NAACP head calls for seating banned Michigan Democratic delegates

[COMMENTARY] A top civil rights leader has called on the Democratic National Committee to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida at the party’s presidential convention in August.

The Associated Press reported late Tuesday that in a Feb. 8 letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond expressed “great concern at the prospect that millions of voters in Michigan and Florida could ultimately have their votes completely discounted.” Refusing to seat the states’ delegations could remind voters of the “sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries,” Bond said.

By racially discriminatory primaries, Bond is making reference to the systematic electoral disenfranchisement mainly directed toward African-Americans and Latinos in the South until the U.S. Supreme Court stopped this process beginning in 1927. (see Nixon v. Herndon, 273 U.S. 536 (1927)) During this time in South, the Democrats had such a majority that winning the primary was tantamount to winning the election, so one way that was used to disenfranchise minorities was limiting voting in primaries to whites alone.

However, Bond’s claim of racial discrimination is wrong in this case, since not seating MI and FL delegates is not a case of racial discrimination.

Continued -The Democratic National Committee has said it will not seat the convention delegates from Michigan and Florida because both states moved up their presidential primaries to January from February despite national party warnings. Bond’s letter would suggest that only people of color will have their votes revoked when in fact, all Michigan Democrats have lost their say into picking the Democratic nominee for President.

The timing and thrust of Bond’s letter goes to the issue of how delegates are selected. Unlike Republicans, Democrats allocate their primary delegates proportionally rather than winner-take-all. Because of that, the Democratic primary delegate count has been remarkably close. As of Tuesday night, Sen. Barack Obama lead Sen. Hillary Clinton in pledged delegates 1,078 to 979, according to NBC News.

Since Feb. 5, Obama has won eight straight contests. If he is able to sustain his momentum and win delegate-rich Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania next month, seating Michigan and Florida’s delegates could prove critical to victory for Clinton, who, unlike Obama, was on the ballot in both states though neither candidate campaigned.

Bond’s letter could easily be interpreted as a backhanded way of endorsing Clinton.

However, the Michigan Democratic Party knew full well that if they moved their primary before Feb. 5, their delegates would not be seated at the convention, but they did it anyway, thinking that they would somehow be immune from the consequences. The MDP’s bravado and arrogance has effectively disenfranchised not just minorities who are Democrats, but all Democratic voters across Michigan.

If Bond truly wanted to speak up for minorities’ voting rights, he would have written a letter to the Michigan Democratic Party asking them to schedule another primary, or a caucus, so that Michigan’s delegates could have seats at the national convention.