A proposal by Florida Democratic Party officials to repeat the discounted Florida primary using mail-in balloting has encountered widespread criticism, not to mention a lukewarm reception from both the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns, which must agree to the idea before it can move forward.
“The party thought it had more support than it does and they now realize it has less support,” a congressional aide close to the situation said Thursday. “I don’t think it is going anywhere.”
Florida’s entire delegation of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives opposes the plan to provide mail-in ballots to 4.1 million registered Democrats.
The lawmakers, who include supporters of both Obama and Clinton, are against any kind of re-vote in Florida. They believe mail-in balloting could result in voter fraud as well as the exclusion of some low-income and elderly voters who would be difficult to reach by mail.
Obama’s campaign aides say they are concerned about the proposal for similar reasons.
But state party officials, as well as Florida’s lone Democratic U.S. senator, Bill Nelson, who has endorsed Clinton, believe the mail-in proposal is the only affordable option that can be completed by an early June deadline. The plan calls for mailing ballots May 9, after a 30-day review period, and includes provisions that proponents say would ensure the validity of the ballots and the participation of low-income, minority and elderly voters.
“We have examined every potential alternative again,” state party chairwoman Karen Thurman said in a memo to the campaigns and party leaders. “Only one stands out as fair, open, practical and feasible at this time.”
Clinton has called for the DNC to validate the results of Florida’s Jan. 29 primary in which she won half of the 1.7 million votes. Obama won about 32 percent of the vote. Former candidate John Edwards won 14 percent.
None of the candidates campaigned in the state, but Clinton held a much ballyhooed “victory celebration” there.
Many Florida Democratic leaders believe that participation will drop in a re-vote, especially by “snowbirds” who live in Florida during the winter but go north in April and May. Thurman’s plan includes special efforts to reach these voters, but even so, Clinton’s support would erode among people over 60, who are among her strongest supporters but who are less likely to track down their ballots.
“If there is to be any difference between my proposal that we count these [Jan. 29] votes and any other course of action, it should be a complete re-do of the primary, and nothing else is fair,” Clinton said Thursday on National Public Radio.
