This Wednesday: Fixing Elections (in a Good Way)
August 8th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Problem:
As the polls closed on Election Day 2004, I watched the state-by-state results eek in from the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Columbus with a thousand other volunteers, including Jerry Springer, the former mayor of Cincinnati, and Eric, who’d road-raged his way down from Rochester, New York, in his rusty and rust-colored ‘86 Monte Carlo, to lend a hand for the final few days. I bit my nails to the quick and pulled and twisted at my goatee. The news seemed grim.
And so, the war would rage on. And the poor would increasingly fight it. And our broken health care system would cause more bankruptcies. And monolithic business would rule instead of wise environmental stewardship. And I felt too guilty to sleep. But it was that night, and deep into the morning, that Eric and I came up with the idea of Progressive Wednesday, a new way to empower people when there weren’t elections, and hell, even when there were. And it was that night we decided that helping to fix the election process would be at the top of our Wednesday list.
Two weeks later, I attended a public hearing with sworn testimony by Franklin County residents reporting voter suppression, fraud, and the inequitable distribution of voting machines in both poor and predominately African-American districts, which made 2004 Ohio seem a little too much like 1960 Mississippi.
Since I’m not a Democrat, I now deeply question why I didn’t just support a so-called “third-party” candidate like Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian candidate, or David Cobb, the Green candidate. But my experience helped me question, even more, the process by which we select our elected officials and the ways we decide whom to give our vote. I imagine I’m not alone.
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Make Progress:
We’ll definitely be returning to this topic time and time again, because it’s intensely complicated and similarly significant to not just our rights as Americans, but to what we value as a human right. What follows, then, is a beginning. Consider the starter’s pistol fired.
Photo thanks to this voter.
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Bookmark:
It’s a little bit difficult to describe Project Vote Smart in 304 words, but here goes:
- This non-profit uses oodles of volunteers (from the right and the left) to examine “voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups.”
- In addition, they “test each candidate’s willingness to provide citizens with their positions on the issues they will most likely face if elected through the National Political Awareness Test.” In other words, they see if candidates will openly, directly explain what they stand for — a tall order in some instances.
- You can also use Project Vote Smart to learn about judges, congressional legislation, voter registration, polling locales, ballot measures, and lots and lots of accurate et cetera.
- The Project also offers up a Voter’s Self-Defense Manual, a must-read for progressives of any political ilk. The booklet can be downloaded as an Acrobat file, or you can order one by giving them a jingle: 1-888-868-3762.
- They are truly bipartisan: “No one can join the Project’s board without a political opposite.” And whose served on the board? Carter, Ford, Dukakis, McCain, McGovern, and Goldwater, to name a few.
- They don’t take cash money from special interests. To quote: “We do not accept contributions from any corporations, labor unions, or other organizations that lobby, support or oppose candidates or issues.” The money comes only in the form of donations by individuals (70%) and philanthropic foundation grants (30%). Plus, 83% of their funds go directly into their programs and content.
- U.S. News and World Report has this to say: “Project Vote Smart would make the Founders weep with joy.” The New York Times pointed out that the Project kicks so much tail that “even the Federal Government recommends it.”
- This service — this wonderful, wonderful service — is completely free.
Want to read more? Go check it out for yourself. Then bookmark it. You’ll want it down the road: we guarantee it.
We’d also like to ask you to give some love in the form of greenbacks to this incredibly worthy, dare we say essential (okay, we dare), this essential cause. Even if giving means three bucks. Here’s the beauty of your generosity: not only do you help out this organization whose sole purpose is to help you as a voter, but your gift is tax-deductible, and you can choose how the money is spent. So give a little and have them spend it wisely.
But remember to bookmark it, baby, remember to bookmark it.
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Call:
This sucker might come as a shock, but the Constitution does not guarantee American citizens the right to vote.
We’ll give you a second to reread that sentence. Okay, now that we’ve got your attention we’ll give you all the support we need to prove it to you. In the Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore, the Court ruled: “The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the
We’d like you to take five minutes right now, immediately after reading this, and call your Senators (take a peek and make sure your boss ain’t lingering around). Just click this sentence to find a list of all the Senators with phone numbers for each. Here’s what we’d recommend saying:
- “I’m a voter from [name your state], and I’m outraged that there’s no Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing my right to vote. If Senator [last name] wants my vote the next time [he or she] is up for reelection, then [he or she] will introduce or support legislation that would guarantee this basic American right.”
Be sure to thank them for their time.
If such an Amendment existed, folks could sue states for voter fraud, suppression, a lack of equal protection, and faulty machines or a lack of functioning ones. There are 7,800 different election jurisdictions. This adds a lot of variables. If there was a Constitutional Amendment, there could be a universal voting system for all elections. Fairness. That’s what we’re talking about here. Accountability. Equality. A more perfect union.
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Write:
Even though we’re far, far away from the next national elections, we think it’s more apropos to deal with this topic well before November, which is, of course, National Pomegranate Month.
Okay, here’s the main idea of our letter-to-the-editor campaign: Our fellow Americans, Election Day should be a national holiday.
Now, it’s hard to argue with a day off (though we’re sure the workaholics out there could give it a shot). But we think for the sake of the U.S. of A., voters deserve a greater opportunity to choose what goes down.
Here are some talking points for ya to use and morph and personalize and localize to your heart’s content:
- Election Day is an excellent way to emphasize the importance of community.
- Voting was a central catalyst behind the founding of the country.
- Voter turnout in the
- Long lines wouldn’t seem as daunting since folks wouldn’t need to hustle back to work.
Photo courtesy of this literate picture-clicker.
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Read:
Adopting Election Day as a national holiday and banging out a Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote seem like two it’s-about-time steps in the right direction.
There’s got to be more we can do to help out so-called “third parties” and their very qualified candidates. Third parties deserve a greater voice in our country, and having more voices, more opinions, and options seems incredibly American to us. Two-party domination seems a bit archaic, a bit undemocratic.
There are several suggestions out there for ways to change the ways we vote and the ways third party candidates get treated on ballots. These ideas include:
We’ll be returning to the topic of election fixes in the future, and we’re curious what your thoughts are about each of the various options. After you read about each, let us know what you think by leaving a comment or by contacting us. Let us know which you prefer, which you have questions about. Your comments will help us decide which ones to support down ye ole road. So, thanks in advance.
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Wear:
Okay, this one’s easy enough. We’d like to encourage you to plunk down a few bucks, snag yourself this t-shirt, and wear it around all year long (taking it off occasionally to shower, make the love, and maybe even wash it here and there). Sport it when you head to the grocery, the gym, the
This is a way to send an honest and constant message. Plus the word “vote” is bad-ass as Mr. T and drop-dead gorgeous as Rita Hayworth. Since you’re reading Progressive Wednesday, we’re confident you’re a little bit of both, too.
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