Florida, oh Florida – the state where the votes don’t count! Back in the 2000 presidential elections, Florida voters had their votes discarded because it was determined that they could not punch clean holes in ballot cards, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court to determine the outcome of the state’s vote. Now in 2008, although 1.7 million Democrats voted in the state’s primary on January 29, these votes don’t count in the national compilation of delegates designated for either of the Democratic contenders (Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton) in the closely fought campaign to determine a Democratic candidate for November’s presidential election.

The latest problem for Florida Democratic voters has its origins in a decision made by the Florida Legislature, headed by a Republican governor, last year to move the state’s primaries up from March 11 to January 29, 2008. Michigan also moved up its primary to January 15. The idea of moving up the primaries in these states was for them to be crucial in determining the presidential nominees for either party, since in former years the nominees were decided by February. No one foresaw that the Democratic nomination would still be undecided here in March. After the Legislature made the ruling to move up the primary date, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted to impose harsh penalties on both the Florida and Michigan Democratic parties – denying their delegates seats at the Democratic convention in August. This meant that although Democrats voted for their chosen candidates in the respective primaries their votes are meaningless.

In the case of Florida, both the DNC and the Florida Legislature should be blamed for their actions. First, the DNC should not have imposed such harsh penalties, which in effect disenfranchised all of Florida’s Democrats and made meaningless the state’s 210 delegates that would be apportioned between the two candidates. Although, the Republican national party also imposed penalties for their Florida primary being held on January 29, the penalty reduced those delegates by 50 percent and did not disenfranchise Republican voters.

Secondly, although the Florida Legislature was encouraged by the media and other influential parties to compromise and move the state’s primary to Super Tuesday (February 5) to satisfy both the Democratic and Republican national leadership, the Legislature wouldn’t change its earlier decision.

The result is a complicated mess. Both Obama and Clinton desperately need both pledged and super delegates to reach the required delegate threshold to secure the nomination, and both Florida and Michigan have the potential of providing 367 additional delegates between them both. Now some Democrats are clamoring for the delegates in both states to be counted. But rules were made by the DNC, and both candidates knew the rules and signed off on them, which means they should be adhered to.

Hillary Clinton and her supporters wanted the votes cast for her in the Michigan primary, where no other Democratic candidate’s name appeared on the ballot, and those in the Florida primary which she won over Obama by 50 to 33 percent, but in which neither she nor Obama campaigned, to be counted. However, the outcry against this proposal indicates that this is a most unlikely option. In recent days Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist has joined the governor of Michigan in calling for a Democratic primary revote plan. However, it has been difficult to determine how this revote or “do-over” election would be implemented. The DNC, through its chairman Howard Dean is not opposed to a do-over, but he has asked for a proposal as to how such an election would be financed as the DNC would not finance it. The do-over is estimated to cost $15 million dollars in Florida, and there is no identifiable funds and not much time to plan the elections, which must be held by June 10, the deadline for the Democrats to select their delegates.

A compromised proposal being considered is to have Florida Democrats revote in a mail-in vote, requiring voters to cast their votes via paper ballots mailed to them, and re-mailed to the respective director of elections in the state. This proposal, estimated at $6 million would be much more economical than the traditional primary elections, but has never been done before, and could be the source of significant election mishaps.

However, neither the Obama nor Clinton campaigns in Florida seem to be enthused about a revote of any kind. Recent reports indicate that U.S. Representative Robert Wexler, chairman of Obama’s Florida campaign, and Clinton’s congressional supporters, plan to meet with Howard Dean later this week to mediate a solution. Another Clinton supporter, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is not in favor of a do-over election, preferring a weighted formula that would assign delegates to each candidate.

It is very doubtful that this mess is going to be settled through Dean’s mediation, because it appears that he does not want to broker a solution. It is understood that Democratic voters in Florida want their votes to mean something in these crucial primaries, and no way can votes that were cast in an uncontested election be accepted. But, the DNC made a ruling which the Florida Democratic Party and all the candidates including Obama and Clinton agreed to. These rules cannot be changed to facilitate an election just because the Party is in a jam.

Moreover, the indications are that the outcome of a do-over election still will not determine the outcome of the nomination. The DNC rule must stand, especially since the solution to the nomination problem is obvious. The candidate who has more popular votes and more delegates on June 10 must be declared the nominee by the DNC. Anything else will be chaotic and bound to destroy the Democratic Party and lead to a November defeat.