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This is a debacle just waiting to happen

There are tons of problems with our electoral system. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. But a fun new wrinkle is threatening to show its ugly little face, and this just doesn’t sit well at all.

As you know, every state holds its own primary election to help determine the eventual major party candidates for president. And the timing of those primary elections it a hotly contested issue - the earlier states get lots of candidate love, while the states with later elections may not see as much, since the primaries are often settled by the time the vote gets around to them. So in an effort to get around this, some states have been scurrying to push their primary dates earlier and earlier.

Florida (who else?!) is one such state. Its primary has been pushed up to January 29th, from its old date in March. This was done by the Florida legislature, and it has now caused problems with both national parties. The Democrats, in particular, are considering penalizing Florida for violating the schedule set up by the two parties. There are a host of penalties that are possible, but the current one that seems to be getting the most attention is that the Democrat primary in Florida might not count! The party may opt to make the election nonbinding, punishing the Florida Democrat citizens for the action of their state legislators (while the Republican primary votes, meanwhile, would count, unless the Republicans issue a similar penalty):

No delegates would be awarded based on the results and instead party activists and insiders would decide some later date how to divvy up the state’s more than 200 delegates to the Democratic national convention.

This just flabbergasts me. The Democratic party, which cried about votes not being counted in the 2000 election, is now talking about non-binding elections? I mean … I don’t even have the words for this!

…Is it too early to go have a beer?

Posted by Seth on May 11, 2007 | Comments (2)