Am I being overly paranoid re: Hillary and her voter bill?

[LittleClarkie]

Am I turning into the thing I don't like about the supporters of other candidates when I say that it feels like Hillary just bogarted one of John's issues, putting the legislation in first because she knew it would be popular?

Or is this just a division of labor amongst the party? John gets health care, Hillary gets election reform, etc...

[TayTay]

1. At this point,

Don't sweat it. This is an 'absolute good.' Everyone should get on board and support it.

[WildEyedLiberal]

2. I was a little weirded out

That I got an email from "Friends of Hillary" by being on the DNC mailing list.

[LittleClarkie]

3. Don't be. Take a good look at it. It IS a DNC mailing list thing

with Hillary's name on it. She won't have your email unless you sign her petition, I reckon.

[WildEyedLiberal]

4. That's what weirded me out

Why is the DNC sending out Friends of Hillary stuff? They aren't directly connected to John Kerry's emails, so why is Hillary's PAC special? Weird, weird, weird.

[JI7]

9. because Hillary is able to raise a lot of money

just putting her name on something helps get attention and money. the same with Bill Clinton.

[angrydemocrat]

14. And Kerry Can't?

Get real. Remember the money raised for the soldiers? You know to buy phone cards for the soldiers? Where was the big wave from her on that one? Hell she isn't the only one that when her name get's mentoin she gets attention.

[angrydemocrat]

13. I Got That As Well

Do like me and alot of others do, if your going to give to the DNC do it through Kerry's website. When I give money for anything including the DNC I do it through him. If I can't do through Kerry to give the donation then I don't give anything. Because I will hold on to my money and use it for Kerry when he needs it. A lot of people are doing that. As for the Hilliary letter I deleted it as if I never seen it.

[sandnsea]

5. I don't know either

I guess we'll see. For a while I've said we need to attack the right like attacking a wild fire. That takes real coordination and highly focused planning. Kind of standing back, Hil has voting, JK health, JE poverty, Kennedy troop withdrawal, Reid SS. Maybe they are finally going to build strong alliances in each of these areas and circle the Bushies. I don't know, but I hope so. I was disappointed JK didn't co-sponsor that bill too though.

[elshiva]

6. These are Dem issues they belong to everyone

in the party and if some moderate Repubs want to help us, they can just go ahead. I don't care who talks about what now. Yes, I did co-sponsor the voting bill.

[Firespirit]

7. That took me a little by surprise

I need to get back with my contact point and see if I can find out what's up. I had understood that Kerry and Lautenberg would be submitting it, and although I perfectly understand why one of them is Boxer, Hillary is kind of an odd choice.

But FWIW, I don't think she co-opted anything... I'm sure, after the prominent statements that JK and Lautenberg made about sponsoring this type of thing, that this was done with their full knowledge and "consent," as it were. And who knows, they might well have a bigger role to play in it once it's been submitted.

[JI7]

8. the issue doesn't belong to Kerry or anyone else

Hillary has always been great on most issues. when the issue is a good one then we should support it no matter who pushes it. we shouldn't support or like something based on the person itself.

there were bills on voting put out by some of the other congress members before the elections also. that doesn't mean Kerry or anyone else can't work on the issue.

[Firespirit]

10. OK, bumping this again...

to get on a soapbox.

She's calling for mandatory paper trails. Paper trails will NOT be enough! They aren't even looked at except in recounts. It is possible to a design a machine that prints out a correct receipt but actually records the vote another way internally... and I for one believe certain companies capable of designing just that.

There cannot be loopholes in election reform legislation. If this, or something like it, is passed, then the meme will be that "the system is now fixed" and ANY suggestions that things are not yet all right will be disregarded.

I may BE a graduate student, but I know what is required for an electronic voting machine to be secure. I've designed one.

Time for some e-mailing and perhaps even phone calls.

[TayTay]

11. Can you give us a site or paper

on this. What do we have in writing that we can point to for folks who might not be up on this. I would love to be able to give something out to folks that gives the skinny on why people are upset about this; what the problems with the election and with voting machines were (are) and what we can do about it.

I don't want to put you on the spot. Anyone is welcome to chime in and give me some good advice. (I am sometimes a bit dense and need help.)

[Firespirit]

12. There's always this place

http://www.blackboxvoting.org

Click on "Investigations."

---

(I hate to even mention this org; I used to get their stuff all the time but it's just my opinion that of late, a lot of it's become as much about PR for the founder of the organization as it is about the issue. They have a LOT of great info and certainly do good work, and I would never slight that and would definitely recommend them as the first place to start. But as far as getting directly involved with them, I can't recommend doing that anymore. Don't mean to start a flame war with this post and I will certainly respect differences of opinion on "BBV" the organization or on Bev Harris.)

[Kelvin Mace]

15. If I may...

There is also my site, blackboxvoting.com. We also carry informationa and links on the issue.

[WildEyedLiberal]

16. If I remember that whole hubbub correctly

I'd probably prefer your site to the other one.

[Firespirit]

18. BBV.org

I hate what's happened with that place; the election reform community shouldn't be at odds with one another. There aren't enough who are even aware that there is an issue for infighting to occur. I respect her work and investigations, but Bev (IMO) has made her org like a cult of personality in some respects.

Anyway.

Personally I don't care who sponsors the bill as long as it's comprehensive and gets passed, but unless there's some strong text in it that I haven't seen, this is not anything close to comprehensive. I'm going to be pestering Sens. Clinton and Boxer this weekend and Monday, I expect, as well as seeing what's up with the Kerry people.

[LittleClarkie]

17. If not Hillary then Boxer

Since she's part of the bill, maybe we need to email and call her as well about our concerns. I should think she'd esp. want to get this right, considering what she did on Jan. 6th.