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American Morning

Internet Voting

Aired January 06, 2004 - 09:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Michigan will hold its presidential caucuses on February 7th, but Democratic voters there are already exercising that franchise. The state Democratic Party is now accepting ballots over the Internet. Executive director Mark Brewer had this to say about it: "Internet voting has been used in elections all around the world. It's been used in previous Democratic primaries in 2000 in Arizona. It is not a new idea, even if it hasn't been used very much, and the experience has been very positive.
Not everybody agrees, though. Joel Ferguson, a member of the DNC, fought the plan in court, but lost. He joins us from Lansing, Michigan.

Nice to see you, Mr. Ferguson. Thank you for being with us.

Can you hear me, sir?

JOEL FERGUSON, MICHIGAN DNC MEMBER: Yes, I can.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what your biggest argument is against Internet voting. Why don't you like it?

FERGUSON: Our biggest argument is this, that 46 percent of the white households have Internet access, 23 percent of the Hispanic, 23 percent of the African-American households, 75 percent of the people who have income of $75,000 or more, 46 percent of them have it, and those who -- 85 percent, I mean, and those who make less than $15,000, only 12 percent have Internet access. So we were very much opposed because these core groups, the African-Americans, and the lower income people and the Hispanics were a core Democratic Party constituency. And to all of a sudden put something in that puts them at a major disadvantage when they are the individuals who really make up our base fold in a general election, we felt that was totally unfair, and we felt that we shouldn't have Internet voting until the entire country has it. And we shouldn't have it definitely in the primary.

O'BRIEN: Let me just interrupt you there for one second, if I may. Two points there, you say it's unfair to minorities. Many Democrats and Democratic strategists, including a prominent African- American one, Donna Brazile, says she thinks access is not an issue. In addition to that, isn't there an upside to multiplying the turnout as they did in Arizona back in 2000 when they had Internet voting? And can't minorities, if they don't have want to use the Internet or they don't have Internet access, can't they just mail in their ballots or the traditional route of actually standing in line and just voting? Aren't those still open to minorities? FERGUSON: Well, that's what we're saying. We're saying that we think everyone should have those same access equally. And, therefore, what we're saying is that for the Internet voting, it puts us at a disadvantage, because we feel the mail is enough for the majority community. And what we also feel is, when I ran Jackson's campaign in '88, we set the record of having 180,000 participants. The goal right now is feeling we might have 400,000 because of the Internet. And our argument is, we're not necessary those certain individuals who will basically skew the election will not be there for the general election like our core constituency.

O'BRIEN: That's because of Internet voting during the caucus, but not during the general election.

FERGUSON: That's right.

O'BRIEN: So would you feel process about the process, I mean, would you stand behind it, if, indeed, there were going to be access to Internet voting both during the caucus and in the general election?

FERGUSON: Definitely, I would.

And at this time, I'm standing behind and supporting the Internet voting at this moment, because you know, once you participate in the primary or any type of party, whatever the majority decides, you get behind it and make it work.

So right now, while we've made a good fight to be protesting against Internet voting and feeling that the time is too early, at this time, our community is standing behind to make it work, because one thing we do want to do is have a successful caucus in Michigan and, you know, never break ranks with our party any more than any of the candidates that are running for the presidency, if they don't get the nomination, should definitely be behind whoever the nominee is, and not basically to stop the fight at that point.

O'BRIEN: Joel Ferguson, a DNC member, joining us from Michigan this morning. Thanks, sir. Appreciate it.

FERGUSON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 6, 2004 - 09:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Michigan will hold its presidential caucuses on February 7th, but Democratic voters there are already exercising that franchise. The state Democratic Party is now accepting ballots over the Internet. Executive director Mark Brewer had this to say about it: "Internet voting has been used in elections all around the world. It's been used in previous Democratic primaries in 2000 in Arizona. It is not a new idea, even if it hasn't been used very much, and the experience has been very positive.
Not everybody agrees, though. Joel Ferguson, a member of the DNC, fought the plan in court, but lost. He joins us from Lansing, Michigan.

Nice to see you, Mr. Ferguson. Thank you for being with us.

Can you hear me, sir?

JOEL FERGUSON, MICHIGAN DNC MEMBER: Yes, I can.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what your biggest argument is against Internet voting. Why don't you like it?

FERGUSON: Our biggest argument is this, that 46 percent of the white households have Internet access, 23 percent of the Hispanic, 23 percent of the African-American households, 75 percent of the people who have income of $75,000 or more, 46 percent of them have it, and those who -- 85 percent, I mean, and those who make less than $15,000, only 12 percent have Internet access. So we were very much opposed because these core groups, the African-Americans, and the lower income people and the Hispanics were a core Democratic Party constituency. And to all of a sudden put something in that puts them at a major disadvantage when they are the individuals who really make up our base fold in a general election, we felt that was totally unfair, and we felt that we shouldn't have Internet voting until the entire country has it. And we shouldn't have it definitely in the primary.

O'BRIEN: Let me just interrupt you there for one second, if I may. Two points there, you say it's unfair to minorities. Many Democrats and Democratic strategists, including a prominent African- American one, Donna Brazile, says she thinks access is not an issue. In addition to that, isn't there an upside to multiplying the turnout as they did in Arizona back in 2000 when they had Internet voting? And can't minorities, if they don't have want to use the Internet or they don't have Internet access, can't they just mail in their ballots or the traditional route of actually standing in line and just voting? Aren't those still open to minorities? FERGUSON: Well, that's what we're saying. We're saying that we think everyone should have those same access equally. And, therefore, what we're saying is that for the Internet voting, it puts us at a disadvantage, because we feel the mail is enough for the majority community. And what we also feel is, when I ran Jackson's campaign in '88, we set the record of having 180,000 participants. The goal right now is feeling we might have 400,000 because of the Internet. And our argument is, we're not necessary those certain individuals who will basically skew the election will not be there for the general election like our core constituency.

O'BRIEN: That's because of Internet voting during the caucus, but not during the general election.

FERGUSON: That's right.

O'BRIEN: So would you feel process about the process, I mean, would you stand behind it, if, indeed, there were going to be access to Internet voting both during the caucus and in the general election?

FERGUSON: Definitely, I would.

And at this time, I'm standing behind and supporting the Internet voting at this moment, because you know, once you participate in the primary or any type of party, whatever the majority decides, you get behind it and make it work.

So right now, while we've made a good fight to be protesting against Internet voting and feeling that the time is too early, at this time, our community is standing behind to make it work, because one thing we do want to do is have a successful caucus in Michigan and, you know, never break ranks with our party any more than any of the candidates that are running for the presidency, if they don't get the nomination, should definitely be behind whoever the nominee is, and not basically to stop the fight at that point.

O'BRIEN: Joel Ferguson, a DNC member, joining us from Michigan this morning. Thanks, sir. Appreciate it.

FERGUSON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com