The Ballot Box

There’s a fresh push to bring Michigan and Florida Democratic voters in from the cold. Because those two states moved their primaries up on the calendar against the Democratic National Committee’s wishes, the DNC has refused to seat their delegates at the party’s convention in August.

That’s a bum deal for the 2 million Democrats who voted anyway. They’re being punished for the sins of their legislatures. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued a joint statement Wednesday urging the DNC to seat their states’ delegates.

But how do you fix it?

The DNC could simply reverse its decision and recognize the delegates. That would be a boon to Hillary Clinton, who won both states and is trailing Barack Obama in the number of pledged delegates. But did she win them fair and square? It’s hard to argue that she did in Michigan — Obama wasn’t even on the ballot there.

How about holding new primaries — basically, letting Democrats vote again? That would solve Michigan’s ballot problem. But it would be expensive — Florida estimates it would cost $25 million. Crist says he doesn’t want taxpayer money to be spent on it, and the DNC doesn’t seem eager to spend any of its war chest on a re-vote.

Then there’s the issue of getting a second bite of the apple. Voters in Michigan and Florida would get to base their decision on information that wasn’t available to them in January. I wonder how many people in other early primary states would like to go to the polls again and change their votes, especially knowing what the impact would be on the race now as opposed to then.

What’s the fairest thing to do: Abide by the rules, or change them?

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