We have a Voter Protection Hotline - Question is Do We Use It or Lose It?

[Tigress DEM]

Poll question: We have a Voter Protection Hotline - Question is Do We Use It or Lose It?

Before you take the poll, do your homework.

The HOTLINE 1-888-DEM-VOTE is getting funding and is being set up in 38 states by the DNC.

The problem is, the person in charge of the DNC's VRI (Voters Rights Institute) seems to be about as useful to protecting voter's rights as "brownie" was to Katrina victims.


Do we keep the hotline and force DNC to replace Donna Brazile or do we pass up the opportunity to have a well funded hotline that is already in place because the DNC's choice of Brazile is a slap in our collective Democratic faces?


What do you think DU?




http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/08/dnc_announces_e.php

<snip>
These voter protection initiatives are part of Governor Dean's unprecedented investment in Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts for the 2006 elections. Under his leadership, the DNC has committed $12 million to help elect Democrats at every level in 38 states across America--roughly 10 times the hard money the DNC spent four years ago for coordinated campaigns.

The DNC's new national hotline, 1-888-DEM-VOTE, builds on the tremendous success of the toll-free number established in March 2006 by the DNC Voting Rights Institute to provide information about how and where displaced New Orleans residents could vote and to help Indiana voters disenfranchised by the Republican voter ID law passed by Indiana Republicans. It will provide critical assistance to voters all across the country, including in key electoral targets and in states facing Republican challenges to the right to vote by providing poll location information, assistance in applying for absentee ballots, and help reporting voting problems before, during, and after Election Day.

Across America, voters have confronted a dizzying array of Republican-led challenges to the right to vote. These include discriminatory voter ID laws in states like Indiana, Georgia, Ohio and Missouri; irresponsible voter registration rules in Ohio and Florida; inappropriate purges of voter lists in states like Indiana and Florida; the use of faulty election machines and inadequate machine maintenance that fail to protect the integrity of the vote; a criminal phone jamming scheme in New Hampshire; and discrepancies in election day practices that disproportionately effect rural, elderly, poor, minority, and student voters.



http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/06/donna_brazile_d.php

<snip>

"At a time when we know there are many election irregularities taking place across the country, when voters are still facing huge obstacles in having their vote counted, and at a time when there are also problems with the accuracy of machines and voters are calling on their Congress to enact tough laws to provide for the security and integrity of our voting machines, once again the Republican controlled Congress allowed a few members to highjack the legislation which would've renewed the Voting Rights Act," said Brazile.

Brazile criticized legislation in states such as Ohio that suppresses voter registration efforts for political gain, thereby dealing a severe blow to democracy and to the rights of all citizens in Ohio.

"What's taking place...is that the Secretary of State in Ohio, Ken Blackwell, is attempting to suppress the vote for partisan political gain under some of the most restrictive rules I've seen. A great burden will be placed upon citizens in Ohio who simply want to register and have a voice in what happens in their community," she said.