Florida Dems weigh mail-in plan - Yahoo! News

Florida Dems weigh mail-in plan - Yahoo! News: "Florida Dems weigh mail-in plan" By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 12, 10:17 PM ET TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's Democratic Party chair urged Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, the national party and her own state's congressional delegation to consider a combined vote-by-mail/in-person plan as a redo of the Jan. 29 presidential primary. The idea would be to mail ballots to all registered Democratic voters and set up 50 regional voting offices to help "disadvantaged communities" participate in an election ending June 3, state party Chairman Karen Thurman said in a memo to the campaigns and state and national party leaders. Florida's nine Democratic congressmen voted Tuesday night to oppose a mail-in vote. Thurman urged them to reconsider. "There is no question that we must move quickly to deal with the dispute over Florida's Democratic presidential primary. Fingers have been pointed in every direction, but how we arrived at this breaking point is irrelevant. The stark reality is that all Democrats lose if this is not resolved immediately," Thurman wrote in a memo that included a draft of the plan. A copy of the memo was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. Thurman asked party leaders to review the draft and send feedback by Friday. On Monday, if there is consensus that the party should go forward with the plan, it would begin raising the estimated $10 million to $12 million to pay for the do-over while also gathering public comment. Democrats in Florida and Michigan have been scrambling to come up with alternatives to ensure their delegates will be seated at the national convention in Denver this summer. The Democratic National Committee punished the states for moving their primaries ahead of Feb. 5 and stripped them of all their delegates.

Clinton won Florida and Michigan, although she was the only major candidate on the ballot in Michigan.