Let’s get this out of the way: Voting in this country is WAY too hard. There is an appalling lack of uniformity in the rules that can vary widely from state to state and from county to county. If I could wave a wand, I would have us use same-day registration and open primaries using the same equipment nationwide.
Let's also say that lots of people have a vested interest in keeping voters from exercising their rights. It is generally the same people who want to regulate your ladyparts and replace several articles of the Constitution with Chick tracts. I can safely say that most (all?) of us in the Democratic party would love it if significantly more people showed up and voted. We would probably never lose another election to a conservative ever.
Among the perennial problems with our open Democratic primaries in California is how to accommodate what we used to call Decline to State and now call No Party Preference (NPP) voters. These NPP voters can request a “crossover” ballot to vote in any open primary. Another perennial problem is there a party called the “American Independent Party” which is confusing because often people will register for that party thinking they are registered as NPP and get rightfully upset when they cannot vote in another party’s primary.
Since everyone who as worked or volunteered in voter reg efforts in California knows these complexities, we take extra care to make sure that voters are also aware.
Having participated in an insurgent campaign, I can confirm that explaining the arcane rules that govern the election process to new voters is a particular challenge. Everything makes sense once you understand how it all fits together, but until you do, everything looks like it was set up to squash your fledgling movement.
Nevertheless, the information is available on various state and county elections web sites and you can talk to just about anybody who has been around the block once or twice.
But it turns out that is not good enough for the Sanders backers who are literally making a Federal case out of the confusion. They have sued the counties of San Francisco and Alameda in Federal court to try to lots of fun things like extend registration to election day and give people a do-over who did not follow instructions on obtaining a crossover ballot.
I will let San Francisco City Attorney, Dennis Herrera speak to the merits:
“Every violation alleged in this federal lawsuit—literally every single one of them—is factually inaccurate,” Herrera said. “What’s more, my office spent considerable time and effort explaining that to plaintiffs’ counsel, point-by-point, over the phone and in writing. We provided full documentation proving that all of their alleged violations were wrong, and yet they sued anyway. So, it seems clear to me that this lawsuit has nothing to do with the facts—and everything to do with grabbing headlines. Plaintiffs are seeking relief that is not only impossible, but would wreak havoc on an election that’s already underway. This is a political stunt. It cynically aims to undermine the legitimacy of our election, and to further a political narrative that has zero basis in reality. I don’t think a federal court is going to look favorably on it.”
So now perhaps the argument is that Dennis Herrera and the entire San Francisco elections apparatus in in the tank for Hillary. Once this attempt to change the rules to suit one side is unceremoniously tossed out of court , they will add the Federal judiciary to the list of people putting their thumbs on the scales.
Regardless of any facts, the campaign will howl that they were denied the a win by a system “rigged” by the “establishment”. I suppose has probably been the point all along.
I have updated this diary to reflect that it is Sanders’ backers and not the campaign but I have yet to see the campaign disavow the move.