Progressive group holds online vote for 2016 endorsement

The Hill ^ | December 7, 2015 | Ben Kamisar

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A major progressive group that tried to draft Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren into a presidential bid will decide its presidential endorsement with an online vote starting this week.

Democracy for America opened online voting on Monday and will endorse a Democratic candidate if two-thirds of voters back one of the party's three presidential candidates by Dec. 15, DFA confirmed to The Hill.

"After spending the last two years making certain that the battle against income inequality was a defining issue of the 2016 race and seeing every single Democratic candidate respond by putting the issue at the front and center of their campaign, now is the right time to see if Democracy for America's grassroots members have reached a consensus on the candidate we should support," DFA executive director Charles Chamberlain said in a statement.

The group will kick off the vote in an email to supporters on Monday morning.

While the group will send the ballot to all members, anyone is allowed to vote online between Dec. 7 and Dec. 15, with the group allowing one vote per valid email address. By refusing to lock it down to only verified supporters, DFA spokesman Neil Sroka told The Hill that the group hopes to bring even more people into the movement's fold.

DFA's technology team will analyze the results after the poll closes to ensure the vote is accurate, but the open voting leaves open the possibility for those with no connection to the group to influence the decision.

If members choose to endorse, the group promises a "100 percent positive campaign" and plans to support the Democratic presidential nominee in the general election.

DFA had backed the "Run Warren Run" campaign with fellow progressive group MoveOn.org that tried to woo Warren into running for president. The groups suspended that campaign after six months and repeated assertions by Warren that she would not run.

The group had previously polled members for an endorsement ahead of the 2008 Democratic primary, but no candidate passed the threshold for endorsement.