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Michigan Primary election is tomorrow...
Jan. 14th, 2008 10:41 am...and I am thinking about not participating.
See, most of the Democratic candidates have withdrawn their names, and did not follow the procedure to have write-in votes for them count. Because of Michigan's moving the primary earlier than Super Tuesday, the national Democratic Party has stripped Michigan of its convention delegates. The Michigan Dems seems to think the Party is joking, or will cave later, or something. Therefore several candidates fulfilled a pledge to the national party and withdrew their names from the Michigan primary. A few didn't, though in at least one case, that is actually because he blew the deadline for doing so (Kucinich).
Therefore I can either vote for Clinton, for Chris Dodd (who has withdrawn),for "uncommitted," or for Dennis Kucinich or Mike Gravel, and it may not even count except as a straw poll.
In the online surveys I have taken, I end up with either Gravel or Kucinich. [Yes, I am a liberal. Sue me.] Neither of them seem very viable, of course, in these right-leaning times. In those same online surveys, Clinton ends up at the bottom of the list Dems for how they align with me. The only merit I see in voting for her is the glass ceiling factor. This is admittedly not inconsiderable, from my point of view.
Even worse, however, is that the law that moved the primary into January had a provision that the list of who asked for which party's ballot becomes information compiled by the state and given EXCLUSIVELY to the two major parties. That is, the Dems and Republicans will know that I voted and which ballot I voted on. (Michigan's primary is open...you don't have to declare a party preference anymore, but you do have to ask for only one of the major party ballots and vote only the one ballot.) This has been challenged, most recently in a lawsuit filed late last week by the ACLU. They want to either make the who-voted-which-ballot-list completely public or deny it to anybody. As of right now, anybody but the parties having and using those lists is a criminal violation, even for reporters, or other political parties. Using public resources to gain info for private political organizations AND ENFORCE IT IN THE CRIMINAL CODE seems pretty blatantly a violation of the constitution to me. But, the actual outcome of this is unknown at this moment.
So I can vote for a limited slate of candidates, get my name on a list that may be given to the major parties exclusively, and not have my vote count.
Gee, where do I sign up?
See, most of the Democratic candidates have withdrawn their names, and did not follow the procedure to have write-in votes for them count. Because of Michigan's moving the primary earlier than Super Tuesday, the national Democratic Party has stripped Michigan of its convention delegates. The Michigan Dems seems to think the Party is joking, or will cave later, or something. Therefore several candidates fulfilled a pledge to the national party and withdrew their names from the Michigan primary. A few didn't, though in at least one case, that is actually because he blew the deadline for doing so (Kucinich).
Therefore I can either vote for Clinton, for Chris Dodd (who has withdrawn),for "uncommitted," or for Dennis Kucinich or Mike Gravel, and it may not even count except as a straw poll.
In the online surveys I have taken, I end up with either Gravel or Kucinich. [Yes, I am a liberal. Sue me.] Neither of them seem very viable, of course, in these right-leaning times. In those same online surveys, Clinton ends up at the bottom of the list Dems for how they align with me. The only merit I see in voting for her is the glass ceiling factor. This is admittedly not inconsiderable, from my point of view.
Even worse, however, is that the law that moved the primary into January had a provision that the list of who asked for which party's ballot becomes information compiled by the state and given EXCLUSIVELY to the two major parties. That is, the Dems and Republicans will know that I voted and which ballot I voted on. (Michigan's primary is open...you don't have to declare a party preference anymore, but you do have to ask for only one of the major party ballots and vote only the one ballot.) This has been challenged, most recently in a lawsuit filed late last week by the ACLU. They want to either make the who-voted-which-ballot-list completely public or deny it to anybody. As of right now, anybody but the parties having and using those lists is a criminal violation, even for reporters, or other political parties. Using public resources to gain info for private political organizations AND ENFORCE IT IN THE CRIMINAL CODE seems pretty blatantly a violation of the constitution to me. But, the actual outcome of this is unknown at this moment.
So I can vote for a limited slate of candidates, get my name on a list that may be given to the major parties exclusively, and not have my vote count.
Gee, where do I sign up?
