The MoveOn primary that I posted about earlier today is apparently attracting all sorts of attention (as it should) — unfortunately, not all of it is good.
More than a million Internet users will be invited to vote in a virtual Democratic primary next week, but this most modern of elections is facing age-old allegations of vote-rigging.
Howard Dean, who has built an extensive network of Internet-savvy supporters, is expected to get the most votes in the MoveOn.org primary. Organizers of the site say any advantage for the former Vermont governor is due to his appeal among their members, and not any misdeeds in their process or because one of their employees worked on his campaign.
Officials in Dick Gephardt’s campaign said they were surprised when their supporters who registered got an e-mail encouraging them to vote for Dean. Gephardt’s team considered pulling out of the primary but decided to stay in.
“We are not going to change our participation at this point, but we are concerned that the process seems to be rigged,” said Erik Smith, a spokesman for the presidential campaign of the Missouri lawmaker. “We think there is a legitimate role for MoveOn to organize grass-roots support for candidates, but we are worried that it appears they are playing favorites.”
Of course, if the Gephardt people knew what they were talking about, they would have known that Dean’s e-mail was just one of three e-mails being sent out, one from each of the top three candidates in MoveOn’s polls.
Boyd said everyone registered on the site got the Dean e-mail Wednesday because he finished in the top three in a poll conducted by the campaign last month. The other top finishers also got to send a message — Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s was sent Thursday; Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich will send his Friday.
Dean, not being one to take an accusation like this laying down, posted the following rebuttal to his website:
\”MoveOn has done more to get people involved and to give them a voice in the political process than any other organization in recent memory. To question the integrity of MoveOn and its 1.4 million members is outrageous and only serves to further erode the American people’s belief that their voices matter.
\”People in Washington wonder why so many have been turning away from the political process. This type of baseless accusation only gives them one more reason to tune out.
“My campaign will continue to stand for one thing: citizen participation. We must not allow Washington cynicism to erode the fundamental belief that people at the grassroots can make a difference in their government. Join me, and let’s move on.”
(via Taegan Goddard)