Demo Get-Out-The-Vote Slips Into High Gear
BY BUDDY NEVINS
With absentee voting beginning this week, Broward Democrats moved their ground game into high gear.
State Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, launched his Get-Out-The-Vote effort in the county’s black communities.
Smith wrote on Facebook:
“In the 2012 presidential election 186,168 Broward County African-Americans voted. In the 2010 governors election, 94,809 Broward County African-Americans voted. That’s a difference of 91,359 votes. Think about it over 90,000 African-Americans in Broward County did not vote in the last governors election. Now remember the last governors election was decided by only 60,000 votes. That means that African-Americans in Broward County alone could have decided the 2010 governors election.
“My colleagues and I have fought hard for the last four years to ensure that we have numerous opportunities for voting. We fought for two weeks of early voting, longer hours for early voting and convenience of voting by mail. We cannot let the opportunity to determine the fate of the state pass us by. If you are in Broward County please come by office and help us canvas to get out the vote.”
Smith wasn’t alone. Members of the Plantation Democratic Club knocked on doors distributing their endorsements for the upcoming election.
These two effort are just the tip of the iceberg for the Democrats, who will be active all over Broward from now until Nov. 4.
Below is a notice for the Plantation Democrat’s endorsement list being distributed in that city’s neighborhoods. It is followed by the notice distributed in the black community of Smith’s GOTV effort (click to enlarge):
October 6th, 2014 at 8:31 am
If Broward Democrats wanted to win the state. They needed to make sure Dr. Snipes had officially put prepaid postage on the ballots like many other counties, including Miami Dade. Many counties in the state pre-pay for absentee ballots. This was brought forward over 3 months ago. Unofficial policy is if it gets to post office, Dr. Snipes office pays for postage. Do people want to wait 3 or 4 hours in line. I wouldn’t wait 4 hours to vote. I vote absentee. It’s like taking an open book exam. I can call a friend for advice, I can review information on the web, ask my kids and then simply drop it off at any post office. Big secret, forget the stamps, official policy from Dr. Snipes office, no stamps needed. You can’t put ballot in your own mailbox, postman will not accept it, drop it off at post office. I hope their is high turn out in Broward and the entire state. It also will be interesting if people will be picking up absentee ballots and dropping the them in post offices on behalf of voters. Grey area if legal. It’s sad that we don’t have consistent rules across the state, counties with pre-paid postage had higher % of voters then those who did not. Those counties get better representation then those who don’t.
October 6th, 2014 at 4:22 pm
Plantation Democratic Club screwed up badly when it put “Yes to All” on its endorsements card for the judicial retentions. I pointed out how wrong that idea was back in September:
http://www.browardbeat.com/house-candidate-scott-herman-is-worth-43-million/#comment-1493125
There are two very important “NO” votes to be cast in the judicial retentions for the 4th District Court of Appeal!!
Vote NO on Alan Forst, a right-wing extremist (Rick Scott appointee, needless to say) who has personally worked for Clarence Thomas (infamous right-wing Supreme Court justice).
Vote NO on Mark Klingensmith, another right-winger (& former chair of the Martin County Republican Party) and another Rick Scott appointee (of course).
And while we’re talking courts, today’s refusal of the Supreme Court to decide any of the same-sex marriage cases is being played by the press as a shocker, but I totally predicted exactly this result back in August:
http://www.browardbeat.com/commissioners-asked-to-support-gay-marriage/#comment-1440548
Buddy, … your assumption that the US Supreme Court will decide the issue of same-sex marriage next year may well be invalid. All the federal district and circuit courts considering these cases after the Supreme Court’s June 2013 decision in United States v. Windsor have ruled that the prohibition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. This means that the legal situation known as a “circuit split” (in which different federal circuits reach incompatible conclusions on the same subject) doesn’t exist. The US Supreme Court generally doesn’t take cases unless a “circuit split” has developed, reasoning that if all the federal circuit courts are already in agreement then there is no need for the Supreme Court to step in for the purpose of resolving the conflict. The Supreme Court has plenty of cases involving a “circuit split” awaiting its attention, and it generally prefers to focus its very limited time and energy on those cases in which the lower federal courts disagree.
October 6th, 2014 at 9:28 pm
@Andrew Ladanowski _
Geeezz! Do you have to give a tutorial on how to turn in absentee ballots from a loyal but misinformed base to those who have played the game before? Lisa Duke doesn’t need any new ideas.
October 8th, 2014 at 11:26 am
l. I live in State Senator Smith’s District I understood from a local meeting I attended that he was at. I see NOTHING being done about any “get out the vote” on my block or on my street.
2. I met both our “Leader” Mitch Caesar and our “State Committeeman” who was so memorable I have forgotten his name. I asked about a local Democratic Club, and the State Committeeman said under Mr. Caesar’s “leadership” in Broward County we have “caucuses” NOT CLUBs. Yeah, instead of ELECTED BY MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS we have “special, self-designated” groups calling themselves the “Democratic Party”. Foey! As long as the Democratic Party in Broward County, and even in Florida and elsewhere stays under the control of “bosses” who stay in power with UNELECTED APPOINTEES “voter drives” are a joke.
I was an officer of Democratic Clubs in New Jersey and New York, an elected member of County Committees in both states and elected as a Democrat to office in New York City. When residents living outside the City of New York, let alone New York County (Manhattan) were “appointed” officers of the NEW YORK COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE I knew the Party didn’t mean dog poop! That is why “Party Endorsements” OTHER THAN PRIMARY WINS are meaningless. As is this “Broward County Voter Drive”.
October 9th, 2014 at 5:45 pm
Poll: Charlie Crist 43%, Rick Scott 38%, 4th poll this week showing Crist ahead
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/poll-charlie-crist-43-rick-scott-38-4th-poll-this-week-showing-crist-ahead/2201420
October 12th, 2014 at 8:37 am
Poll: CBS News/NYT Scott by 3%
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/governor/fl/florida_governor_scott_vs_crist-3545.html
October 12th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
That’s old news. Two newer polls show Crist ahead, +2% & +5%:
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2014-florida-governor-scott-vs-crist#!mindate=2014-01-01