How California’s Primary was Rigged Against Independent Voters
Michael Krieger
LibertyBlitzkrieg.com
Wednesday Jun 8, 2016
Rigging a primary can and does take many different forms. The most effective form of rigging actually takes place in subtle ways via long-exisiting Stalinist rules that normally don’t swing an election, but serve as an effective firewall against outsider candidates when they eventually do pose a threat. That was the establishment can claim “it’s always been this way,” as if that’s a justification for shadiness. This was the type of rigging we saw in New York, and the type we saw yesterday in California.
Many Bernie Sanders supporters held out a lot of hope for a strong performance by the insurgent candidate in yesterday’s California primary. This enthusiasm was based on the notion that California’s primary was “open,” i.e., non-affiliated voters could technically vote for Bernie in the Democratic primary. Recent polls pointed to a very close race due to the huge margin of support for Sanders amongst independents. For example, as NBC reported a few days before the primary:
Hillary Clinton is clinging to a narrow two-point lead over Bernie Sanders in California ahead of the state’s June 7 primary, according to results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll.
Clinton gets support from 49 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in the state, while Sanders gets 47 percent, which is within the survey’s statistical margin of error.
Meanwhile, Sanders leads among first-time participants (72 percent to 28 percent), independents (68 percent to 26 percent), those younger than 45 (66 percent to 30 percent), men (54 percent to 43 percent) and Latinos (49 percent to 46 percent).
As you can see, polling put the race at a statistical tie, with independents favoring Sanders by an enormous 68% to 26%. So what happened?
Investigative journalist Greg Palast wrote a very disturbing but extremely important article providing us with some potential answers in his piece, How California is Being Stolen from Sanders Right Now.
Here’s what we learned:
[Los Angeles] It’s not some grand conspiracy, but it’s grand theft nonetheless. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ voters will lose their ballots, their rights, by the tens of thousands.
The steal is baked into the way California handles No Party Preference –”NPP” voters –what we know as “independents.”
There are a mind-blowing 4.2 million voters in California registered NPP – and they share a love for sunshine and Bernie Sanders. According to the reliable Golden State poll, among NPP voters, Sen. Sanders whoops Sec. Hillary Clinton by a stunning 40 percentage points.
On the other team, registered Democrats prefer Clinton by a YUGE 30 points. NPP’s can vote in the Democratic primary, so, the California primary comes down to a fight between D’s and NPP’s.
And there’s the rub. In some counties like Los Angeles, it’s not easy for an NPP to claim their right vote in the Democratic primary – and in other counties, nearly impossible.
Example: In Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, if you don’t say the magic words, “I want a Democratic crossover ballot,” you are automatically given a ballot without the presidential race. And ready for this, if an NPP voter asks the poll worker, “How do I get to vote in the Democratic party primary, they are instructed to say that, “NPP voters can’t get Democratic ballots.” They are ordered not to breathe a word that the voter can get a “crossover” ballot that includes the presidential race.
I’m not kidding. This is from the official Election Officer Training Manual page 49:
“A No Party Preference voter will need to request a crossover ballot from the Roster Index Officer. (Do not offer them a crossover ballot if they do not ask).”
The Rest…HERE
