Minnesota has some of the highest voter participation in the United States. Now both candidates for Senate there are talking about improving voter participation nationwide, thanks to a YouTube political initiative.
Last week, for Why Tuesday?, I submitted a video question via YouTube's YouChoose08 to Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Al Franken. I wanted to know what they would do to increase American voter participation, which ranks near the bottom of all countries in the world. I asked specifically about the Weekend Voting Act, which has been introduced into the House by Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) and into the Senate by Sen. Herbl Kohl (D-WI).
At a time when organizations across the country are focused on increasing voter registration, the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) has worked hard to make sure that when those newly registered voters go to the polls, their votes will count.
Today the movement to protect our votes will take a giant leap forward when SAVE teamed up with Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Congresswoman Jan Shakowsky of Illinois and Congressman Steve LaTourette of Ohio present the Student VOTER Bill of 2008.
Yesterday at NN08, I spoke with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore, and U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett about the bill in Congress to move Election Day to Saturday and Sunday. Check out the video.
After some searching, I found a great diary about election reform that can be summed up thusly: GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASSES!
People interested in election reform and worried about stolen elections need to become judges of elections in precincts and counties all around the nation.
We need to be the observers of our elections too, since we know the mainstream media will not do it. If anyone out there is a software developer that wants to get his or her hands dirty observing (and hopefully preventing) election fraud, follow me beneath the fold.
I posted this diary yesterday, and it slid off the list without much interest. I've decided to repost it, with a little more substance and a different title, because I think this is a very important issue (and a good idea).
I would guess that no person reading this diary fails to appreciate the risks presented by Republican dirty tricks this November. Wouldn't it be great if we could monitor the vote everywhere in the country in real time?
Follow be beneath the fold to find out what we can do.
I would guess that no person reading this diary fails to appreciate the risks presented by Republican dirty tricks this November. Wouldn't it be great if we could monitor the vote everywhere in the country in real time? Follow me below the fold.
So, what's ADA? Stands for Americans With Disabilities Act. It says that everyone is required to 'reasonably accomodate' the disabled. As a country we are struggling to comply with reasonable requests that we accommodate the disabled. So far, we haven't done a very good job. What's important about this is that the private voting equipment companies have been using their somewhat feeble attempts at reasonable accommodation as a rhetorical tool or 'fig leaf' to beat off critics of their poorly thought out and executed voting systems.
First I'll try to explain what the disabled (especially the vision disabled) want, describe what the voting equipment systems are supposed to accomplish and then present a couple of better alternatives.
I'm not really disabled myself. With bifocal glasses, I see well enough to drive and perform civil engineering which is a highly vision oriented line of work. Also, despite having a $1,500 hearing aid in one ear, I hear well enough to carry on a conversation under most circumstances (as long as I'm paying attention).
At almost 57 I'm not quite as able as I once was but still get by OK. So, please don't think I'm speaking for the disabled from my own expereince.
This is one of an occasional series of fundamentals in election reform/integrity.
There is a long history of voting fraud in North America. Most of the fraud has been of the retail variety. However, retail fraud is now functionally obsolete and I will disclose one of several methods how wholesale fraud works and discuss why is is much more likely.
If you are like me, it can be a bit hard to pay attention to non-primary news at the moment. But the following tidbit broke through my primary blinders as I was listening to Rachel Maddow this afternoon.
We have all heard the story that United Technologies has launched a hostile takeover attempt to acquire Diebold. We all know that Diebold is the Big Bad Wolf of electoral shenanigans. We all remember Diebold chief executive Walden O’Dell’s 2004 letter promising to deliver Ohio’s electoral votes to Bush.
But what some of us may have missed is that United Technologies is a client of the highly influential lobbying firm BKSH. Who works for BKSH? Charlie Black. Who is Charlie Black? An aide to John McCain.
I want to make the case for Nader’s candidacy. This is not an endorsement of the man or his program. His decision to run urges consideration of structural ‘democracy problems’ in America.
This is pretty basic but lots of people have to have this clearly explained at least once. There is such a thing as voter coercion and vote buying. A lot of effort has gone into setting up administrative systems and processes to keep votes anonymous. Sure it makes sense for you to get and keep a receipt for a financial transaction, say like a visit to an ATM. However voting is not, repeat NOT, a financial transaction. More in the body.
I'm a huge fan on Bruce Schneier having read his book Secrets and Lies a couple of years ago. Along with being an excellent prose writer, he's a security expert and the Chief Technical Officer of a noted security company (which I have no affiliation with!). Click on his name for more information. He writes a series of essays called, 'Crypto Grams''Crypto Grams' as well as some thoughtful essays and op-eds. I've written him to see if I can get permission to repost some of his work here and am still waiting for a reply. In the meantime, here are links to my favorites below.
What's the job of the candidate in this world? The job of the candidate is to raise the money to hire the consultants to do the focus groups to figure out the 30-second answers to be memorized by the candidate. This is stunningly dangerous. - Newt Gingrich
Would some change-minded candidate or other kindly inform the American people what this business amounts to? Change what into what? - William Murchison
I’m not a candidate for anything, but one change I believe we should make is to change the House of Representatives into a legislative body that more effectively represents the will of the people. To this end, I propose a constitutional amendment providing for proportional representation in the House of Representatives.
After calming down significantly from my last diary and reading mcjoan's post, I've decided to take a fly at proposing my own election system reform. It's a bit lengthy, and not completely detailed, but just bear with me...
Yet another interesting press release from Kathy Dopp (see previous post for bio). Also see my extensive comments to previous posts. This is quite a bit stronger in tone than previous posts but I have put it up essentially unedited. Again, this is not about massive conspiracies but about human failings. The Florida Secretary of State's all too human unwillingness to admit error matches that of the current occupant of the White House and his associates. I will be posting some of my own work as time allows.
An exhaustive, year-long study of Florida's undervotes in the 2006 general election is now available:
Sarasota's Vanished Votes - An Investigation into the Cause of Uncounted Votes in the 2006 Congressional District 13 Race in Sarasota County, Florida Florida Fair Elections.
At a time when organizations across the country are focused on increasing voter registration, the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (
