All Votes Should Be Counted – Even Florida Primary
All Votes Should Be Counted — by Catherine Morgan (cross posted at Care2 Election Blog)
I’m a disenfranchised voter in Florida, and happy to be voting today anyway. I have to admit, I’ve been more than a little annoyed with this whole Florida delegates don’t count thing. This morning was no different. Especially after I came across this post over at BlueBloggin – Clinton Breaks Pledge and Heads to Florida…
Hillary Clinton along with all the other Democratic candidates pledged not to campaign in Florida, however Hillary will appear in Florida on Tuesday. How can anyone trust or believe what Clinton says. It’s obvious that Hillary doesn’t play or obey the same rules everyone else does.
Obviously, this person has a bone to pick with Hillary. And quite frankly, it very well may be obvious that Hillary doesn’t “play by the rules”. But, as a disenfranchised voter of Florida, I have a couple of things to say about this.
#1 – Hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in Florida are being told that their [primary] vote does not matter. Even worse, the candidates have signed pledges to make sure the voters of Florida know that they just don’t care.
#2 – The candidates are being forced to bite off their nose to spite their face. Florida could very well be the most important state to win in the general election later this year. And now, the Democratic National Committee has given the “advantage” to the Republicans. It will be pretty darn sad, if the Democrats lose Florida, and ultimately the White House, because of this DNC stupidity.
#3 – If anyone has disregarded the pledge, it would be Barack Obama. I’ve been seeing Obama campaign ads now for a few weeks. I have seen no ads by Clinton or Edwards. But at the same time that Obama is “campaigning” here in Florida, he is taking every opportunity to publicly deny that he is campaigning here, as well as reiterating to everyone he can, that Florida means nothing to him. He even referred to the Florida primary (on more than one occasion), as a beauty pageant – saying that Florida is not relevant because there are no delegates.
#4 – I would like to know how any candidate can say they will be a good president to all the people, but still be OK with disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of those people? I want a president that will stand-up for the rights of the people...And, not just when there are delegates at stake. It seems clear to me, that many in the Democratic Party see us (in Florida) as delegates first…News Flash: We are PEOPLE first.
#5 – In defense of Hillary. [And for the record, I did not vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama today.] She is the only candidate who at least “appears” to care about the the Florida voters. Although, I am still unhappy that she didn’t stand up for us earlier.
But even though what I have stated here has been making me a bit angry, I’m not at all an angry person. That goes double for today. I was soooo happy to go and vote today. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and by the time I left to go vote it was about 70 degrees. I rolled down the windows and let the fresh air blow on my face, while I drove over to my polling place. The whole time I was thinking to myself, “You are such a lucky girl Catherine” – I wouldn’t want to be a disenfranchised voter anywhere else. It’s a beautiful primary day in Florida.
Image from Kay at Covering Florida — Primary Day, Sun Gleams Like A Postcard Image on Florida
