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October 6, 2008 at 19:11:15
I Just Prevented Thousands of Californians from Having to Vote on Provisional Ballots! by Emily Levy Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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I believe I likely did more for the public good today than most people do in their entire lives. It took me an hour. Fortunately, my own polling place was just changed. If it hadn't been, none of this would have happened. So my success story cannot be easily duplicated. However, if you read this article to the end you'll be rewarded by a tip about how you CAN, in ten minutes or less, take action that could have an immense effect. And you won't have to buy anything -- or even subscribe to a free email list. Today I was working on an update to the election integrity action site connected to the film, STEALING AMERICA: Vote By Vote. [film site] [action site]. I wanted to post the best link available for polling place verification. I went online to check my own polling place as a test. The California Secretary of State's office has a page where you can check the location of your polling place. The League of Women Voters has one as well. I decided to check both and compare the ease of using the two systems. That's all I expected to determine, as my polling place had not changed for years, and has been in the most obvious location for my neighborhood. Lo and behold, in response to my entering my home address, these two systems came up with two different polling locations! Kudos to the folks responsible for the website at Debra Bowen's office for fixing this problem so quickly. Thousands of voters who would have been sent to the wrong polling place location now instead be given the correct information. According to the local election worker I spoke with, voters who show up at the wrong polling place in my county will be instructed to call the county elections office and find the right polling place (will their calls get through on election day?) or to vote on a provisional ballot. In my county, those provisional ballots will likely (!) be counted, because we have a very diligent county clerk with an excellent staff. (Though even they can't see inside the computers they trust to 'count' our votes!) I'm not sure that's true in all of the counties involved. On the whole, provisional ballots stand a smaller chance of being counted than do regular ballots. And they're not counted until many days after the election, in most cases well after winners have already been announced. Polling place location information linked from the California Secretary of State's website before 10/6/08 may have been incorrect. If you have recently used the California Secretary of State's website to find your polling place, try it again now. The information may have changed. Better yet, contact your local elections office directly to check your polling place location. In California, you can find that contact information here. If you're outside of California, find the information for your state at VoteSmart. You can also check your polling place online at SmartVoter (similar name, different site). Also check the official election booklet you receive in the mail to find your polling place. While I've worked on election integrity for nearly four years, including on projects as crucial as Richard Hayes Phillips's investigation of the 2004 presidential vote in Ohio, I can't think of a day when I was as sure as I am today that my specific actions made a significant difference. It's a good feeling. It's not often that those of us who work on election integrity or other social change get to see the tangible results of our efforts. It's especially lovely when a small amount of work has a big effect, like when you do a little favor for a friend who receives great benefit from it. Now, as promised, I'll offer you that opportunity to take quick action that may have an even larger effect than what I did today. Get a candidate for public office to sign the Standing For Voters Pledge: Here's how to get candidates to sign on: -- Go to StandingForVoters.org and learn about the Standing For Voters pledge -- and the more robust Super Pledge -- for candidates. -- Click on the "For Voters" button and find out how you can ask candidates to sign. There's a card there for you to download and send to candidates by email, fax or snail mail, along with links to find candidates' contact information and tips about other ways to reach candidates. http://www.velvetrevolution.us/electionstrikeforce The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
This is democracy IN ACTION... if we citizens focus on elections and provide the oversight which is our duty, our elections will get cleaned up. Great story... and good links. Thanks. by
Rady Ananda (182 articles, 374 quicklinks, 49 diaries, 1718 comments [201 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Monday, Oct 6, 2008 at 7:26:50 PM
I would like to see more people who are concerned about election integrity (or any other issue) get active like Ms. Levy did. I see entirely too much hand wringing and not enough citizen involvement. Outstanding work from an outstanding citizen. Kudos, Emily. by
Steve Heller (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 36 comments) on Monday, Oct 6, 2008 at 7:38:27 PM
But first ... can you guess which candidate? by
Emily Levy (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Monday, Oct 6, 2008 at 7:45:11 PM
yea, Cynthia! by
Rady Ananda (182 articles, 374 quicklinks, 49 diaries, 1718 comments [201 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Monday, Oct 6, 2008 at 8:54:17 PM
I tried, then decided I was happy sending people to the website to view it. Eleven candidates have now signed the pledge, but only one presidential candidate. We really need more people asking candidates to sign. by
Emily Levy (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Monday, Oct 6, 2008 at 9:00:55 PM
McCain in Albuquerque today: ABC POLITICAL NEWS: Ayers, Keating...Kitchen Sink? McCain/Palin Step Up Attacks Obama leads in OH--[Respond on editorial pages of America, while there is still time!] By KAREN TRAVERS and RIGEL ANDERSON, October 6, 2008 [[[NEW MEXICO and battleground states & Obama Supporters: Time to fight back on the editorial pages of America to tear apart McCain's Albuquerque diatribe, item by item!----many political battles and whole wars can actually be fought and won on the Editorial page! Letters, 200 words; OpEds, 600: send it out to many editors, the same folks who are about to write the endorsements!-from Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor, New Mexico Sun News see also: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stephenfox/gGgPWc]]] Stepping up his rhetoric against the Democratic nominee, McCain accused him of not being forthright about his record. "Who is the real Barack Obama?" McCain asked, per ABC News' Bret Hovell. "Even at this late hour in the campaign there are things we don't know about Senator Obama or the record that he brings to this campaign." Couple this with running mate Sarah Palin in Florida hammering Obama on his "associating" with Bill Ayers and bringing up the fear card for the first time. "I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America -- as the greatest source for good in this world," Palin said of Obama to 2,000 supporters at a rally in Clearwater, Florida this morning, per ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala. "I'm afraid this someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country." "This, ladies and gentlemen, has nothing to do with the kind of change that anyone can believe in, not my kids, not for your kids," Palin added. The Obama campaign fired back with its own "association" attack, releasing a 13-minute documentary about McCain's connection to the Keating Five scandal. The two-front attack comes the day before the second of three presidential debates and as another battleground state poll shows McCain/Palin trailing Obama/Biden in a key state that President Bush won in 2004. Obama leads McCain 51-45 among likely voters in an ABC News/Washington Post poll released tonight. The economy is far and away the most important issue to Ohio voters and Obama is "riding economic discontent to an advantage" there, per ABC News Polling Director Gary Langer. Obama is "bolstered in part by financially stressed voters in the state's hard-hit industrial belt and following it up with a more extensive ground campaign in this key contest." Digging deeper into the numbers finds some interesting statistics that will have the folks on Michigan Avenue smiling tonight. Not surprisingly, Obama leads by a wide margin (71-26) in Cuyahoga County, the heavily Democratic Cleveland area. But Obama also has a 17-point lead in the northeastern region, which includes the Rust Belt industrial cities of Akron, Canton and Youngstown. John Kerry eked out a 52-47 win in that region in 2004 over President Bush. In the center and southeastern corner of the state, a region that is more rural and more solidly Republican, Obama has a 51-45 lead. Bush won this same region by 8 points in 2004. Since wrapping up the Democratic nomination in June, Obama has had 23 events in Ohio, per an analysis of ABC News' records more than any other battleground state. McCain has had 30 events in Ohio since wrapping up his nomination in early March, second only to Florida where he has had 34 events. Obama hits the ground with a two-day bus tour on Oct 9-10 through southern and central Ohio with stops in Dayton, Cincinnati, Portsmouth and other TBA cities. This is Obama's first visit to the Buckeye State since Sept 9. McCain was last there on Sept. 29. Tuesday's town hall style debate gives Obama a chance to keep the focus on issues and gives McCain the opportunity to regain lost ground in a format where he is most comfortable. ______________________________________________________________ Please also see my latest article at OpEdNews: Palin Accuses Obama of "Palling Around with Terrorists," Associated Press This is so ridiculous, it won't work. PLEASE take the time to write a letter Go from there...questions? Please let me know. Figuratively of course, on the editorial pages of America, we must rub Stephen Fox by
Stephen Fox (96 articles, 3 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 802 comments [33 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Monday, Oct 6, 2008 at 8:14:29 PM
As for what impact if any it might have on the outcome of the election, you might find my response to Harvey Wasserman's article here, of interest. I also like the candidates' pledge a great deal. It didn't seem to do any good for any of the Democratic candidates whose races were stolen and who filed Federal Election Contests in '06, as Congress dismissed their cases without looking at the evidence, but it is likely to raise the awareness of candidates to the fact that the popular vote is irrelevant to the outcome of elections because the Constitution makes Congress itself the sole judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members. That inherent Constitutional injustice (along with the fact that we are not allowed to vote directly for President or Vice-President, so the popular vote is not the deciding factor) is something that everyone needs to be aware of before we can begin to understand the need for a citizen-owned, transparent, participatory democracy. I know that you fully understand the words "citizen-owned" and "transparent" and have been devoting considerable energy toward those goals. A participatory democracy is a direct democracy where citizens can vote directly for their leaders, can vote directly on all issues of importance such as war and taxes, and it is the votes themselves which are the deciding factor and which cannot be overridden by any higher authority. Such democracies do actually exist. It is not a fantasy or a pipe dream. Switzerland and Venezuela are two examples, but the number of direct democracies are growing. Great catch, Emily! I would have loved to have seen the expression on the face of the person who told you that their website was the correct one and then found out that it wasn't. ;) by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Monday, Oct 6, 2008 at 9:15:42 PM
Groups that endorse Standing For Voters will be listed on this page of the website. To endorse, email us. by
Emily Levy (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Tuesday, Oct 7, 2008 at 11:00:57 AM
My sample ballot/voter handbook just arrived in the mail. It has a huge red 'splat' on the front cover that says "Voter Alert!" and then tells me that my polling place may have changed, and where I should look on the handbook for the new location. by
Emily Levy (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Tuesday, Oct 7, 2008 at 1:33:37 PM
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I immediately called my county election office. A helpful election worker told me I should definitely depend on the information from their office, not one of 'those outside organizations,' that the local info would always be the most up-to-date. She checked it for me and -- guess what? -- it was the League of Women Voters information that was correct! My polling place actually has been moved, and county webpage I'd been directed to by the SoS website was incorrect.
We dug deeper and I eventually discovered that the California Secretary of State's webpage for voters to check their polling places contained links to outdated polling place location information for several counties! I called the SoS's office, and my local election worker called them, too. Within an hour, I'd received a call back from the SoS office that links for all the counties had now been updated.
But what will happen to people who already checked their polling places on the California SoS website, who will still go to the wrong polling place as a result of this (now repaired) problem?
Please use and help circulate this information to California voters who may have received incorrect polling place information:
If you discover a problem, remember that it may not be a problem just for you. In this situation, literally thousands of voters may have had their ability to vote a regular (not provisional) ballot restored by the hour I took today to work on this. One person can make a difference. 
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Today in Albuquerque, NM, John McCain unleashed perhaps his strongest attack of the entire campaign on Barack Obama. The Republican nominee called his opponent out on his fundraising, his (in)action on the financial crisis and even questioned his honesty and openness.
Tell Karl, John, Dick, and Sarah in a Letter to the Editor that this Ayers
Tactic Just Won't Work!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Tell-Karl-John-Dick-and-by-Stephen-Fox-081004-266.html
Posting your comments is invaluable.
to the editor and send it to the editorial page editors of 50 newspapers in
the Battleground States. THEY ARE ALL LISTED JUST BY GOOGLING "NEWSPAPERS,
and then the states' name. The best live list is usnpl.com.
stephen@santafefineart.com
Madame Mooseburger's face in the moose manure she is shoveling out, all at
the guidance of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and some unknown Republican
strategists.
Contributing Editor, New Mexico Sun News
Founder, New Millennium Fine Art (0+)
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