Friday, October 10, 2008

How the Power of the Vote Went Missing in the Democratic Primary


Skeptical Woman, guest posting for Lynette Long today, responds to a comment by Michelle Obama on the power of the vote.

Skeptical Woman writes:

‘“This morning, Morning Edition carried a story from North Carolina Public Radio on Michelle Obama speaking in Greensboro (9/18). She said, ‘Voting is the first real access to power we have in this country.’ If that were true, Hillary Clinton would be the Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

“Any power we voters have to elect our own nominee has been overturned by the processes and machinations of the Democratic Party on many different levels. The results of undemocratic and easily manipulated caucuses were privileged over inclusive primaries, where people actually vote. Delegates were allotted to each candidate not according to how many votes s/he received, but by some formula that included past gubernatorial election results, so that votes in some districts counted more than others. State conventions added unpledged delegates who were not elected by voters.

‘“The Democratic Party's system of unpledged ‘superdelegates,’ delegates by virtue of their status as party leaders or elected officials, clearly contravenes the idea of ‘one person one vote,’ and many of these PLEOs appear to have endorsed based on contributions to their campaigns from the presidential candidates. The Rules and Bylaws Committee ignored the actual vote in Michigan and awarded delegates to a candidate for whom not a single vote was cast, including 4 delegates earned by another candidate. The RBC and the Credentials Committee manipulated the voting process by disallowing, then allowing the participation of delegates of Michigan and Florida at times that favored the candidate who actually received fewer votes.”’

Read more.

No comments:

Post a Comment