It may be that an additional rule is required to comply with federal election law.
I seem to recall that it is illegal to vote in one state primary, move, reregister and vote in another primary, move, reregister, etc....in order to stop campaign workers from voting in the presidential primaries more than once.
Might the same restriction apply to Unity*08, which is, in essence, a national primary?
If it does, than the rules must state that to be a delegate, you must not vote in any partisan presidential primary in any state. It might even be necessary for Unity to obtain the records for each primary and caucus and use them to cull its delegate rolls.
This should attract some comments.
Primaries are party functions and can constitutionally be addressed at the state level. Any interfeence with primaries by federal law could not stand a constitutional test. The FEC can make the process difficult but not unlawful.
We should be concerned that some states do have such legal conflict if in fact they had ever (or will) recognized a national process as a "primary" by the same definition it bears within the state.
Bill"for what we are together"
bill713.unity08@sbcglobal.net
In Texas you can vote in only one primary, and doing any activity geared toward individual ballot access is considered a primary. Ergo, you cannot participate in any petition activity seeking ballot position if you've voted in a primary or signed another petition within the same election cycle. Whichever activity occurs first is legal and all others subsequent are illegal.
More critically, petition activities cannot be started until after primary elections have been held, including runoffs where applicable, or at least that has been the situation. It makes the period during which a massive number of signatures must be obtained frighteningly short - which is of course the main parties' intent. This is why getting registered as a party is so critical.
Mark Greene
Texas Democrat in the Middle
Will Fogle at wfogel@unity08.com , as well as myself, want to talk about local work in FtWorth-Dallas area. Drop a line. I'll be there this weekend.
Bill"for what we are together"
bill713.unity08@sbcglobal.net
I think it is a national policy, however, that may just be a DNC and RNC rule, which means it would not apply to us. I am less concerned with getting people to do ballot access than in running into trouble by having Delegates who are legally ineligible because they have already voted in another party's primary or caucus.
This is something the lawyers should check on, it is not an opening for discussion among other delegates.
The question of whether delegates can be primary voters is extremely important and should be addressed immediately. I learned of unity08 on Colbert, but I did not register as a delegate. The fear of what it would do to my primary vote was the reason.- I normally vote in my party's primary. Unity08 is what- 115,000 strong? I want my primary vote to count....If I thought that unity08 would really work, and there would be a unity08 pres/vp ticket in Nov, then I would become a delegate....But can I? In Connecticut you are registered as D, R, or Indep. Independents don't vote in a primary, and the other two can only vote in their own party's primary.
I think unity08's lawyers should figure this out, and this information should be posted on the main page ASAP. Frankly, I am disappointed that it is not already there. It makes me think that all of the activity on this website is just talk & no action. There are realities to getting a unity08 ticket on the ballot in Nov. that must be faced by Unity08's leadership.