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To: FaultLine who wrote (27706)	2/3/2004 11:51:21 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793690

Turn the tables and the Repubs would be having a cow. Some might. But the Republican primary in SC is "open," as are many. I don't recall any attempt to stop Democratic crossover to vote for McCain in 2000. The hypocrisy of the "late switch" by the Dems in approach is what draws the criticism. The Republicans normally don't do this kind of thing. Just too committed to "truth, justice, and the American way."

To: FaultLine who wrote (27706)	2/3/2004 2:00:43 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793690

Looks like the SC Dem party got the message. S.C. voters don’t register by party Party ditches plan to make voters sign pledge Democrats deluged by complaints about loyalty oath By JENNIFER TALHELM and JOHN DRAKE State Staff Writers Responding to widespread criticism, S.C. Democrats announced Monday they will not require voters to declare they are Democrats in order to cast a ballot today. Most observers congratulated the party on its decision, but at least one wondered whether the damage had already been done. Democrats had been planning to require voters to swear, “I consider myself a Democrat.” The nonbinding pledge was required by the national party. Voters who didn’t sign would have been turned away. But party leaders changed their plans when media coverage over the weekend prompted hundreds of voters to jam the state party’s phone lines Sunday and Monday to complain. Some callers were confused, some were concerned, and some, said S.C. Democratic Party chairman Joe Erwin, were furious. Erwin, national party committee member Carol Khare and others got on the phones Monday morning to the Democratic National Committee. About three hours later, the rules were changed. “I feel like a burden has been lifted from us,” Erwin said after a news conference Monday afternoon. S.C. voters don’t register by party, and as many as 20 percent are independents. Erwin said many calls Monday were from independentswho wanted a voice in the primary but didn’t want to lie on the pledge. Others were Democrats, who said they wanted to use the primary to expand the party. “They said, ‘This is dumb. It’s an outrage.’ Some people used stronger language much more colorful than that,” Erwin said. “(Democrats) said, ‘We’ve always been a party of diversity and inclusion. Why would we want to do this?’” Kenneth Mosely, 56, of Orangeburg was one of the callers. Mosely, who ran for Congress in the 1990s, said he considers himself an independent and had planned to skip the primary rather than sign a pledge that he was a Democrat. “I just saw that as an affront, that you would have to take a loyalty oath when the Democratic Party is trying to encourage individuals to participate,” Mosely said. “Independent-thinking individuals are not going to stand for that.” Virginia Stack of West Columbia also called the party to complain. Stack is disabled and spends her time learning about history and current events. She believes strongly that she should vote for the person and not the party. She wouldn’t have signed the pledge. “Voting’s important to me, but God’s more important. I’m not going to lie,” she said. Party leaders had planned to use the pledge as a way to winnow Republicans or others who wanted to skew the primary results. A DNC spokesman said similar pledges are required in states that hold caucuses. The rule has been on the books since the 1970s. South Carolina Democrats used it in the last presidential primary, in 1992. But that primary was late in the election season. Today’s falls just a week after New Hampshire’s, and all eyes are on the S.C. Democrats, Erwin said. The pledge was legal because the presidential primary is a party-run and paid-for election to select delegates to the national convention, where the party’s presidential nominee is chosen. But many observers have said such pledges are politically unwise because they limit the election to people who already are party members, limiting the party’s ability to grow. Also, in the Democrats’ case, the party had scheduled the primary early partly to bring a moderate voice to the presidential selection process. Critics said deterring independents from voting would be counterproductive. State Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston said some people thought the oath was designed to hurt U.S. Sen. John Edwards, who is popular among independents and Republicans in the Upstate. Ford, an Edwards supporter, said he had his lawyer draw up papers last week to sue the party if it didn’t rescind the pledge State party officials said the delegate selection plan was approved a year ago without any candidate in mind. They added that they didn’t consult with campaigns before deciding Monday to drop the oath. Edwards’ official campaign staffers said over the weekend they were not worried about the pledge. Monday, they said the party’s decision was a good one. “This is good news for John Edwards and good news for the party,” spokeswoman Jenni Engebretsen said. Rice University political scientist Earl Black, formerly of the University of South Carolina, called the party’s decision to retract the oath “an assertion of common sense.” But, he added, the damage might have been done. “The net result will probably be to confuse some potential voters, since not everyone will probably get the news of the change here on the eve of a vote,” he said. “It is a self-inflicted wound that now has been healed, but it is going to leave a fair amount of confusion.” How much confusion will be determined today. On Monday, volunteers had to notify precinct workers of the change and retrain them how to sign voters in at the polls. All the old sign-in sheets where the oath was printed were gathered and recycled. Richland County volunteer coordinator Audrey Snead said she was too busy readying for the election to call her volunteers about the pledge. She said she was leaving that to the state party. But she was happy about the change because she didn’t want people feeling excluded — particularly the Republicans who volunteered to work Richland poll sites. “I want everybody involved.” © 2004 The State and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. thestate.com