The biggest noncovered misconception about the Fl. election

[youknowmenotdlc]

Hi, Florida resident here, and homeowner. Why is this important? I'll tell ya.

Leading up to the Fl. election it was widely reported and known that the election for the Democratic nominee would NOT COUNT due to changes in the timing. Few whined, outside of blaming the state party for bumbling their way into this situation. But we all went about our business and came out to vote.

But not because we thought our votes would count for the nominee.

Instead we came out to vote in droves because of Amendment #1.

Now, Amendment 1# never gets brought up in the media discussion of the "droves" of voters who flooded polls on that day but it was the single biggest reason why people on the Democratic side came out to vote at all. You see #1 was a boondoggle initiative put up by Repukes in our state house that basically gave HONEOWNERS a chance to vote themselves a modest $250-300 dollar tax break in exchange for slashing basic services.

This election held zero inteerest for renters, students, low income earners, non homeowners, etc...

So the vvote went thusly:
1,684,390 Dems voted
1,920,350 Repubs voted

See something funny? Yep, Fl. was one of the only primary election states where Repukes outnumbered Dems EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE MORE REGISTERED DEMS IN FL.

So, the next time a Hillaryite or Repuke tells you "Well florida voted and they turned out in DROVES" remind them that the primary (no pun intended) reason most voted that day was to vote on Amendment #1.

BTW, I voted NO on #1 and picked Dennis even though he was already out to make a statement.

[babylonsister]

1. So lots of Dems stayed home because they knew their vote

wouldn't count, correct? So why suddenly should they? If anything, I think the votes should either be split or there should be a do-over somehow.
But to accept the results 'as is' seems ridiculous to me considering how many didn't even bother voting given the info they had.

[peace13]

4. Why not follow the election rules that were set before the election?

Which laws do we break?

[babylonsister]

7. That would mean no delegates would count. I'm not from FL so I

can't weigh in on that. I know there are some people who don't think that's fair either.

[peace13]

13. Well I wonder if they got off of their rear ends and did anything

about it before the rules were finalized. I am really tired of Americans that just let bad things happen to them without speaking out. I live in Ohio and I knew that the votes in MI and FL would not count. Ignorance or hind sight just won't cut it in these times. Really, if their vote is not counted they need to take it up with the state officials and the Democratic party that stole their votes.

[whopis01]

20. As a Florida voter

I was very disappointed in the decision to not seat the delegates. I think it is ridiculous that the punishment for the Florida legislature pushing up the primary should be to take away a voice from the people of the state.

With that said, I also feel it is completely unacceptable to now go back on what was said at the time of the primary. You can not have people vote and then go back and change the reason the vote at a later date.

Unfortunately at this point I don't think that there is really any good way out of the situation. No matter what is done, there are going to be people who will argue (perhaps justifiably so) that their candidate was disadvantaged by the situation. While I understand that the legislature chose not to follow the rules, the DNC's decision ultimately leads to division within the party.

[peace13]

24. Thank you for this.

I live in Ohio and we took to the streets after the 2004 election was stolen. Every Sunday for the month of December 100 plus people stood up and said enough. The world was not watching, however. I feel your pain and appreciate your comments. Peace, kim

[youknowmenotdlc]

8. Not only that

But the turnout is used by the Hillary campaign as proof people turned out in droves to elect a nominee when in fact the driving force was amendment #1.

Think about this, non homeowners, students, retirees in low income housing, people in subsidised housing, renters, etc... had little reason to vote so the usual Democratic demographic was skewed.

Yet Mcaullife and Wolfson continue to characterize this as Hillary' s strength in big states.

[peace13]

2. Thanks for this.

Sounds like Ohio in 2004 when they added the gay issue to the mix to get all of the wacko thugs out to vote. Peace, Kim

[chknltl]

3. Very interesting...thanks for the info

I'll be bookmarking this. Oh, and on edit: recomended as well.

[slinkerwink]

5. thank you for your perspective!

[PassingFair]

6. Holy Cow!

I haven't seen YOUR name in AGES!

[slinkerwink]

9. hi! :-)

[PassingFair]

11. When did you return?

I've missed your sassy retorts.

:hi:

[slinkerwink]

21. a week ago, really. I've been a lurker for a while.

I got tired of all the Clinton supporters running over the Obama supporters in the threads here so I decided to pop back up.

[PassingFair]

23. It's really the work of a few pesky posters....

The "polls" here show where the REAL democratic
power is....

But good to have you back!
We need all of our voices to
counter the :puke: of the
Clinton campaign.

[Hawkeye-X]

10. I was saying the same thing just last week!

[boston bean]

12. umm, excuse me, republicans had a hotly contested republican primary that day too.

So it can't be true that people only went out to vote for an amendment.

[youknowmenotdlc]

18. Let me address this

The repukes outvoted us by 300 to 400k, the only state where more Repukes came out than Dems this primary season?

Why?

The answer isn't that they turned out in higher numbers but that WE stayed home because we had no dog in this fight.

Amendment 1# was the driving force that day, to say otherwise is to have an agenda.

[TahitiNut]

44. (cough) Florida wasn't the "only" state where the minority Republicans turned out more than the Dems

Michigan had a very low 20% turnout and the numbers were 868,002 (R) vs. 592,261 (D).

Nothing else was on the statewide ballot.

[nsd]

30. The GOP primary did count, while the Democratic one didn't.

The RNC let Florida keep half its delegates, and all the Republican candidates campaigned there. (In fact, Rudy Guiliani pretty much bet the farm on Florida.)

The Republicans had good reason to turn out for the FL primary. Democrats, having been told no delegates were at stake and without any campaign visits or GOTV efforts, didn't have so much reason to get to the polls. And that shows in the relative turnouts.

[jaysunb]

14. Thanks

Your report is better and more accurate than anything I've seen or heard in the MSM :thumbsup:

[liberaldem4ever]

15. Thanks for posting this

I hadn't heard this before and it's very interesting. Puts a different perspective on things.

[mohc]

16. I voted no on #1 as well, but voted for Edwards in the primary

But I disagree with your assertion that the media did not pay attention to this. The NATIONAL media payed no attention to the amendment, that is for sure. I do not know where you live, but here in Palm Beach, our local news on primary night ran the amendment results as the top story. Only after covering it for about 10 minutes did they move on to the Republican results, and finally gave a 30 second at most summary of the Democratic results with a 10 second sound byte from Clinton's "victory" party.

In the runup to the election, everyone assumed #1 would fail, it needed a supermajority to pass, and in the polls it was not even topping 45%. What they did not take into account was that Democrats simply were not going to turn out in the same numbers as Republicans, and Republicans certainly were not going to be voting against a tax break. The passage of amendment #1 in an of itself demonstrates the failure of Democratic turnout in the Florida primary. On the bright side I will be saving about $500 this year on my property taxes, but I am in escrow so I will not see that money until they recalculate my payments next year.

[seasat]

17. I wonder how amendment 1 would have fared if our primary was later

I imagine that if the primary had been Fed 5th or later more Democrats would have turned out and voted against it. I wonder if part of the reason Crist and others supported the earlier primary was to get that amendment passed.

[youknowmenotdlc]

19. One other the thing, THE MEDIA has totally ignored this

I have yet to see one pundit bring this up when Florida is discussed.

[Kurovski]

22. K&R. (nt)

[QC]

25. I rent, and I voted in the primary. n/t

[youknowmenotdlc]

26. What was the driving force in you deciding to vote that day?

nm.

[QC]

27. Supporting John Edwards. n/t

[youknowmenotdlc]

28. Even though you were told

the vote wouldn't count?

Thats admirable, but it's hardly indicative of how most people would act.

[QC]

33. Yes, I knew the deal but wanted to support my candidate.

Perhaps you have too little faith in Democrats' party loyalty.

[youknowmenotdlc]

35. Not at all, but when we are told it wouldn't count

most of us will take them at their word.

[marlakay]

29. I think they are talking about people

who are not political junkies like us.

[Utopian Leftist]

31. Very interesting!

It's sad that the WHOLE story is never told to us by the news media.

[MirrorAshes]

32. VERY interesting. This point needs to be kept afloat.

:kick:

[DawgHouse]

34. I'm not saying it ain't so...

but I have been trying to find a site that gives the stats on how many registered repubs/dems/indies there are in Florida and other states. Do you know where I can find that information?

[quakerboy]

36. How about the Florida Department of State: Elections Division

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voterreg/affiliation.asp

40% Dem, 38% Pub, 19% none, 3% other

[DawgHouse]

39. Thanks, I appreciate the link!

[quakerboy]

41. No prob.

Heres another helpful link

http://www.fvap.gov/links/statelinks.html


Links to all the states Secretaries of state. Good to check the actual numbers on votes and things, for those with interest.

edit for spelling.

[carlotta]

37. And that is precisely why Florida Dems held their primary early

If they hadn't they wouldn't have been able to vote on the amendment. Dean should have recognized that and allowed their primary to count.

[Lucinda]

38. Almost ONE MILLION more Dem voters voted this year than in 2004

712,845 voted in 2004 vs 1,684,390 in 2008
I'd say 971,545 more people qualifies for "droves" status

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/primaries/pages/states/FL/

[JerseygirlCT]

40. Ok. THAT makes sense! Thanks. nt

[TahitiNut]

42. Turnout in Michigan: 868,002 (R). 592,261 (D)

... and Hillary calls that "fair"? :grr: Fuck her!

[wiggs]

43. Great point. Why can't MSM make the same point? Obama should be also. nt