Sunday, May 18, 2008

Voters Demand All Votes Be Counted



The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will meet May 31st to resolve the question of seating delegates from Florida and Michigan, two states which to date the DNC has refused to count delegates because the date of their primaries was earlier than the DNC voted for primaries. A national outcry against refusal to seat the delegates from these two states has prompted the DNC to reconsider the question. Some point out that with many caucus states having numerous problems in their precinct and senatorial convention, numerous party rules have been broken yet delegates elected in those conventions are have elected delegates despite broken party rules.

Demonstrators are flying and driving to DC the weekends of May 24 and May 31st to demonstrate in solidarity with the voters of Michigan and Florida, demanding that the DNC allow the delegates from those state's Democratic primaries be seated at the Democratic National Convention. Refusal to count Florida and Michigan delegates in the distribution of delegates for presidential preference at the Democratic National Convention is disenfranchises voters in two states from their vote being counted in the nominee of the Democratic candidate for president.

This announcement appears on websites in Florida. Marches will occur on the weekend of May 24th and May 31st.

Floridians Demand Representation
DELIVERING THE PETITIONS

Come with us to Washington!

Our goal is to deliver 1.5 Million petitions to the Democratic Nation Committee Headquarters in June.


Contact Jim at 888.599.1586 or by email at Hannagan@floridademandsrepresentation.org
to join us in presenting our petitions and demanding that our voices be heard, our
delegates be seated, and our votes be counted in this election.


Demonstrations outside the DNC are already in progress. Some of the newscoverage includes:


Florida Democrats protest in Washington, call for primary to be counted
Group demands party count Florida primary

By MARK K. MATTHEWS - Washington Bureau South Florida Sun-Sentinel - May 1, 2008
WASHINGTON - A group of Florida Democrats marched on party headquarters Wednesday demanding that Democratic leaders reverse a months-old decision to deny the state a say in the party's presidential nominating process.

Waving miniature Florida flags, the group called on Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, to speak and to count the results of the state's Jan. 29 primary. The party has ignored the results because the primary was too early under party rules.

Party spokesman Luis Miranda told the protesters that "there will be representation from Florida in Denver," site of the party's national convention in August. He did not elaborate.

Roxana Zender, a massage therapist from Boca Raton, was among the hundreds outside the party offices.

"I really wanted them to hear my voice," said Zender.

The national party stripped Florida of its 211 convention delegates for holding the primary election before Feb. 5. One Florida delegate has appealed the penalty, and the party has set a hearing for May 31. At the same time, the party will consider what to do about Michigan, which lost its delegates for the same reason.

But the demonstrators want their votes to count before a nominee is selected, not after the party settles on either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

Speakers on Wednesday brought back memories of the state's problems at the polls going back to the 2000 presidential election. The five weeks of recounts in Florida at that time made many Democrats fear their votes were not counted in the close election that brought George W. Bush to the White House.

"We've been through eight long years of trying to restore the voters' confidence in the state of Florida," U.S. Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, told the crowd. "Our nerves are very raw from the Florida recount in 2000. We are not going to allow our voters to be disenfranchised again."

Yvonne Linsinbigler, 69, of Greenacres, said the past frustrations motivated her to make the 17 1/2-hour bus trip."Florida has had enough humiliation," Linsinbigler said. "We're not here to favor one candidate over another. It's just making sure Florida's votes are counted, this time as well as in the future."

Event organizers estimated more than 300 protesters attended. They came from Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and other Florida cities aboard at least a half-dozen buses.

"It's unthinkable they wouldn't count our votes," said Jennifer Kirkpatrick, 62, a nurse from Apopka.

Clinton and Obama followed party rules and did not campaign in Florida and Michigan before the primaries. Obama also had his name removed from the Michigan ballot.

Clinton won both states handily and has pushed to count the results of both primaries. Obama opposes that, and his supporters have floated other plans, such splitting the delegates evenly.

Once a nominee is selected, he or she is expected to reinstate all Florida and Michigan delegates.

Washington Bureau Chief William E. Gibson contributed to this report.
Mark K. Matthews can be reached at 202-824-8222 or mmatthews@orlandosentinel.com.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'd like to invite everyone to come to our Count Every Vote Rally in Dallas on Sat May 31st from 9am until 2pm. This is a rally to urge the DNC to count every vote from Michigan and Florida. We are targeting the 5th largest news station in the country (ABC / WFAA affiliate).

Come join us, grow our numbers, so we can get some television air time to spread the message of support for Florida and Michigan! Every vote must be counted!

For more information, please visit our blog at http://www.hcfpintx.blogspot.com/
or email us at hcfpintex@gmail.com

Ali

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