Florida Mail-in Vote: Scratch That Idea

There will be no Florida primary do-over via mail. That's the decision of the state's Democratic party, after some expressed concern about the mostly mail-in redo. The plan was to hold a second primary to seat the state's delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August.

The Democratic National Party won't award delegates to Florida after the Sunshine State moved up its presidential primary date to Jan. 29 - it wasn't supposed to vote until after Feb. 5. Hillary Clinton won that race.

"A party-run primary or caucus has been ruled out, and it's simply not possible for the state to hold another election, even if the party were to pay for it," state Democratic Party leader Rep. Karen Thurman said in a letter announcing the decision. She also railed against Republicans and took the chance to bring up the 2000 Florida recount all of us remember so well. Her party apparently received input from voters over the weekend on what course of action to take, and the resounding answer was: "Florida doesn't want to vote again."

"That doesn't mean that Democrats are giving up on Florida voters," Thurman said. But what it means is that the ball is now in the court of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, scheduled to meet in April.

Meanwhile, Politico has gotten hold of the draft legislation floating around in Michigan that state Democratic leaders are supposedly set to back that would designate June 3 as the date of the presidential primary election there. One Democrat told the AP that Michigan that the bill included language that would approve spending privately raised funds for the election. That state was also stripped of its delegates by the national party after holding its primary early.