Florida Party Democrats Information

The Florida Democratic Party considered many options to comply with DNC Rules, but none were able to meet the goals of holding an open and fair process, maximizing participation, protecting the right to vote and building the Democratic Party. On June 11, 2007, the Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman and U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D) announced that the Florida Democratic leadership voted unanimously to accept January 29 as the date for the binding 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary in Florida. The following conference call was held that day with reporters: --> Conference Call.

The state law that moved Florida's primary date was passed by a Republican-controlled state legislature with the support of a Republican governor. Though the Florida Democratic Party tried several attempts to stop it, we could not expect our Democratic legislators to vote against the final bill, which included vital paper trail legislation for Florida's elections  This is further explained in Bill Thurman's --> Feb 8 Letter To The Senate.

"Florida Democrats have spoken, and we have listened," Thurman said. "When it came down to it, Florida's Democratic leadership decided that, among other factors, the potential for disenfranchisement with any other option besides the January 29th state-run primary was just too great. Florida Democrats cannot and will not disenfranchise voters."

"The principle is that Florida has been in a situation in the past where votes have been taken away from the people. We saw that in the 2000 election. We saw that again in the 2006 election in Sarasota, and so, in the protection of the people's right to vote, the Democratic Party does not want to be in a position where the perception is that it's taking away the people's right to vote and express themselves freely in a free and fair election," Nelson said."

The Florida Democratic party has put together a very complete website explaining everthing that happened and what their position is about this situation.  You can visit it here: --> Make It Count