Call for Help: Create Petitions to Count the Vote in Washington State, Count the Popular Vote in the DNC
By Zephyr Teachout, 02/11/2008 - 12:53pm

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After everybody aped Moveon's brilliant petition innovations, petitions became a tool for list growth, mostly a marketing tool. But there are two things happening right now that just beg for petitions--real ones, as in, people petitioning the government and their candidates:

(1) Superdelegates ought affirm popular vote. I tend to think they should affirm the total vote numbers around the country, but I'd be happy with the affirmation of the delegate count. Consensus around this needs to be decided before the popular vote is decided, so that the process is not subservient to the political needs of either candidate. Will someone make a petition for this, one that we can then distribute, along with thoughtful signators comments, to all the superdelegates?

(2) Count every vote in Washington. The Washington Republican chair seemed comfortable declaring a winner when Huckabee was only 242 votes behind, with thousands of votes yet to count.

These situations--where elites breezily assume power--create something approaching democratic horror (is there a word for this, the gut-grippling fear that we are really not in charge?) I've talked with people at poker games and marches, and been flooded with the real fear of friends, frozen by the prospect of superdelegates making the Democratic party decision this year. I have the highest respect for Howard Dean, but I'd vastly prefer a brokered convention between people's representative delegates than a brokered deal between superdelegates--lets show some sound and fury for those that signify nothing.


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I own CountAllTheVotes.com ...

...and would be happy to help. Email me at tim *dot* cullen *at* gmail *dot* com

By Tim Cullen at Mon, 02/11/2008 - 2:25pm | login or register to post comments

Thanks Tim! I am playing Tom

Thanks Tim! I am playing Tom Sawyer here a little, as I'm really busy the next couple days, but if anyone else creates one of these petitions, I would happily support it.

By Zephyr Teachout at Mon, 02/11/2008 - 4:52pm | login or register to post comments

Two points (plus one bonus point re. Howard Dean)

Although this piece is clearly well-intentioned (one vote per person and count them all, etc.), there are two MAJOR flaws. I point them out only in the interests of building something that's defensible. First: you can't petition the government to intervene in what is a political party's prerogative. If the GOP wants to hold a vote and then light the ballots on fire and nominate Bobo the Clown instead, there's nothing the government can (or should) do about that. You can petition the party officials, but last time I checked they were pretty much only interested in hearing from members of, you know, their own party.
Second: If you disagree with the role of superdelegates, you can't possibly endorse any kind of brokered convention. The idea of pledged delegates becoming involved in brokering is a contradiction in terms. If what you're going for is a truly representative nominating process (and I think it is), then "brokering" should play no part in the process. The delegates should all be truly pledged, and the candidate with the most delegates at the end wins. End of story. (Except for, of course, in the unlikely event of a delegate tie, at which point we default to the Geneva Convention which clearly states that the winner is decided by arm-wrestling.)
And since I have a solid rant going here, a word about Howard Dean: The savior of 2004 no longer deserves to be dog-catcher, let alone chair of the DNC. His management of the primary calendar debacle (Michigan, Florida, etc.) was so colossally inept as to permanently disqualify him from any position of party leadership ad infinitum. Alas, it appears the Dean kool-aid has at least a four year shelf life, as his unwavering devotees are still happy to stumble into line behind him.
To summarize: Half-baked petitions and a refusal to disavow our icons, no matter how inept they prove themselves, are both sure-fire hallmarks of this party's classic inability to think with its head and not its heart.
Whew. I feel much better now.

By 4782 at Wed, 02/13/2008 - 5:47pm | login or register to post comments



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