Florida voted this week in the middle of one of the closer presidential races, on both the Republican and Democratic side, in recent memory.
As usual, the voter turnout was lower than expected by some ‘get out the vote’ activists. As usual, the ready-made scapegoats have been derided, mostly the supposedly intransigent grip of apathy on young people. Yet this time, neither radio commentator nor television personality can afford to deny the truth that it was the system itself which provided the most palpable disincentive for all Floridians to cast their ballot.
Thanks to the decisions of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee, Floridians were effectively disenfranchised during the primaries. For Republicans, the plurality of their vote was allotted half of their usual strength in the national delegation. At least the limitation still provided some incentive to active Republicans; the votes of Democrats, given no weight in the national delegation, simply did not matter.
The respective national committees chose to restrict the vote of Floridians because Florida, the fourth largest state in population, decided to move its primary date ahead of its usual position, in an attempt to have its say in the primary process rather than being relegated to the tail end of the process when the candidates tend to be decided and the voting a mere formality.
The cognitive dissonance dividing the rhetoric from the reality of the two main political parties seems to be showcased in Florida. All major candidates have contacted the grassroots, at one level or another, during this campaign, and most have utilized populist rhetoric in appealing to the mass nature of change, yet their political parties have denied Floridians, who tend to be key voters in the national elections, their full voice in choosing the candidates.
In addition to disenfranchising Floridians, the Democratic Party did not allow its candidates to campaign in Florida. All of this cannot help but to have a negative impact for the Democratic Party down the road. As Florida has served as a major swing state in the past (including the decisive factor in 2000), and will likely be key in 2008, many may be unlikely to forget the lack of attention paid to them by the Democratic nominee during the primaries.
So Hillary Clinton won the Florida primary. Big deal. Many Floridians obviously decided that it would be better to stay home than have their dignity insulted by casting votes that didn’t count. Those who went to the box went with significantly less information than their counterparts in other states, as the lack of campaigning reduced the choice to that of name recognition for many. Not surprisingly, being the former First Lady, Clinton beats Obama, Edwards, and all other candidates in the game of name recognition.
John McCain won for the Republicans. Yet his victory is half as sweet as it normally would be, thanks to the national committee of his political party. In keeping with the exclusivist nature of the Florida primaries, this ‘man of the people’ decided not to give a major campaign speech at either major university in Tampa, despite being at UT on Friday for a highly exclusivist, invitation only ‘national security roundtable.’
Though McCain apparently didn’t consider college students, at least those in Tampa, to be worthy of his time, he still appears more favorably than his Democratic counterparts, who weren’t allowed to consider all of Florida worthy of theirs.
Without a doubt, if Florida produces a low youth turnout come November, both Republican and Democratic strategists will lament the apathy of this preoccupied demographic. Yet it will be interesting to see if anyone reflects upon the fact that it was the machinations of the two main political parties that effectively undermined Floridians of their proper role in the primary process.
Disenfranchisement begets disenchantment. It remains to be seen whether there will be a long-term effect in November, which could be one of the closer and more portentous elections in recent American history. It’s a shame that, when it came to Florida, the national committees of both political parties couldn’t produce enough courage to work toward closing the gap between rhetoric and reality.
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