The right to vote
Sen. Bill Nelson has a fine whine going about the Democrats refusing to count the votes in Florida's moved-up primary. Of course, he blames the Republican Florida legislature. And he has a point, to the extent that the Republicans have not come forward to disqualify Republican votes.
But there's this "right to vote" nonsense:
Four decades ago, our nation belatedly enacted a law to guarantee every U.S. citizen an equal right to vote.
First of all, there's no general right to vote for President. It's not Constitutionally mandated that presidential electors be chosen by popular vote. In fact, given how much they've mucked up the process in the past, I'm surprised that Florida hasn't decided to choose its electors via the legislature, as many states did originally.
There's even less a right to vote in a party primary. 'Scuse me, but to vote for MY party's candidate, I have to pay my dues, get named as a delegate, and go to the national convention, which is not cheap. Have MY voting rights been violated? Or how's this: the state of Ohio says I'm a Republican, because that's the primary I vote in (I can cause more trouble that way.) So are my voting rights violated because I can't also vote in the Democratic primary, given that I'm not either party, and might well vote for either party's candidates in the general election? Political parties are private organizations, and the government has no business holding elections for a private organization, and still less business writing those private organizations into the ballot access laws. And if the Democratic Party has so violated principle, why doesn't Nelson quit the Democratic Party?
It's good to see that the commentors are no more sympathetic than I am.
Comments
Posted by: jeffrey smith
Posted on: August 31, 2007 03:15 PM
1) Actually, the RNC is (last I heard) threatening to accept only half the delegates from Florida.
I hope they do disqualify them, because that will mean less political ads on TV for the next four or five months. And the legislature is fairly well dominated by Republicans. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I'm pretty sure the GOP has enough legislators to pass anything it wanted to in both state houses regardless of how the Jackass Party voted.
One can probably make something out of the point that the national party gives a twat how or when the state parties pick their delegates. If I were a party boss, I'd want as mixed up and messy a process as possible--more chances for good old fashioned non-smoke-filled rooms sort of deal making.
As far as this observation goes:"I'm surprised that Florida hasn't decided to choose its electors via the legislature, as many states did originally." Actually, they almost did that back in 2000. The legislative chiefs were preparing to ram through a law selecting the slate of presidential electors (for Bush, presumably) as their preferred way to make an end run around the whole imbroglio, until the SC decided to end the game.
Posted by: Jeffrey Quick
Posted on: September 2, 2007 01:37 PM
And we'd thought we'd heard enough of "the 2000 selection" as it is...