Congressional Black Caucus opposed to Sanders’ proposed “transformation” of Dem Party

[moonshaz]

The CBC is prepared to battle Sanders over superdelegates and opening primaries and caucues to independent votersNearly one week ago [Tues., 6/14], Bernie Sanders stood in front of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. and demanded a “fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party,” calling for significant changes

Comments

[littlelistmaker]

i think that if primaries are closed, there needs to be a lot of reform about registration deadlines. too many new yorkers were shut out of voting because our primary was in april but our deadline for party registration was in october.

[moonshaz]

I definitely agree with that. The situation in New York was really ridiculous. That's part of what I was getting at when I said things should be uniform all over the country. I don't know what kind of deadlines are common in other states. (I live in a state with open primaries, and you don't even declare a party when you register to vote.) But it was obvious that New York was worse than most (if not all) the others in that respect.

[wrestlingdog]

I agree with you. The NY thing was absurd.

[trivalent]

IDK about all open systems, but the ones I've known of, you can still only vote in one primary. So... you can vote in the Republican primary OR the Democratic primary, not both. And that means people have to choose what matters more to them. And I'm... okay with that?

But definitely the deadlines in some places and how it goes down can be ridiculous.

[vvalkyri]

I knew a lot of dems in va who voted in the GOP primary in order to try to choose the weaker candidate. And WV's exit polls showed that a lot of those voting for Bernie planned to vote for trump in the general. So that's one of the issues.

Some states allow first registration on the day of, but changes have to be earlier. California's GOP primary was closed and the Dem primary open to non affiliated but not those who were already reg'd something else.

[trivalent]

That is something you can do (choose to vote in the opposite party, not yours), but if it's just one vote per person (not both primaries) then... pwople can choose their priorities. Whether that's the weaker candidate or a lesser evil of the opposite party, etc.

There have been a lot of horror stories about registration. And THAT, no matter whatever else, needs to get changed.

[moonshaz]

So... you can vote in the Republican primary OR the Democratic primary, not both.

That's exactly how it works in IL. You just walk into the polling place, check in, and say, "I would like a Republican/Democratic/Green/etc. ballot."
It helps that we have all our primaries at the same time. I don't understand these states that have the Dem and Rep ones separately. Seems needlessly complicated to me.

[belleweather]

I'm from a caucus state and think we should nuke the whole caucus concept from orbit -- it disenfranchises so many voters, predominantly people who are young, low-income, people who rely on public transportation, shift workers, and those who are outside their caucus area or have work or family responsibilities that don't let them take off an entire evening (often until late at night) to sit around and talk politics with their neighbors.

[vvalkyri]

Ayup

[belleweather]

I do kinda like the super-delegates, tho. *hides*

[moonshaz]

Got room in your hiding place for one more? 'Cause, don't tell anybody, but I kind of like them, too!

[invisiblegirlx]

I think if the parties want taxpayers to pay for their nominating contests, they should do open or semi-closed primaries (have to be registered Independent or Democrat/Republican) and give a reasonable deadline to do so. I do agree that every state should have the same system though, cause I think that causes most of the confusion and problems.

[pairatime]

I'm all for getting rid of caucus and I really don't care one way or the other on unpledged delegates but closed the primaries. And close them at least a month or two out from the voting date and, biggest of all, make sure the parties are the only ones paying for them.