Obama flip flops again

[no name 1]

Sen. Obama Co-Sponsored Bill Creating Vote By Mail Program

3/12/2008 11:47:40 AM

On this morning’s conference call, Sen. Obama’s campaign manager repeated deep reservations about using the mail-in option in both Michigan and Florida. Yesterday, an Obama campaign strategist highlighted what he thought were potential problems:

"Obviously there are concerns about a mail-in vote. I mean, there are concerns about eligibility, ballot security," [Axelrod] said during a conference call. [AP, 12/11/08]

Even Sen. Obama is now expressing hesitation to endorse a vote by mail system. The Associated Press reported:

Obama...said in an interview with CNN that he had reservations about a vote by mail. "I think there's some concerns in terms of making sure that whatever we do is fair, and that votes are properly counted and the logistics make sense," he said.

But the Obama campaign is making a political argument that doesn’t match Sen. Obama’s legislative record. In June, Sen. Obama co-sponsored a bill that would establish a vote by mail grant program.

The text of the legislation Sen. Obama endorsed explains the benefits of a vote by mail system over other forms of voting:

(12) Vote by Mail allows voters to educate themselves because they receive ballots well before election day, which provides them with ample time to research issues, study ballots, and deliberate in a way that is not possible at a polling place.

(13) Vote by Mail is accurate--at least 2 studies comparing voting technologies show that absentee voting methods, including Vote by Mail systems, result in a more accurate vote count.

(14) Vote by Mail results in more up-to-date voter rolls, since election officials use forwarding information from the post office to update voter registration.

(15) Vote by Mail allows voters to visually verify that their votes were cast correctly and produces a paper trail f

link

[Marc and Olga 0]

Obama...said in an interview with CNN that he had reservations about a vote by mail. "I think there's some concerns in terms of making sure that whatever we do is fair, and that votes are properly counted and the logistics make sense," he said.

(12) Vote by Mail allows voters to educate themselves because they receive ballots well before election day, which provides them with ample time to research issues, study ballots, and deliberate in a way that is not possible at a polling place.

link

Sounds to me like 1) he thinks that a REvote may be construed as UNFAIR...I tend to think this may be an accurate way to phrase it...both states had their elections already. Both states new what the DNC expected and for whatever reason decided to hold their elections earlier then they agreed now both states must face the consequences of their decision to hold their elections ahead of the previously agreed date... this is only my opinion.

as for the second part I quoted, well the bolded part explains itself...BEFORE election day, which was weeks ago.

[HAL 9000 96]

The state committees should just have plaid by the rules. They seemed to have understood the consequences then, but apparently now when a compromise is sought to appease the citizens over their states' committees' mistakes, its Obama's fault.

[Dan J 277]

The state committees should just have plaid by the rules. They seemed to have understood the consequences then, but apparently now when a compromise is sought to appease the citizens over their states' committees' mistakes, its Obama's fault.

Right, If this nomination wasn't as close as it is, no one would be raising a stink about it either. Its likely they assumed that it would not be a really close race anyway.

If you think about all the dynamics that would go into a revote, it would be hard to consider the results fair.

• People who voted in the first primary, may not in the second, and vis versa.
• Since the Republican nomination has already been decided, an open primary would have have voters interfering with the process just to make it easier for McCain to win.
• A closed primary would limit the ability of Indpendents to have a voice in the primary.
• How the election is set up, could limit accessiblity for diffrent groups.
• Because it is such a close race, national groups would try to influence the outcome more so in a revote than the original primary.

It would be fair to the people of Florida and Michigan to have thier votes counted, but can thier votes be counted fairly?

[HAL 9000 96]

"an open primary would have have voters interfering with the process"

Exactly Dan. This IS Florida we're talking about...

[no name 1]

"an open primary would have have voters interfering with the process"

Exactly Dan. This IS Florida we're talking about...

so they shouldn't get counted?

Edited March 12, 2008 by illumine

[HAL 9000 96]

"an open primary would have have voters interfering with the process"

Exactly Dan. This IS Florida we're talking about...

so they shouldn't get counted?

DID I say that? Sorry. They could have been counted had the state committees played by rules they agreed to previously.

Do they DESERVE to be counted? NO.

SHOULD they be counted? YES.

It therefore DESERVES and SHOULD be done in a correct manner, continuous to following party rules.

[SqdnGuns 21]

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[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

From what I understand the DNC has actually offered to help Florida redo its primary, even offering to help them out financially.

[no name 1]

From what I understand the DNC has actually offered to help Florida redo its primary, even offering to help them out financially.

and 2 of HC's supporters offered to help raise $15M (half).