Re-vote In Michigan, Florida Through Mail-In Ballots Proposed

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Democratic Party officials on Sunday continued to bicker about how to seat delegates in Michigan and Florida, with some of them floating the idea of a revote through mail-in primaries. Both states were stripped of delegates for scheduling their respective primaries earlier than party rules allowed. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who won symbolic, landslide wins in the two states, has repeatedly asserted that she won't support a revote in either state.

"When these states come before us with proposals, we're going to go to both campaigns and work with them," Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman, said in an interview with CBS. "We can't have half the Democratic Party walk out thinking there was some deal cooked... So we're going to go to both campaigns and try to get them to agree to whatever Florida and Michigan propose as long as it's within the rules."

He also told ABC that "this is a big -- bigger issue than Florida and Michigan. We have a very close contest between two people who are likely to be elected...whichever one wins the nomination. I have to run these rules so that the losing side feels they've been treated fairly."

The option of a re-do of primaries in the two states through mail-in ballots is being considered by party officials in both states. Debbie Dingell, a superdelegate and DNC member, said in a Fox interview about Michigan, "Everything is on the table. It would not cost the taxpayers anything. It must be consensus. It will include both campaigns and the DNC... The mail program is not off the table. Reaching some agreement between the two campaigns isn't off the table." Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), however, said in an ABC interview that there were issues with the cost and security of conducting such an election.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) repeated his call for a revote in Florida on CBS, saying "a couple of million dollars could be raised" to conduct a mail-in primary. But Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) argued on Fox that a redo of the state's contest would "not be the right way to go."

"Number one, the re-vote that's being talked about right now would be a mail-in ballot, and we have never conducted a mail-in ballot in Florida," Wasserman-Schultz said on Sunday. "In an election that is this important, an experiment like that is - now is not the time to test that. We had 1.75 million Democratic voters cast ballots on January 29th. It was a record turnout. And the likelihood of getting that many people to mail a ballot back in is very small. The other problem...is that you have transient populations. Poorer communities would really be disenfranchised in a scenario like that because their addresses are not consistent."

Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director, seemed to be open to the possibility of a revote when he said, "Given how well we did in those states, were there to be a primary, we would have a good opportunity to do well again," according to Politico. But Wolfson concluded, "Our position is that the voters of Michigan and Florida have spoken."

David Plouffe, Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) campaign manager, is quoted by MSNBC as saying over the weekend, "We do not think it's the place of the two campaigns to negotiate this. We simply are going to follow the DNC here."