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DTS Voters and Obama's Email

by: Julia Rosen

Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 10:32:14 AM PST

(I was going to write a post about the deadline for voter registration being tomorrow, but this has all the deets. So, if anybody you know is not registered, let them know their application must be postmarked by TODAY!!! - promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Last night I was watching football with friends and at one point the discussion turned to the upcoming election. One of my friends has not yet registered and was remarking that she was going to mail in her registration on Tuesday, aware of the deadline. This friend is quite moderate and despite the fact that politics is a fairly regular topic of conversation for our group of friends, I was not sure if she was going to want to vote in the Democratic of Republican primary. Quite frankly I was just happy she was intending to register. So I went through and explained to her and another friend who is DTS, but wanting to vote in the Democratic primary the rules for California's primary.

Make sure all of your family and friends who are DTS voters are aware:

1) They are not permitted to vote in the Republican primary.

2) They must request a Democratic ballot if they wish to vote in the primary, otherwise they will only get a ballot with the initiatives.

3) Vote by mail people have until Jan 29th to request a Democratic ballot from the registrar.

Literally right after I finished that conversation I got this email from the Obama campaign. It is exactly in keeping with the overall message from the Obama campaign about bringing people into the process and drawing voters who may not be registered Democrats to vote for Obama. The email is on the flip.

Julia Rosen :: DTS Voters and Obama's Email

Julia --
If you want to participate in the California Democratic primary on February 5th, you must register to vote by this Tuesday, January 22nd.
Make sure you are registered, and then forward this email to your friends, family, and neighbors. Remind them that they need to be registered if they want to support Barack.
Remember, you do not need to be a Democrat to participate in the primary. Republicans and unaffiliated voters who choose "Decline to State" as their party preference can vote for Senator Obama.
Once someone is registered as "Decline to State," here's how it works:
* Unaffiliated voters must specifically request a Democratic ballot. If they are voting in person, they can request the ballot at the polling place.
* If they are voting by mail, they must contact their County Elections Officer and request a Democratic ballot by January 29th: http://my.barackobama.com/CAVo...
Our campaign wants as many Californians as possible to participate in the Democratic primary -- to support Barack, but also to reconnect with the political process.
For the full rules on registering to vote, visit the website of the California Secretary of State:
http://my.barackobama.com/CASe...
Make sure you are registered and spread the word,
Mitchell
Mitchell Schwartz
California State Director
Obama for America

All of the campaigns should be reaching out to the DTS voters and making sure they know they have to request a Democratic ballot. They make up over 19% of voter registration and there are plenty of consistent Democratic voters, who just refuse to register as Democrats. I know people who are ardent Democrats, but registered as DTS just to cut down on the amount of campaign mailers they were receiving.

You as a political blog reader are most likely an influential. Your friends are looking to you for guidance on the mechanics of the elections. Make sure they all know what to do and are set to vote, no matter who they are supporting.

Poll

I am registered to vote as a

Democrat
DTS
Green
Republican

Results

Tags: DTS, primary, feburary 5, Barack Obama, (All Tags)

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DTS Voters and Obama's Email | 10 comments

a follow up (0.00 / 0)

Last week I was asking for help getting my DTS husband a Dem ballot, since he already had a nonpartisan one (we are both registered to vote by mail/absentee and had both received our ballots already).

Just to follow up on what happened---I called the registrar and they said they would have a Dem ballot in the mail in a couple days. No need to go down there in person or send back the nonpartisan one first. They trust us to destroy one of the two (if he were to try to cheat and send in both they would toss them--they'll make sure they only count one for him).

It took all of 2 minutes on the phone.

It's not too late to fix these things, and it's easy! Great post, Julia.

by: CarlsbadDem @ Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 18:04:02 PM CST

by: you @ soon

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Thanks (8.00 / 1)

Your comments last week helped inform what we ended up sending to Courage Campaign members on Friday. There are a lot of DTS voters out there who like your husband were not sure what to do.

If people have questions, I highly recommend calling your county registrar. They are full of good information and can look up directly on their computers the status of your ballot/registration etc.

by: Julia Rosen @ Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 19:29:19 PM CST

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by: you @ soon

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looking up stuff on the computers (0.00 / 0)

Glad to help!

Yes, the computers aspect was awesome. In addition to getting everything straightened out with the DTS ballot, they also verified for me that they had received my ballot back already. That was really nice to know. Count one in the bank for Barack!

by: CarlsbadDem @ Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 21:13:31 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Make sure people know that they may not be "offered" to them at the polls... (8.00 / 1)

I am already getting nervous because we have seen in the past that many poll workers are not instructed to ask if DTS want a Democratic Ballot and voters often are unsure of when to ask/how to ask/that they can ask or simply forget to ask for the Democratic ballot.

Art and former Republican Chair Duff Sundheim spoke at the PPIC luncheon last week about decline to state voters and trends in California. I thought it was interesting that Duff mentioned a few times that he had tried to get the Republicans to open their primary, but always recieved push back from the CRP (they thought only Republicans should vote for the Republican candidate).

by: cstrait @ Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 20:33:01 PM CST

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Yeah (0.00 / 0)

right now I am worried about the DTS who are vote by mail. I ran into another person last night who had their ballot, but were hoping to vote for president and didn't have that option.

And yeah, there is a heck of a lot of education that needs to happen on election day. We are talking about millions of voters here.

by: Julia Rosen @ Tue Jan 22, 2008 at 11:11:18 AM CST

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Huge error in Obama's email (0.00 / 0)

...in the statement, "Republicans and unaffiliated voters who choose "Decline to State" as their party preference can vote for Senator Obama."

Whaaaat? If you are a Republican and are registered as such, you are not allowed to cast a ballot in the Democratic primary. Period. Why does this email say that you can?

Or is it just really poor grammar, saying that "Republicans...who choose 'Decline to State'...can vote for Obama." If they've chosen DTS, they're not a Republican on the voter rolls, now are they?

by: willy mugobeer @ Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 22:35:03 PM CST

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the poor grammar one (0.00 / 0)

Although I don't think it was really bad grammar.

This is straying somewhat from a reply to you exactly, but I've been thinking a lot about the topic of DTS and the rise of DTS voters, so here goes--

I think the semantics of "Decline to State" need to be interpreted totally differently from, say, "Independent." Being registered as Independent (even little-i independent) I think more likely than not indicates a certain animosity to the existing parties.

Decline to State can mean exactly that, i.e., "I am a Democrat, I just decline to state that I am on this nosy form." With many people I know in the younger generation, they see DTS as a kind of privacy-rights issue. These are people who grew up in a digital age where they've had it drilled into their heads that they need to really watch what kind of information about themselves gets out there.

In sum, I don't think there is anything contradictory about saying someone is a Republican and registered DTS.

by: CarlsbadDem @ Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 23:52:19 PM CST

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Yeah (0.00 / 0)

I am with CD on this one. It may look weird to us, but there are a lot of people out there who support a party, but elect to be DTS for one reason or another. Obama could have worded it a bit better. But it is all about what people perceive themselves to be.

by: Julia Rosen @ Tue Jan 22, 2008 at 11:09:11 AM CST

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Not so sure (0.00 / 0)

Here at Bakersfield by the Sea, "Republican" has a cultural connotation. People will say I'm a Republican, but not a registered Republican. Tho' most DTS are really casually Dem, this sounds like it's written to draw Republicans who happen to have DTS registration.

by: Pacific John @ Tue Jan 22, 2008 at 15:32:57 PM CST

[ Parent ]