Elections

George Soros photo found at Business Week

First of all : Who calls a political action committee "America Coming Together"? It sounds like Babes in Toyland event funded by Hugh Hefner, not a GOTV initiative started by George Soros.

Second, let's look at the numbers : The Federal Elections Commission fines ACT more than half a billion dollars ($775,000 to be exact) because said PAC raised some of its whopping $137MM " outside federal limits and source prohibitions to pay for expenses that should have been paid with funds raised within the federal contribution limits and prohibitions."

What does this verbiarge mean? ACT spent $137MM to pay people to do voter canvassing door to door, with direct mail and telemarketing and urge them to vote against Bush and/or progressive candidates.

That's $137MM.

Pre-blogs.

Taking Democracy Seriously

Joel S. Hirschhorn

American: So you mean that if you Australians don’t vote, you get a fine?
Australian: Yeah, and when you Americans don’t vote you get George W. Bush.

As surely as politicians lie, citizen apathy produces democracy atrophy. Much more than a right – in a democracy voting is an irrevocable civic duty. No mental gymnastics can help you jump over this ugly reality: Voter turnout over all American elections averages markedly less than half of eligible voters. This disgrace must be fixed.

These are my proposed solutions: We should make voting mandatory, give voters the option of “none of the above,” make Election Day a national holiday, provide same day registration everywhere, and lower the voting age to 16.

No one reform is a panacea. But together these five reforms can dramatically re-energize voting in America. They could be placed in one constitutional amendment and ratified by the states in time for the 2008 presidential election. Limiting public support, however, is an elitist mindset among people with political power, wealth and intellectual arrogance. They wrongly dismiss large numbers of citizens for their lack of education or political involvement. Electoral reforms can create a culture of voting that ultimately produces a more informed public.

Mandatory Voting

This is not a crazy, radical idea. Hold your reaction on what probably is a new idea for you. Over 30 countries have compulsory voting. Violating the law usually merits something akin to a parking fine, but it still works. When Australia adopted it in 1924 turnouts increased from under 50 percent to a consistent 90-plus percent. Conversely, when the Netherlands eliminated compulsory voting in 1970 voting turnouts plunged from 90 percent to less than 50 percent. Polls regularly show 70 percent to 80 percent of Australians support mandatory voting. Research found that people living in countries with compulsory voting are roughly twice as likely to believe that their government is responsive to the public’s needs and 2.8 times as likely to vote as compared to citizens in countries without compulsory voting. Is compulsory voting inconsistent with personal freedom? No! We have compulsory education, jury duty, and taxes that are more onerous than voting periodically. And all people have to do is turn out to vote. What they do with their secret ballot is up to them.

Take action with Planned Parenthood to protect the future of reproductive rights this election season. Planned Parenthood has targeted races at the local, state and federal level where reproductive rights are at stake and we're going to win by talking with thousands of pro-choice voters in those districts between now and November 7!

Join other New York activists at Planned Parenthood phonebank nights where we will call pro-choice voters in key districts around the country about the upcoming election. Check out the dates below and RSVP to actionfund@ppnyc.org (oh, and bring friends!):

Wednesday, October 18, 6-9pm

Monday, October 23, 6-9pm

Wednesday, October 25, 6-9pm

Wednesday, November 1, 6-9pm

Monday, November 6, 6-9pm

All volunteer nights will be held at 434 West 33rd Street, 7th Floor (between 9th and 10th Avenues).

*Oh, and with our fancy predictive dialers, you don't even have to dial!*

Take action with Planned Parenthood to protect the future of reproductive rights this election season. Planned Parenthood has targeted races at the local, state and federal level where reproductive rights are at stake and we're going to win by talking with thousands of pro-choice voters in those districts between now and November 7!

Join other New York activists at Planned Parenthood phonebank nights where we will call pro-choice voters in key districts around the country about the upcoming election. Check out the dates below and RSVP to actionfund@ppnyc.org (oh, and bring friends!):

Wednesday, October 18, 6-9pm

Monday, October 23, 6-9pm

Wednesday, October 25, 6-9pm

Wednesday, November 1, 6-9pm

Monday, November 6, 6-9pm

All volunteer nights will be held at 434 West 33rd Street, 7th Floor (between 9th and 10th Avenues).

*Oh, and with our fancy predictive dialers, you don't even have to dial!*

Take action with Planned Parenthood to protect the future of reproductive rights this election season. Planned Parenthood has targeted races at the local, state and federal level where reproductive rights are at stake and we're going to win by talking with thousands of pro-choice voters in those districts between now and November 7!

Join other New York activists at Planned Parenthood phonebank nights where we will call pro-choice voters in key districts around the country about the upcoming election. Check out the dates below and RSVP to actionfund@ppnyc.org (oh, and bring friends!):

Wednesday, October 18, 6-9pm

Monday, October 23, 6-9pm

Wednesday, October 25, 6-9pm

Wednesday, November 1, 6-9pm

Monday, November 6, 6-9pm

All volunteer nights will be held at 434 West 33rd Street, 7th Floor (between 9th and 10th Avenues).

*Oh, and with our fancy predictive dialers, you don't even have to dial!*

Take action with Planned Parenthood to protect the future of reproductive rights this election season. Planned Parenthood has targeted races at the local, state and federal level where reproductive rights are at stake and we're going to win by talking with thousands of pro-choice voters in those districts between now and November 7!

Join other New York activists at Planned Parenthood phonebank nights where we will call pro-choice voters in key districts around the country about the upcoming election. Check out the dates below and RSVP to actionfund@ppnyc.org (oh, and bring friends!):

Wednesday, October 18, 6-9pm

Monday, October 23, 6-9pm

Wednesday, October 25, 6-9pm

Wednesday, November 1, 6-9pm

Monday, November 6, 6-9pm

All volunteer nights will be held at 434 West 33rd Street, 7th Floor (between 9th and 10th Avenues).

*Oh, and with our fancy predictive dialers, you don't even have to dial!*

Take action with Planned Parenthood to protect the future of reproductive rights this election season. Planned Parenthood has targeted races at the local, state and federal level where reproductive rights are at stake and we're going to win by talking with thousands of pro-choice voters in those districts between now and November 7!

Join other New York activists at Planned Parenthood phonebank nights where we will call pro-choice voters in key districts around the country about the upcoming election. Check out the dates below and RSVP to actionfund@ppnyc.org (oh, and bring friends!):

Wednesday, October 18, 6-9pm

Monday, October 23, 6-9pm

Wednesday, October 25, 6-9pm

Wednesday, November 1, 6-9pm

Monday, November 6, 6-9pm

All volunteer nights will be held at 434 West 33rd Street, 7th Floor (between 9th and 10th Avenues).

*Oh, and with our fancy predictive dialers, you don't even have to dial!*

As many states face a decision of what technology to choose to replace the old voting machines, more security issues are cropping up around the touch-screen (DRE) machines.

I already have reported on how the DRE machines are easily hackable, use prorietary software that prevents open public oversight of elections, have no official paper trail preventing any kind of independent recount and, on top of it all, are far more expensive to buy, maintain and replace than the alternative, "scantron" (PBOS) system. A summary of a Princeton study on security issues surrounding DRE machines can be found here.

But the DRE machines are also easy for almost anyone to open. Turns out the locks they use can be opened by a standard key that will open hotel minibars and many kinds of office furniture. From the "Freedom to Tinker" technology blog:

“Hotel Minibar” Keys Open Diebold Voting Machines

Monday September 18, 2006 by Ed Felten

Like other computer scientists who have studied Diebold voting machines, we were surprised at the apparent carelessness of Diebold’s security design. It can be hard to convey this to nonexperts, because the examples are technical. To security practitioners, the use of a fixed, unchangeable encryption key and the blind acceptance of every software update offered on removable storage are rookie mistakes; but nonexperts have trouble appreciating this. Here is an example that anybody, expert or not, can appreciate:

Some of you may have followed my various analyses and Act Blue pages covering several key states in 2006. My goal has been to not only target close races, but also to generate momentum to actually SWEEP some states, or at least come close. My personal favorites to focus on have been NY and NV, but today Salon.com is telling us what their picks are for top races of 2006. I want to use their analysis and build on it to discuss what some of our really important fights are. Please read, discuss and, if you feel it is worth it, donate.

This is adapted from the Salon.com analysis with additions and comments of my own.

1. CT. Senate race: Lamont stirring up trouble for the lame, timid Democratic leadership. I think you all know about this one already! I was avoiding getting involved with this one because I considered it tilting at windmills. But Lamont is mounting a strong challenge to Mr. Kisseyface, so what the hell!

2. Iowa House races: Iowa, where my father was born and where the Kunkel Sporting Goods store in Davenport, co-founded by my great-grandfather, still stands today. One of the most up-for-grabs seats in the nation is the open Repub-held seat IA-1. Then Leonard Boswell in Des Moines, who always faces a daunting reelection fight in a district that split 50-50 in the 2004 presidential race, is considered the Democratic Party's "most vulnerable incumbent." Iowa is considered one of the "purplest" of states and this year is a chance to shift it much more solidly blue. Finally add a race for Sec. of State and Elesha Gayman, a Democracy for America rising star, and you have many races well deserving of our attention. I urge you to help turn Iowa solid blue, defending one of our most vulnerable seats and targeting an open seat now held by a Repub. Help me turn my father's state blue.

NY State Republicans may not quite be as corrupt as their counterparts in Ohio, Missouri and Kentucky (the three most corrupt Republican State Parties in the nation), but, my own NY State is not immune to the largely Republican Culture of Corruption. Some time back I brought up the hypocrisy and corruption of Republican Congressman John Sweeny (NY-20) who did his best to distance himself from the Republican mega-scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramhoff but is himself just as much a part of the Republican-Lobbyist Culture of Corruption as any Republican. I also have blogged extensively about some corrupt ties between a particular developer (Bruce Ratner) and New York politicians (Republicans Michael Bloomberg and George Pataki (Ratner's law school chum)...as well as Democrat Marty Markowitz). Today I want to review Sweeny's corruption and introduce a new target of my campaign against corruption in NY State: Congressman Vito Fossella (NY-13).