Video: Voters Speak

Today, while Florida officials buzzed with talk of repeating the primary to win back some of the state’s influence over the presidential nominating process, Political Safari took to the streets to find out what voters think.

Whether or not they voted on Jan. 29, most were frustrated by the major parties’ decisions to penalize Florida for holding an early primary.

Republicans said they would refuse to seat half of the state’s delegation at the national convention, where the party will officially pick its nominee. Democrats imposed a harsher penalty, vowing to bar all of Florida’s convention delegates.

“It’s really hurtful to think that our votes aren’t going to get counted,” said Lisa Schneider, a Barack Obama supporter who voted Jan. 29 and volunteered at the state Democratic convention.

Schneider said repeating the primary is the best option for seeing Florida votes count as Democrats select their nominee. Now that John McCain has cinched the Republican nomination, only the Democratic side remains competitive, with Obama holding a slight edge over Hillary Clinton in the race for delegates.

“I’d rather have another primary than see these [votes] go to waste, because neither candidate is really near the over 2000 delegates they need, so they really need all they can get,” she said.

Some voters would jump at the chance to vote in a “do-over” primary, knowing their votes would have an impact at the national conventions.

“More people would turn out because they know how important it is this time to actually get those delegates in,” said Kevin Zunt, who supports Hillary Clinton but is registered as an unaffiliated voter.

Key Florida officials, including U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, have called for a second primary.

But others say what’s done is done.

Amanda Joslin, an unaffiliated voter, said a second primary would be too expensive. But the first one shouldn’t count either, she said, because many voters never expected it to.

“They said no from the start,” she said. “I didn’t think it was fair, i still don’t think it was fair but the decision was made, it’s gone through, it’s done.”

The stakes in the Democratic contest have changed drastically since January, with Clinton and Obama losing their main rival, John Edwards, and running neck-and-neck in later states. Clinton prevailed in the original Florida vote, and while some voters hoped she could repeat the process, others believe Obama is winning people over.

Chris Hobbs, a Democrat from Tampa, said he’s not sure which candidate he supports, but sees Obama gaining ground.

“I think Obama has more of a following down here in Florida than Clinton does,” he said. “Most of the people I know are rooting for Obama, so I know for a fact that if he was the presidential candidate for the Democratic party, he would win.

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