NEVER FORGET: On March 7, 1965 hundreds gave their bodies and souls in the Selma voting rights march. The end of that march was the beginning of the modern day Voting Rights movement. Don’t forget to acknowledge this on the 7th and every day for that matter. It’s a credit to our Party that the leading candidates are both in Selma to celebrate bravery and remember losses.
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The Long Road to Democracy Weekly Comment
http://electionfraudnews.com/MichaelCollins.htm">Michael Collins
Citizens Strike Back in the “Show Me” State
Initiative to replace all e-voting with hand counted paper ballots in Missouri
George Caleb Bingham’s “The County Election,” Boone County, Missouri” 1851.
Citizens in Missouri took a major step in fighting back against “the machines” – political and electronic – that threaten to ruin the last remnants of democracy in the United States. Citing a litany of failed elections, questionable outcomes, and machine malfunction, a
citizen’s coalition in Missouri announced a state ballot initiative to end electronic voting entirely in the state of Missouri.
E-voting machines touch screens, and the optical scanners would be tossed in the junk heap of bad inventions. They would be replaced by hand counted paper ballots and a voting process run by and freely observed by citizens.
Canada conducts its Federal elections entirely on hand counted paper ballots in an efficient fashion. For well over a century years, the United States did so as well. Even California with its very large ballots handled its elections effectively on hand counted paper ballots.
Of late, some in the
election integrit movement have introduced a
faith-based e-voting litefeaturing
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/BBVreport.pdf">optical scanners. For some, optical scanners are now the
good voting machine, presumably form the
good division of the formerly
bad e-voting machine companies - Diebold, ESS, and Sequoia. This seems to contradict a two year drive by many of these activists to discredit the entire e-voting structure and those who sell those machines.
Phil Lindsey, a Missouri activist, announced the state wide initiative effort to a packed house at the University of Missouri, Kansas City on February 26th. The proposal was very well received. A combination of that announcement and initial press on the subject has resulted in a significant number of committed volunteers.
Lindsay said, “This will be an entirely grass roots movement. We will take no foundation money and donations will come with no strings attached. We will do this alone. We’re telling people your bucks’ stops here.” When asked who the initiative would target as signatories for a petition requiring approximately 140,000 signatures, Lindsey said, “We will seek out those who are most disenfranchised by the current system: minorities, the elderly, the voters who were targeted in the Voter Photo ID legislation, and other groups who are routinely shoved out of the elections.”
The effort has 13 months to gather the required signatures. The exact wording of the ballot proposal will be released after a mandatory review process by the state government for form.
See “Scoop” Independent News Article on this subject***********************Florida Gov. Crist Makes History
Proposes to end permanent disenfranchisement of
Florida’s 600,000 ex- felons who’ve paid their debt
Newly elected Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says
“Good bye to all that” and distances from
disgraced Bush elections policies.
TALLAHASSEE, FL (AP) -- Governor Charlie Crist says he will continue working to change the rules so that felons will have their voting rights automatically restored once they have paid their debt to society.
This is one of the most revolutionary and far reaching proposals made by a Southern governor in years. The
removal of voting rights for ex-felons, those who have served their time and returned to society, is a direct descendent of the 1891 Mississippi Constitution. This document proudly listed a variety of ways Post Reconstruction whites would remove all political power form blacks. During Reconstruction black voting rates in the South were very high with blacks and whites serving together in elected governments. When the Republicans traded the presidency for an end to Federal presence in the former Confederate states, Reconstruction ended and so did the rights of blacks to vote.
Once charged with a felony, almost any felony, you lose your right to vote, permanently. Some 600,000 Floridians, mostly minority, mostly male, have lost their right to vote even though they have served their sentences. Florida is far from unique.In Virginia, for example, 200,000 minority males, mostly black Americans, have no right to vote due to felon disenfranchisement. Just before leaving office, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner was urged to restore ex felon voting rights by proclamation. He refused. His successor, Tom Kaine, Dem. touts the efficiency of the restoration of voting rights. However, only a negligible number of ex felons have been returned to the rolls.
Crist’s proposal represents a serious attempt to right this long time wrong and end the ties between the New South and the racist legacy that survives even today in attacks on the voting rights of black American.
***********************
Florida Voting Politics Heats Up
Another hand counted paper ballot initiative
Long time voting rights activist, William Faulkner, offered a major proposal to advance the reform of Florida voting. In an
OpEdNews.Com article, Faulkner took the reality of Florida’s conversion to all optical scan machines a step further. The essence of his proposal was summarized in the article:
(Governor) Crist called for more citizen involvement and input, an abrupt change from the previous eight years of dictates issued form Tallahassee.
I take Governor Crist at his word and as a result, I provided the following plan for future elections in Florida – accurate and fraud free.
That’s a large claim but the solution provide within the following involves simultaneous a) optical scan counting and hand counting of optical scan ballot with b) the hand counted paper ballots serving as the ballot o record. Each process checks the other and the entire process serves as both a tabulation of votes and a simultaneous audit, conducted in the open by citizen’s not private concerns.
Republican Governor Crist promised to seek more input from citizens. One of his initiatives is to eliminate touch screens form Florida voting. Another is to end the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of Floridians by lifting the ban against former felons (who have served their time) from voting.
Credit: Barrybar (Flickr) Given Crist’s rapid distancing from all things Bush in election systems and policies, there may be a chance to give this sensible proposal a chance.
This will, of course, generate opposition from elections officials and e-voting vendors claiming it takes too long to hand count paper ballots, etc. Once again, Canada does it every federal election and the entire United States did it for over a century. It probably had something to do with a sufficient number of citizens counting votes back in the day; a concept that may have escaped the modern critics.
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