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Tag(s): 2008 Election Congressional Primary; 2008 Election Local Primary; 2008 Elections; Corporate Media; Election Reform; Election-Voting Issues; Florida; Green; Green Party; Independent Party; (more...) Libertarian Party; Media Blackout; Media News Networks; Media Reform; Third Parties; Third Party - Candidates; Two-party System; USA States (less...)
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August 26, 2008 at 18:50:34

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Is This Really Voting in Florida?

by Anita Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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I feel totally disenfranchised as a voter in the state of Florida. Right now I am listening to the local evening news that states that we are now using optimal scanners, not touch screen voting, but that only 5% of registered voters have even shown up at the polls, and that the mainstream media considers this a "dismal" showing.

So why aren't people voting? Work committments, gas, time, picking up kids, after school programs and events, or could it be this? That people finally realize that without media reform and election reform the system is corrupt, does not represent them and that their vote no longer counts? I mean, why bother? Their votes will not create a leadership change that they want. It will be business as usual in Washington, DC.

I went to my local polling center a little after noon today. The first thing I was asked to do was to present my driver's license or a valid picture ID. I did this. The poll worker swiped it through a machine that ran off a receipt that I was given to turn over to someone at the next table. The lady looks at my receipt for a very long minute. "I don't know what this means," she says to the woman next to her. "What is this?" and she points to something on the receipt. Then she spells out, "G-R-E..."

I got a little angry. These people are working and being paid with my tax dollars. "Ma'am, it means the Green Party. I am a registered Green." A lady comes over to the table to help the other lady, she does not know where to put the chit or what to do with it. I then said, "We are not just a two party political system in this country. Have you all not been trained that there are other political parties besides Democrats and Republicans?" Needless to say, I did not get an answer from anyone, just a few heads nodding in agreement along with some vacant stares. Who trained these people?

I walked over to another section where a lady gave me a rather large cardboard ballot in a plastic file folder. I was to to go a ballot box and mark it with the black felt tip pen there, fill in the oval under the candidate of my choice, just like the IQ tests from school back in the olden times. So I looked at the ballot. Under it was listed three local choices for three non-partisan offices. I could not vote for the progressive candidate for Congress in my congressional district, nor for any other federal or state office, those choices were not on my ballot. By not having a full/complete ballot, exercising my right to vote meant nothing and by my action of voting, accomplishes nothing.

I handed my completed ballot with my three choices to a poll worker who directed and observed me putting the ballot in the scanner which "read" my vote. I wondered the whole time how accurate that was and what were the checks and balances for determining the accuracy of the count by the scanner.

So where do we go from here? It was not even worth me getting in the car and heading to the polls. I wonder how many other Florida voters feel the same? I wonder if people not showing up at the polls today is a direct response to the media by not even mentioning that it was voting day today in Florida? I did not hear it on the major networks, not even once today until the evening news came on at 530PM.

I think it is an understatement to say that most of the Florida voters are totally disengaged from the voting process. Most are convinced that their vote will mean nothing and will accomplish nothing. Third parties are not considered in the election process at all if they don't have and can't have all of the choices that the two major parties have on their ballots.

More business as usual, more fraud and waste of our tax dollars, more war, less education and health, while the people frantically scurry from job to job trying to make ends meet, real true slaves of the corporations. The most important thing for our Democratic process at this time is media reform and election reform. Until those two things are done, our election reporting and the elections themselves will not be unbiased, just or fair.

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
Election Reform

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

http://www.myspace.com/anitaitconsultant

Anita Stewart is a licensed medical professional, artist, freelance writer, blogger and photographer, independent publicist and New Media and Virtual Outreach expert. Anita was born in Detroit and grew up in a rock and roll radio station in Pennsylvania that her father owned, so news, media and music has always been an important part of her life. Anita is a USAF veteran. While attending the University of Maryland, where she received a degree in English with a minor in film and journalism, she worked for Arbitron Radio Ratings in Laurel and Beltsville, MD and the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC and was a member of the AFL-CIO Local 25 Hotel and Restaurant Worker's Union. That's where her activism began as she worked with the Union, Rainbow Push Coalition and other local organizations to assure that women and people of color were hired as servers in the 5 star restaurants. Anita was one of the first organizers of Chapter 119, the Tampa Bay Veterans for Peace and of Code Pink Tampa Bay and the Tampa Bay Indymedia Collective. From December of 2006 until June of 2007 Anita volunteered on the Virtual Outreach team for the Kucinich for President 2008 Campaign. She became an official member of the campaign staff in July of 2007. With Code Pink Tampa Bay, she has worked with other local and statewide peace groups on developing an alliance to regularly schedule local peace actions under the collective name of RISE UP TAMPA BAY. Currently she serves on the Board of Trustees for the Florida Green Party. She volunteered as a virtual outreach coordinator for the Cynthia McKinney Presidential Campaign and was on the Media Team. Anita still handles the official Cynthia McKinney MySpace page and the unofficial Dennis Kucinich MySpace page. She is on the Steering Committee for IndependentMovement.org and fine tunes an internet presence by doing this organization's Virtual Outreach. Anita is a strong believer in working to change the course of our country by reforming our media, by using the Internet to organize Independent voters and by actively supporting and electing Independents and Progressives for Congress and Senate that are not corporate "owned." When Anita has any spare time, she is singing, listening to music, writing, playing on the Internet or taking care of Hospice patients. You can find Anita at the following two sites: http://revvedupwomen.blogspot.com http://www.myspace.com/anitaitconsultant Old Indymedia blogs are here: http://zalala.blogspot.com

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3 comments

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author and educator who counts First Lady Dolley Payne Todd Madison as well as two signers of the Articles of Confederation among her ancestors. Mary Ball, mother of George Washington is in the ancestral lineage of Butler's great grandmother, Blanche Ball. Grateful to know that the blood of America's founding mothers and fathers runs in her veins, Butler has been newly filled with matriotism as a direct result of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Lest she a...

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Meryl Ann ButlerMeryl Ann Butler is an artist, author and educator who counts First Lady Dolley Payne Todd Madison as well as two signers of the Articles of Confederation among her ancestors. Mary Ball, mother of George Washington is in the ancestral lineage of Butler's great grandmother, Blanche Ball. Grateful to know that the blood of America's founding mothers and fathers runs in her veins, Butler has been newly filled with matriotism as a direct result of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Lest she a...

to see more of bio, click on member name

GREAT ARTICLE!

Thanks for the great report, Anita, people need to know what is going on, and this is how they find out!

by Meryl Ann Butler (53 articles, 61 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 531 comments) on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 10:09:17 PM

If I had my way, I would tear this old building down.
SamsonIf I had my way, I would tear this old building down.

primary

Uh, did you not know this was a primary election? You can vote for your choice of who you want to represent the Green Party.

To me, a primary election is when the members of that party choose who will represent that party in the general elections. And it makes perfect sense to restrict that vote down to just the members of that party.

The opposite is what I saw up in Georgia in 2002. That was when the Republicans crossed over in large numbers to vote in the Democratic primary to kick Cynthia McKinney out of Congress.

Or, if there was a tight Green Party race between two candidates for Congress, would you want a bunch of Republicans to be able to vote in that primary and decide who your Green Party candidate would be? That could obviously be a disaster. You'd get some Republican wanna-bee putting his name in for the Green Party nomination, then a bunch of Republicans could cross over and vote in that primary. The next thing you'd know you'd have some neocon running as the Green Party candidate.

There are open primaries and closed primaries. Both have some advantages, but I think I prefer closed primaries. It makes complete sense to me to have these choices made by the members of the party. And it doesn't make much sense to me why a Green Party member would want to have a say in who the Democratic nominee would be.

I am very aware of this. At first, when I registered in Colorado I registered as a Democrat just to be able to have a vote in the Democratic Primaries. The other night, when I was at the Cynthia McKinney event out here, I chaged that to a Green Party registration. I did that deliberately knowing there would be no chance for me to now vote in the Democratic primaries. To me, there aren't any decent candidates in those races anyways. And if they can't get enough support from other Democrats to win the race, then my vote for them in a primary was going to be meaningless anyways.

In Nov, you'll see the whole ballot.

by Samson (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 46 comments) on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 6:28:40 AM

When there are no Green candidates running..

...in my congressional district, the Florida laws SHOULD allow me to vote for whomever I think will uphold Green values and who should represent me. That is why I am voting in the first place, for who I deem worthy enough to represent me in Washington. I had that local candidate chosen as I happen to know him personally. But because of the current laws in Florida, I don't get to choose. That is taxation without representation or being able to take part in that process like other citizens. I am being penalized for being a member of a Third Party, plain and simple. This is not the Democratic way.

by Anita Stewart (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 52 comments) on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 7:54:40 AM