Sunday, August 24, 2008

Florida, Michigan delegates given full votes. What about the eighteen-year olds?

During and after 2004, many states decided to let people who will be of voting age in November vote in the corresponding primaries, but Florida and Michigan didn't think to do it when they moved up their primary in violation of DNC rules. With over nine months between Florida and Michigan's primaries and the November election, over three-quarters of these states' eighteen-year old general election voters were ineligible to vote in their primaries.

Though claiming disenfranchisement, the Clinton campaign, John McCain, and PUMA's ignored the fact that Florida and Michigan disenfranchised thousands of young people by moving up their primaries. Even if the two states hadn't let seventeen year-olds who would be eighteen by November 4 vote in the primaries, thousands of people who would have turned eighteen before the old primary nights but weren't yet eighteen on the new primary nights didn't get to vote in Michigan and Florida. California disenfranchised people even though we didn't break party rules; our primary used to be in May, but it was moved to February, effectively disenfranchising a quarter of the high school class of 2008.

Florida and Michigan could have let people who will be of voting age on by the day of the general election to vote in the primaries, which also would have enfranchised seventeen year-olds born after the old primary dates but before or on November 4. This is done in 19 states; a few, like Maryland, have done it for years but around half of these states only have since 2004.

But they didn't. Instead, they sacrificed young people, who were excited to vote for the first time, for increased influence, even though they could have easily gotten this influence without sacrificing young people by doing what Maryland, Maine, Iowa, and sixteen other states already do. They didn't even get their influence since their elections got zero media coverage, providing no boost for Clinton, and their delegates only got seated after Obama won the primaries.

HuffPost article on Florida and Michigan delegates getting full votes.

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