Sanders Supporters Get Their Day In Court Against Wasserman Schultz

[hughee99]

96. Thank you for your expertise on this.

IMHO, at this point, the DNC has to deal with the issue that some of their traditional voters have the perception that the primary process was not run in a fair and honest manner. The Sanders supports can't get what they really want no matter what happens in court. They can't undo the primary, and they can't redo the election, so the real issue is, can we restore those people's faith in the system, and get them back "on board" for the next election.

If this goes to trial, I have no idea what will happen, but it seems like the fallout can be limited even in the worst case scenario. Even if the "Sanders side" can show instances of actual bias that had a tangible impact on the election, the DNC should be able to demonstrate that it wouldn't have had an effect on the overall outcome of the election. Then, maybe, they can set up some safeguards to convince people that decisions will be made in a fair, open and honest manner in the future so that these things don't happen again.

Ideally, they could go to trial and show that everything was run fairly, though that's virtually impossible to prove. At the least, maybe they could show that none of the bias claims have any merit, and maybe after a little time to heal, the voters will accept that the primary was run fairly and hold no ill-will toward the DNC.

Perhaps they could just settle this case quietly, although I don't see that as a likely outcome.

The worst outcome, as I see it, is that they assert that they don't have to run a fair primary, that they have the legal right to do whatever they chose (which theoretically includes heavily and tangibly favoring a single candidate), and that the courts dismiss the case based on that argument. If this happens, during the next primaries, you'll see all sorts of claims of bias in contentious races, and the republicans will be doing everything they can to fan the flames. They'll remind all the supporters of the losing candidate that the DNC argued this and suggest that the DNC screwed their candidate. It may not get them a single vote, but as we saw in November, it has the potential to suppress voter turnout, and if that happens in key locations, it can lead to disaster.