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whoa... I just spent several hours with grassroot Republicans polling voters in Florida's primary. They don't trust the machines, either.
Having worked with grassroot Dems the past 3 years in Ohio, this was a real eye opener for me.
There's hope yet - if the grass roots from both major parties are mobilizing against counting our votes in secret, then this nation has a real chance at democracy.
I finally got to meet Broward County's Ellen Brodsky - the woman who started citizen run Parallel Elections in the U.S. She ran the first one in March 2005, and advised California's Judy Alter who trained me a month later - at the Nashville Conference.
Ohio ran its first PE in August of 05 (headed by Jo Anne Karasek), and it's fourth one in November 06 (which I headed). This was my first opportunity to meet the woman who inspired so much work from me. She has a no-nonsense approach and a limitless supply of energy.
For the Jan. 08 Florida primary, Ellen stepped in to head a team that ran exit polls in 8 precincts in Broward. Our teams had widely different treatment from officials and voters, but no doubt 16 more people have a much better comprehension of electoral management.
We The People, the same group that filed the 50-state lawsuit for hand-counted elections, developed this national project and several counties in Florida participated. I understand other states also participated, including Texas (the Austin team was headed by Karen Renick of VoteRescue Radio).
I plan to file a full report shortly. I came home exhausted, but full of hope.
