The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
State's early primary unfair to voters
PUBLISHED: January 10, 2008
Next Tuesday is the Michigan Primary Election - usually something that interests me greatly. But, not this year.
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You see, the Democratic National Committee has a rule that states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina cannot hold primaries before Feb. 5. So, to punish Michigan for its early primary, the party has stripped it of all its 156 delegates. The same thing was done to Florida in response to its Jan. 29 primary.
This earlier primary was done to give Michigan a greater voice in the national elections. Instead, if the national party's stance holds, we'll have none at all.
State Party Chairman Mark Brewer says he doesn't anticipate that will really happen, because he feels the candidates will insist on the delegates being seated. But, at this point, I don't think it matters.
Why? Because all of the major candidates, with the exception of Hillary Clinton, have refused to have their names on the ballot. And, of those four whose names will appear, Chris Dodd has withdrawn from the race altogether.
So, my fellow voters, our choices are pretty much Hillary Clinton or "uncommitted." Yes, there is a place for write-ins, but none of the candidates have filed paperwork to accept that option, so anything written in will not be counted at all.
This is the sort of thing that shows how badly the Democratic National Committee is messed up. There is no earthly reason why those four states have to be first. There is simply this arbitrary, illogical rule.
But, the Michigan Democrats didn't help when they dithered over what to do when the candidates bailed out. The result of that dithering, at least for those who aren't Clinton supporters, was the option of voting for "uncommitted," which would send delegates to the convention with no responsibility to vote for any specific candidate. That's right, they can vote for whomever they please at the convention - assuming Brewer is right and they're seated at all. And, if enough voters check the "uncommitted" box so that Clinton doesn't receive about 60 percent of the vote, it's going to take some of the shine off her campaign, which will appeal to some voters.
The other option is to vote in the Republican primary. There, Michigan voices will stand a better chance of being heard. And - who knows? - the winning candidate might be our next president if the Democrats don't get their act together.
And there is other fallout from this debacle: Clinton isn't going to campaign here at all before the primary. Dennis Kucinich at first asked, too late, that his name be removed from the ballot but this past week he decided to campaign here. Mike Gravel, who is barely a blip on the screen anyway, is concentrating on New Hampshire.
This is unfair to Michigan voters. It, once again, shows how people come up with a plan and don't look for possible consequences while they are making it.
Michigan Democrats had to know they faced the possibility of party sanctions. Did they not realize that candidates might back away from squaring off against the party?
The Democratic National Committee should not have the right to disenfranchise us as it is doing. But, the Michigan Democratic Party needs to find some intelligent leaders to stand up to the national party, too.
All we want is a say in electing a national leader who will get us out of the quagmire we now find ourselves in.
Kathleen Conat is a longtime Ypsilanti resident and freelance writer for The Courier. She can be reached through editor@ypsilanticourier.com.
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