood that currently available “VVPAT” printers would not comply with proposed federal legislation which, if passed, will supersede Florida law. (Federal bill HR 811, sponsored by Rep. Rush Holt, currently has 212 bi-partisan co-sponsors in Congress.)

The Florida bill also contains new audit provisions essential to the security of paper ballot voting systems. There was agreement among legislators that the new audit provisions will need further tweaking next year before becoming effective in July 2008. For now, the language requires that after every election, at least 1% and not more than 2% of randomly selected precincts be audited by hand-counting the paper ballots in one randomly selected race. The audit will take place after certification and be reported 3 days before the contest period ends.

“FVC supports ‘statistically significant’ audits that would yield a far greater confidence level in election results and should be reported before certification. FVC will be working with state and local election officials in the coming year to strengthen Florida audit language,” said another FVC Co-Founder, Kindra Muntz, who led the successful charter amendment campaign in Sarasota County that requires both voter verified paper ballots and mandatory random audits in all elections.

“We thank Governor Crist and the Florida Legislature for their vision and diligence in improving Florida voting systems,” said FVC Co-Founder, Susan Pynchon, “and for working together in a bi-partisan, bicameral effort. The eyes of the nation have been and still are on Florida elections – and Florida finally got it right! We can now say Florida is leading the nation in election reform.”

In addition to the Governor and the Legislature deserving praise, FVC thanks the two dozen co-signers to our 2007 Position Paper on Voting Systems, who are listed below, and who worked very hard together at local, state, and national levels on many different aspects of advocating for this legislation. Thanks to Senator Bill Nelson and other members of Congress who also helped at the national level. We also thank the Florida League of Woman Voters and the Florida Council of the Blind for their vital assistance. Special thanks to Warren Stewart, Policy Director for VoteTrustUSA; Ion Sancho, Leon County Supervisor of Elections; Howard Simon, Executive Director of ACLU of Florida; and Pamela Smith, President of Verified Voting for their invaluable contributions to this effort. Additional thanks go to Sam Bell, Doug Bell and Rebecca Sager for their extensive assistance on the ground in Tallahassee. And finally, FVC thanks the thousands of volunteers and citizens who cared enough about Florida’s elections to help rally support, send messages to the Governor and Legislature, talk to the media, and make their voices heard. “This was a good day for democracy,” said FVC Co-Founder Pamela Haengel.

National Organizations - Alphabetical by Organization

Ralph Miller, Executive Director, Latinos for America
Megan Matson, Director, Mainstreet Moms
Pamela Smith, President, VerifiedVoting.org
Dan McCrea, Florida State Director, Voter Action
John Gideon, Executive Director, VotersUnite.org
Joan Krawitz, Executive Director, VoteTrustUSA

State of Florida Organizations - Alphabetical by Organization

Howard Simon, Executive Director, ACLU of Florida
Jeannette D. Wynn, President, Florida Council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Cynthia Hall, President, Florida AFL-CIO
Ellen Brodsky, Executive Director, Broward Election Reform Coalition (BERC)
Susan Pynchon, Executive Director, Florida Fair Elections Coalition (FFEC)
Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections, Leon County Department of Elections
Trevor Harvey, President, Sarasota County Branch, NAACP
Susan Van Houten, Co-Founder, Palm Beach Coalition for Election Reform
Brad Ashwell, Florida Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)
Kindra Muntz, President, Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE)
Sevell C. Brown III, Florida State President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Jim Pillow, Political Coordinator - Teamsters Local 385 Orlando
Fred Seidl, Coordinator, Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry, Florida
Gene Jones, Florida Veterans for Common Sense
Pamela Haengel, President, Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay (VIA Tampa Bay)

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URGENT ACTION ALERT: Write FL Senators TODAY!!!

OK - this has been done at least once already today. But we are trying to keep this in front of you so we can elecit all the help we can get. If you care at all about election integrity, please act today.


ACTION ALERT!

This originally supportable bill for paper ballots has become a dumping ground of partisan garbage. We need help contacting FL legislators today!!!

Subject: URGENT ACTION ALERT: Write all FL Senators in support of paper ballots today!!

Also, please send to every Florida voter you know as it is urgent as many Florida voters as possible write to Tallahassee today.


If you're outside of Florida, contact Governor Crist directly here .

Tell the Governor:

Congrats to you, Governor Crist, on your PAPER BALLOT plan to reform Florida’s voting systems. Floridians are fed up being a national laughingstock and the rest of the country is cheering Florida on to get this right. Now is the time for the LEGISLATURE to pass a CLEAN BILL in support of your plan – free from political baggage – and IMPLEMENT meaningful PAPER BALLOT voting system reform – fully effective for the 2008 Presidential election.

For concerned Florida voters:

Please send the following e-mail TODAY, Thursday, April 26th, to all Florida Senators: Please use this text only. The key Senate bill on voting systems is scheduled to be voted on TODAY.

Also, please send to every Florida voter you know as it is urgent that as many as possible write to Tallahassee today.

Type this in your "Subject" line:

I support a clean bill for Gov. Crist's paper ballot plan

Copy and paste this into the body of the email:

I support Governor Crist’s paper ballot plan to reform Florida ’s voting systems. Floridians are fed up being a national laughing stock. Now is the time for the legislature to pass a clean bill – free from political baggage – and implement Governor Crist’s paper ballot voting system reform – fully effective for the 2008 Presidential election.

The complete list of Senators is below. Simply highlight the list, copy and paste it into the "To:" line of your e-mail.

[NOTE: If you have trouble using the e-mail list below, it may be because of the commas separating the e-mail addresses. Some e-mail providers prefer semi-colons between names. Please don't let that stop you from getting this out... and thank for taking that extra step, if necessary.]

Wise.Stephen.web@flsenate.gov, Wilson.Frederica.web@flsenate.gov, Webster.Daniel.web@flsenate.gov, Villalobos.Alex.web@flsenate.gov, Storms.Ronda.web@flsenate.gov, Siplin.Gary.web@flsenate.gov, Saunders.Burt.web@flsenate.gov, Ring.Jeremy.web@flsenate.gov, Rich.Nan.web@flsenate.gov, Pruitt.Ken.web@flsenate.gov, Posey.Bill.web@flsenate.gov, Peaden.Durell.web@flsenate.gov, Oelrich.Steve.web@flsenate.gov, Margolis.Gwen.web@flsenate.gov, Lynn.Evelyn.web@flsenate.gov, Lawson.Alfred.web@flsenate.gov, King.James.web@flsenate.gov, Justice.Charlie.web@flsenate.gov, Joyner.Arthenia.web@flsenate.gov, Jones.Dennis.web@flsenate.gov, Hill.Anthony.web@flsenate.gov, Haridopolos.Mike.web@flsenate.gov, Geller.Steven.web@flsenate.gov, Garcia.Rudy.web@flsenate.gov, Gaetz.Don.web@flsenate.gov, Fasano.Mike.web@flsenate.gov, Dockery.Paula.web@flsenate.gov, Portilla.Alex.web@flsenate.gov, Deutch.Ted.web@flsenate.gov, Dawson.Mandy.web@flsenate.gov, Crist.Victor.web@flsenate.gov, Constantine.Lee.web@flsenate.gov, Carlton.Lisa.web@flsenate.gov, Bullard.Larcenia.web@flsenate.gov, Bennett.Michael.web@flsenate.gov, Baker.Carey.web@flsenate.gov, Atwater.Jeffrey.web@flsenate.gov, Aronberg.Dave.web@flsenate.gov, Argenziano.Nancy.web@flsenate.gov, Alexander.JD.web@flsenate.gov

Thank you!!!

Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay
Member, VoteTrustUSA Leaders Group
Co-Founder, Florida Voters Coalition
www.VIATampaBay.org

All You Gotta Do is Act Locally

After the 2000 Presidential election debacle in Florida, I did what many of my fellow Floridians did. After I got done slamming my head up against the wall and puking at the sight of Katherine Harris (I still do that, BTW), I started doing some soul searching and some number crunching.

What came out of that was the realization that if we had just been a little smarter, worked just a little harder, we could have changed the course of history. And it was right there in front of us the whole time.

So, below the fold, I'm gonna take you to the big time, all you gotta do is...


Regardless of what we think of it, the final official vote count in Florida for the 2000 Presidential Election had Al Gore losing Florida's then 25 Electoral Votes to George W Bush by 537 votes. After the Supremes sang their final tune, ole Al sang "Turn out the lights, the party's over". And that was all she wrote.

How could this have happened? We had the butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County. We had hanging and pregnant and dimpled chads. We had the Goper Goon squad led by John Bolton (yeah that John Bolton) beating on the glass at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections office.

But all of that should not have mattered. There are those who say elections are never perfect. The only time we even care about this crap is when the elections are so close. And you know, they're right. Any plan conceived by humans becomes worthless once the opening bell rings. But it didn't have to be that way.

I live in Pinellas County Florida. Pinellas is the western anchor of the infamous I-4 Corridor in Central Florida. It is now the swing County in the swing region in the swing state. I bet my fellow Pinellans didn't get it that we are such swingers. We swung to Al Gore by 10,000 votes, so you'd think we could say we did our part. But that ain't the whole truth. The sad fact is we left 10,023 votes on the table in Pinellas. That is the number of votes rung up by erstwhile Green Party candidate Don Quiote de la Nader. Don Ralph Nader and company can be said, fairly or unfairly to have cost Al Gore the White House.

You could use the John Kerry 2000 Electoral analysis. His answer when asked in early 2003 how her was going to win in the South was an absolute classic. After his jaw stopped tightening up and his face stopped turning red, here's what he said:

If Al Gore had won New Hampshire, he'd be President of the United
States.

The last time I checked, New Hampshire was not even is Southern New England, much less the Southern United States. But that was the way Kerry looked at it. I shoulda, known, I shoulda known. I did work for Bob Graham's abortive campaign, and then sat back as Kerry claimed the nomination. And there wasn't nuthin I could do about it. So, I got on the Kerry Bandwagon and did what I could for him. But we all know how that turned out.

So, here we go into the the nascent stages of the 2008 Presidential campaign cycle. John Edwards and Tom Vilsack have announced. A host of others from Biden to Clinton to Obama and some in between are lined up waiting their turn to jump.What are we going to do this time to make the outcome better?

I tried something in the 2004 cycle. I tried to snake some of those 10,000 Ralph Nader votes back from our Green Party friends. I went to Green Party gatherings and made nice. I listened to what they had to say. I found where where our values overlapped. And I took to heart something that is the Green Party Mantra:

Think Globally and Act Locally

Once that sank in, I think I helped make a difference. And I don't think I'm anything special, or that I did anything all of y'all could have done and probably done better than I did. Ralph Nader was again on the ballot as the Green Party candidate in 2004. My pitch to the Green's was pretty simple. Greens and Dems share most of the same values. Greens could make an impact on the Dems and move the Party in their direction if the got in the game on the side of the Dems. And the clincher was my sig line:

You cain't govern if you cain't win

Did it work? Well, John Kerry lost Pinellas County by 226 votes. But Ralph Nader only got 2,042 votes in Pinellas. Did we pick up an additional 8,000 votes for Kerry? I don't know. I'd like to think so. I know we got some, maybe most.

And all I had to do was act locally.