It's Back! MI to hold primary on Jan. 15 after all

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

(link)

4-3 Supreme Court decision has the Michigan primary going again.  Obama and Edwards won't be on the ballot unless the Legislature tinkers with the law some to allow them to unwithdraw.  We're looking at New Hampshire no later than Jan 12 now.

[Tender Branson]

(link)

4-3 Supreme Court decision has the Michigan primary going again.  Obama and Edwards won't be on the ballot unless the Legislature tinkers with the law some to allow them to unwithdraw.  We're looking at New Hampshire no later than Jan 12 now.

Why should they "unwithdraw" ? MI won´t count anyway. And Clinton won´t get much news coverage after her 90-10 win over Dodd, Kucinich and Gravel ...

I think NH will now set a Jan. 8 primary.

[Хahar 🤔]

The MI primary is officially irrelevant.

[Eraserhead]

The MI primary is officially irrelevant.

It certainly is.

[MODU]

The MI primary is officially irrelevant.

It certainly is.

Maybe, but good for them!  This is a good time for one of those FF replies.

[Trilobyte]

The MI primary is officially irrelevant.

It certainly is.

Not so fast--the state legislature might vote to restore the names of Obama, Edwards, Biden and Richardson on the ballot, and the bill has already been passed by the state senate. There might be more surprises coming.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/21/AR2007112100984.html?hpid=topnews

[politicaltipster]

Good for McCain because he had no chance of winning a convention (my guess is that Romney would sew it up).

[Mr. Morden]

The MI primary is officially irrelevant.

It certainly is.

It's irrelevant for the Democrats.  It's very relevant for the Republicans.  The un-canceling of the primary will make the GOP contest in the state far more influential than if they'd just gone with a Jan. 25th/26th nominating convention instead...and it also makes SC somewhat less important, since MI will go before SC now.

This helps Giuliani and Romney, while collectively hurting the chances of Huckabee, McCain, and Thompson.  That's because Giuliani and Romney have some built in disadvantages in SC that they don't have in MI, and they're probably the only ones with the $ to compete for 1st place in MI.  If Huckabee were to manage to actually pull an upset and win Iowa, it might be hard for him to sustain that momentum if he's not going to win either NH or MI.  Similar problem for McCain if he beats expectations in NH.  How does he keep that mo' alive until SC?

[Meeker]

More nonsense from Michigan:

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http://www.ballot-access.org/2007/11/25/michigan-legislature-now-likely-to-pass-bill-expanding-list-of-democratic-presidential-candidates/

So if they add the Democrats names back on the ballot, does the primary become relevant again even though no one will be campaigning there?


And does anyone else find it ironic that they've been one of the biggest critics of states that feel that they absolutely must go early yet now they're violating federal law and disenfranchising their military voters just so they can go early?

[jimrtex]

And does anyone else find it ironic that they've been one of the biggest critics of states that feel that they absolutely must go early yet now they're violating federal law and disenfranchising their military voters just so they can go early?

Compared to Washington state that simply dumps the ballots from their presidential primary into Puget Sound (except King County which simply misplaces them)?

I'm wondering whether the federal law applies to presidential primaries, which do not serve to elect the president or vice president, nor electors, but at most simply chooses delegates to a party convention.

[Meeker]

And does anyone else find it ironic that they've been one of the biggest critics of states that feel that they absolutely must go early yet now they're violating federal law and disenfranchising their military voters just so they can go early?

Compared to Washington state that simply dumps the ballots from their presidential primary into Puget Sound (except King County which simply misplaces them)?

Not quite sure what that has to do with Michigan insisting on going early.

Especially since the 2008 Washington State presidential primary election will be held on February 19th, 2008 and I assure you that no ballots will be dumped into the Sound (bad for the environment).

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It does. The County Clerks are freaking out because the SOS isn't telling them what to do and they know that they're in violation of the federal law.

[jimrtex]

And does anyone else find it ironic that they've been one of the biggest critics of states that feel that they absolutely must go early yet now they're violating federal law and disenfranchising their military voters just so they can go early?

Compared to Washington state that simply dumps the ballots from their presidential primary into Puget Sound (except King County which simply misplaces them)?

Not quite sure what that has to do with Michigan insisting on going early.

Especially since the 2008 Washington State presidential primary election will be held on February 19th, 2008 and I assure you that no ballots will be dumped into the Sound (bad for the environment).

On February 9th, 10 days earlier, the Democrats hold precinct caucuses which will begin the selection process for delegates to the national convention.  The primary has no effect on the delegate selection process.  The fact that military voters can participate in the Democratic primary is an empty gesture.

The Republican primary will be used to choose 1/2 the delegates to the national convention.

The dumping of ballots into Puget Sound was figurative.  The misplacing of ballots by King County was not.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It does. The County Clerks are freaking out because the SOS isn't telling them what to do and they know that they're in violation of the federal law.
[/quote]
I can find nothing in federal law in that regard.  It applies to federal elections for president, senator, and representative; and for general, special, primary and runoff elections.  But I still wonder whether a presidential primary is an election for president.

As far as deadlines, the federal government's own agency recommends that absentee ballots be sent 45 days in advance.

FVAP memo

There is a provision in the Michigan law that provides that the SoS should prescribe procedures for contacting overseas voters regarding selection of party primary ballot.

(6) For a presidential primary, the secretary of state shall prescribe procedures for contacting an elector who is a member of the armed services or an overseas voter, as described in subsection (2), and who is eligible to receive an absent voter ballot or who applies for an absent voter ballot for the presidential primary,  offering the elector the opportunity to select a participating political party ballot for the presidential primary.

Maybe that is what the local election officials are worked up about.