Reform NOW ... We cannot be deaf to Rev Jackson's conclusion.

[Alizaryn]

The further that I get involved and absorb the issues regarding Election Reform the more that I come the same conclusion that Rev Jackson arrived at; we need to make the right to vote and method of voting a Federal Constitutional guarantee. Regardless of what battles we fight and manage to win until our most basic right of voting is guaranteed and protected by the Federal government the problems we have encountered will repeat them selves.

I give credit to the republicans for understanding how the election game is played and therefore won today. They saw the need for securing Secretary of State. Governor and maybe most importantly the stop gap if all else fails judicial positions. This is the very scenario that we were presented with in Ohio this year and through experience have seen the results of:

The choice of election equipment.
The decision of how that equipment is distributed to the different precincts.
The decisions regarding how and which provisional ballots and how they would be accepted.
The power to arrange and then rearrange technicalities to suit your whim and objective.
Total and complete control over any audit/recount.
Total and complete control over the judicial branch, which serves as the monitor for your other control choices.

OHIO 2004…

Blackwell was chosen. (Ohio secretary of State in 1998. That year, Blackwell considered a run for governor, but Ohio Republican Party chairman Robert T. Bennettt persuaded Blackwell to run for secretary of state instead….I wonder why?)

Moyer was chosen. (Just in case)


Think about it, not only can the choice of voting methods be controlled but any and all audits that concerned citizens call for can also be. IF the citizens throw a bitch…well then your Chief Supreme Court Judge can handle things. A neat, tidy little bundle of corruption.

We need election reform:
Audit able counts,
Open source systems,
Equitable distribution of machines,
NON PARTISAN objective, people involved with the structure,
Hand countable ballots,
Elimination of machines or OPEN/bipartisan, secure machines.

The way I see it, is that none of this can be accomplished without first eliminating the ability to control and manipulate things state by state. Even when our federal representatives attempt to assist us with problems they find themselves short of power because of the way Election rights and procedures are controlled. If I were a die hard conservative Republican I’d also worry about the lack of checks and balances as it stands today if I recalled how history and swings in momentum were a basic reality in politics.

In my opinion, along with communicating what election technicalities need immediate repair to our leaders we need to be insisting on a Constitutional right to vote AND to have that vote openly counted.

[The Doctor.]

1. You got it.

Keep the ball rolling.

I'll be around if you need anything.
PM me.

This is the third most important issue for me right now.

I will be on it.

[GetTheRightVote]

2. Yes, Yes, Yes

:klck:

[EC]

3. Look at this:

January 30, 2005
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0501300401jan30,0,4555200.column



Clarence Page
President Bush on voting rights: Is he savvy or just clueless?


Published January 30, 2005


WASHINGTON -- While courageous American troops and Iraqi civilians risk life and limb for the right to vote in war-torn Iraq, President Bush has made the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus, currently all Democrats, more than a little nervous about how much he values voting rights back here at home.

According to various eyewitnesses at a private meeting in the White House Cabinet Room last week, the president was characteristically cordial, yet remarkably non-committal in responding to a wide range of questions, mostly about racial disparities concerning such issues as employment, education, health care and legal rights.

But the most "mind-boggling moment," in the words of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), came after Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) asked the president, "Do we have your support in extending and strengthening the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it comes up for renewal in 2007?"

The president responded, according to witnesses, in a way that made caucus jaws drop: He did not know enough about that particular law to respond to it, he said, and that he would deal with the legislation when it comes up.

more

[Alizaryn]

4. wow.........How can sooooo many people be soooo blind?

We must find ways to wake the general everyday person up without the help of the MSM. Some days I feel like its hopeless, thank God for places and voices like DU.

[Senator]

5. It's Page, Cleaver, et. al. who are clueless...

...if they expect(ed) anything other than that response from anyone on the right, let alone His *ness himself.

These are the people we need to target. And we need to stop spending the effort of even a single "little gray cell" on what anyone farther to the right says or does.

I really can't imagine what they think they're gaining by responding to the beck and call of a racist election thief.

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