shokulan,

"Occational twinges of guilt and embarrassment" do not felony convictions make.

Agreed?

"Felony disenfranchisement laws"

I just went back and re-read the lead article for this discussion, and I have to say I believe even stronger in my position. Amy is going to great lengths here to make the felons sound like victims!

I do my best to be open minded, and to listen to and accept the best ideas that I can find, regardless of their source. I read commondreams a lot with that in mind, looking for those ideas.

This just isn't one of them, but I do try and understand, even as I disagree.

There is an online petition asking the DNC to choose the candidate with the most votes and delegates rather than take the chance on a secret backroom deal.

Please sign the petition and pass it on to your friends.

Petition http://www.petitiononline.com/Superdel/petition.html

Ticonderoga ~

Let's keep on point here, because I want to be clear in what I'm saying. We're not discussing divorcees here, or people who overdrew their checking accounts, we're talking about convicted felons. A felony is a very serious offense, not a traffic ticket, not stealing a candy bar, but a very serious breaking of criminal law.

If somebody is convicted of a felony, in my mind they have proven themselves to be un-trustworthy, true? They have proven that they are not capable of weighing a set of choices and making the right choice, true?

And you think it's OK for them to vote?

What part of this am I not seeing, because there's a disconnect that is getting past me. Clearly, I'm blind to some great truth that has gone over my head.

Let me guess, you'd be OK with a convicted felon dating your daughter? Sorry, I had to ask....

Now let me see if I get this straight ~

You're proposing that it's perfectly OK for felons to vote, and I'm guessing that this would include currently incarcerated felons too ~ people who have, say, pulled out a 9mm and performed an armed robbery at a 7/11 or raped a 7 year old? These stalwart bastions of American society should have the same vote as me?

Let's be fair now, if a CEO of a crooked company is found to be guilty of a felony, this person should not be allowed to vote in my book. Just because I don't like what his company does isn't good enough, but a convicted felony of that person would be, OK?

In my obviously skewed view of the universe, when that perp pulled out his probably stolen gun, and pointed it in that minimum wage clerk's face, the violent offender gave up his right to vote by proving with his actions that he does not choose to be a contributing, responsible member of society, but is instead a parasite to that same society.

No, I'm sorry, but I'm not convinced that convicted felons should be allowed to vote. Perhaps someday, once they've proven in some very heroic and demonstrative way that they have made a choice to contribute.

It's too important a task, and too proud an honor to just hand out to anybody. That's what I think, but I'd like to hear what others think.

shokulan, you are right on the money. If everyone in American who'd ever made a bad decision was denied the right to vote, practically every politician would be denied the right to vote, and neither would any of the people who voted for them.

And what about the people who control the institutions that trick people into making bad decisions? Should the people involved with them be allowed to vote? Should the CEO's of oil companies be allowed to vote? Of weapons-manufacturing companies? Of the MSM?

Why shouldn't felons vote? They are allowed to run companies and serve as public officials. Oh I forgot, it is just CONVICTED felons.

pdf,

You may not have spent time behind bars, but I am sure you have made bad decisions for which you are still paying the consequences or at least suffer occasional twinges of guilt and embarrassment. Everyone makes bad decisions, has times when the only choice is between two evils (e.g. elections), and encounters bad luck. Sure, some of those behind bars are truly evil. Yes, American prisons are about punishment, not reform. If you want to keep felons from voting because they had poor judgment, how about eliminating unwed-mothers, the fathers of those babies, DUIs, divorcees, and high school drop-outs?

You don't believe that people can change or learn from their mistakes?

On Felony Voters:

Do we really want to give the power of deciding national direction through the polling place to those who have proven a serious inability to make decisions? If someone cannot understand the consequences of their actions to the point that they are put behind bars for major crimes committed while free members of society ~ I for one have very strong reservations with regard to giving them the power to influence my life and the lives of society as a whole. It's obvious that prison is not about reform, so what would they have done to prove that their ways have changed?

On Voter Registration:

I vote in a state where I am politely asked to show my state approved ID card at the polling table, where they check to see that I am me, and then I vote. Took 10 seconds to do and nobodys rights were infringed upon. Frankly, I see no problem with this, and I think everybody's vote should be theirs and not subject to fraud.

Do those two logical, thoughtful and, to my mind, reasonable stances make me a bad and awful person?

I delight in pointing out to my friends that Taiwan is more democratic than the USA. Taiwan has direct vote. Elections are managed similar to those described by Abe W Goodman (posted 8 Feb on 12:36) in that voters receive their 'registration' in the mail, take it to their voting place in their neighborhood, hand it in, receive their paper ballot, stamp the box for the candidate they want, and go home to watch the polls that night. Counting of ballots are done in public--ANYONE can observe. During the weeks before, the TV posts public information notices on how to vote and how to make sure the vote is qualified. This is because stamping in the wrong place will invalidate a vote. Even more interesting, is that not voting is also considered a type of voting. For referendums to pass, a certain percentage of the population must vote. Not enough votes and the referendum does not pass.

These are reasons that the status quo group want to keep things as they are. The entire voting system in America must be revised. This system is based on early principles of the white male only with rights to vote.

Until this system is abolished and replaced with a system that reflect the mordern principals and ideas more and more people will continue to be disenfranchised.

Re:AndyUK America is not a democracy. It is a corpocracy. The major corporations decide which candidates best represent their corporate interests. Any populist is quickly marginalized by corporate America (such as excluding them from debates)or else they're excluded for financial reasons (sued by deep corporate pockets, no campaign contributions, etc.)if the populist mentions any of the corporate taboos; reducing the size of the military, allowing everyone to vote, taxing the wealthy, universal health care, gasoline taxes, curbing corporate crime, ending war, eliminating nuclear weapons or ending unconditional support for Israel.

The corpocracy then gives the illusion of an election by presenting us with not one but TWO candidates that are alledgedly a lefty and a righty (Dem. & Rep.) who each promise massive reform if elected. Once the farce is over, the puppets elected do as they're told for four years until the whole farce is repeated again.

That's American Politics 101!

I didn't read all the comments so maybe the answer is in there somewhere. Why, oh why, can't we elect by popular vote? Why are we still using the electoral college system?

And, I agree, felons who have paid their time should be allowed to vote.

Big Money versus the people:

To our loyal FHD supporters:
Attached is an accurate post mortem of what happened. There's a lot more to this story: all sorts of tricks, stunts and incompetence--large and small, from the top to the bottom. Suffice it to say the political elites' deep hatred of the citizen's initiative process coupled with their even deeper fear of Hometown Democracy meant all the stops were pulled out to keep this reform off the 2008 ballot. Let's not forget Stalin's famous observation: "The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."
Stay tuned.
OrlandoSentinel.com
Business lobby's cash, political tactics crushed Hometown Democracy slow-growth initiative
Aaron Deslatte
Tallahassee Bureau
February 5, 2008
The fight over controlling Florida growth began as a war of ideas, pitting a wealthy environmental lawyer against businesses that want less control over development, not more.

It ended with a Tallahassee display of brute force.

Florida Hometown Democracy, the ballot initiative that sought to slow growth, fell 65,182 signatures short of the 611,009 needed to make the ballot, thanks in part to a double-barreled business lobby effort that changed state law and raised nearly $4million to crush it.

The tactics show how powerful interest groups with money at stake could wage war against future citizen petitions.

Associated Industries of Florida used a new law to persuade more than 18,000 voters to revoke their signatures, sending them mailers signed by former House Speaker John Thrasher warning that Hometown would destroy Florida 's "scenic beauty."

The Florida Chamber of Commerce raised $3million through a political arm called Floridians for Smarter Growth to run a similar-sounding initiative petition and hire away Hometown's paid petition-gatherers.

And in the weeks before Friday's deadline for counties to verify signatures — a time when elections offices were also processing early voting and absentee ballots for Florida's Jan.29 presidential primary — the chamber's group flooded key counties in South Florida, Sarasota and parts of the Panhandle, where Hometown was gathering signatures.

"Everyone got buried," said Volusia County Elections Supervisor Ann McFall.

The main objective: Slow the processing of Hometown signatures and ensure the chamber's own amendment would make the 2008 ballot only if Hometown's did too.

"Clearly, there's a block-and-tackle strategy," said Chamber Vice President Mark Wilson, who oversees the business group's political operations.

Hometown co-founder Lesley Blackner, a Palm Beach land-use lawyer, said her group got bogged down when its signature-gathering firm quit late last year after the chamber-backed group had driven up the cost per-signature for her paid petition-gatherers.

Blackner conceded the people she hired as replacements submitted "some bad signatures" last year "and it took me a while to catch on to that."

Had it passed in November, the initiative would have required that cities and counties allow the public to vote on changes to the comprehensive plans that are supposed to guide growth in a community.

In the aftermath, the business-backed campaigns argued that Hometown Democracy failed for one overriding reason: Voters didn't agree with it. "The people just didn't support this," said Wilson, who pointed to other environmental groups such as Audubon and 1,000 Friends of Florida that refused to support it.

Blackner, though, said the business groups changed the rules to suit their purposes. "They really don't care about fair play," she said. "They will do anything to win."

Indeed, alarmed developers, home builders and business groups had argued the amendment would throw sand in the gears of Florida 's economy.

So their lobbyists went to work and won passage last spring of a law that would allow voters to revoke their signatures on ballot initiatives within 150 days of their decision to sign.

Development lawyers then persuaded the Division of Elections to make the new law retroactive, so signatures given 150 days before it officially took effect could be revoked.

Ion Sancho, the outspoken Leon County elections supervisor, said the changes create "all kinds of problems" for supervisors, who now are required not only to validate signatures as they come but also to keep track of subsequent revocations.

"This really is inappropriate to use the election laws and procedures and change them for one side to get a political advantage," Sancho said.

Associated Industries' revocation push didn't make the difference in keeping Hometown off the ballot.

But it did drop Hometown below the required minimum number of signatures in one Broward County congressional district that it previously had secured. The law requires a minimum number in 13 of the state's congressional districts; Hometown wound up four short.

"It's the way of the future," Associated Industries president Barney Bishop said. "What we did in these last 4 1/2 months is the first time anywhere in the country where there's been an organized effort to get people to revoke their signatures."

Blackner said organizers would now push to qualify for the 2010 ballot. But because the requirements for signature-gathering are based on turnout in the previous presidential election, Hometown will likely need a lot more signatures.

"Democracy requires a sense of fair play, and they play gutter politics," Blackner said. "I think we can get enough signatures to overcome them."

Aaron Deslatte can be reached at adeslatte@orlandosentinel.com or 850-222-5564.
Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/orl-lochometown05020508feb05,0,3681699.story

HELP SAVE WHAT'S LEFT OF FLORIDA...
LET THE PEOPLE VOTE to control growth!
http://www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com
PO Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170-0636.
Pd.pol.adv.byFloridaHometownDemocracy,Inc,PAC

qbaldsmoove, you wrote:

"Why the hell are corporations given more right to free speech than I am (I can't pin a campaign poster up in my cube! I've been told my rights to free speech are suspended once I walk through the doors to my job)."

The answer: it's because you are chattel.

We Americans tend to be arrogant, individualistic, grandiose, impatient, addicted to instant gratification and have short attention spans. This includes the left. We can be dismissive of details, like Amy's point about prisoners. It will take a lot of hard, patient work to change this system, or even to do one thing like end the occupation of Iraq, which most people want.

We have to get more people actively involved doing all kinds of things. When I go to a peace demonstration I know half the people there from years of activism. Yes, we are oh-so-correct, but we do not take enough people along. So we should add voter registration to our repertoire and be more versatile like the Civil Rights movement who did not ignore opportunities: voter registration, economic boycotts, marches, civil disobedience, fashion shows, picnics, bake sales, speeches, writing, visits to politicians' offices, writing and singing songs etc. etc. My own good-hearted but apolitical mother who is white joined the NAACP in 1960 as a result of being asked to bake a cake for a fund-raiser for them.

Yes, we are quite hemmed in by a corporate system and years of disenfranchisement which has gotten dramatically worse "in a post 911 world". On the national level, the Democratic and Republican party share a history of militarism, imperialism, taking away democratic rights and shifting national wealth to the elite. Organized labor for them exists only before elections as a way to get a block of votes.

You almost cannot get elected unless you are on board with that agenda. There are exceptions among elected officials at a more local level. These local pols are more vulnerable to an informed and angry public and must be shown that their actions have consequences, like they will lose their jobs to someone we run.

And we still do have presidential elections, even though our choices are so restricted. Yet guard that precious right, as it is not ordained that we will automatically keep it. It would be far worse if we had no elections, since we really have little else set up yet. (There are no rebel armies gathering in the mountains as far as I know, nobody with the capacity or will to lead general strikes, etc. Blogging is OK as an information sharing and idea generating tool, but only for computer owners with free time and only if it leads to something else.)

Elections cannot be totally fixed if huge numbers of people vote, watch and audit the polls, and force those unbelievably torpid Dems to challenge stolen elections. Major candidates can be forced to take better positions if large numbers of voters make it clear what conditions they require in order to pledge their vote.

But we are many! We have to bite like a swarm of fire ants on the body politic. We have to bite on every part of the body. We have to rally our fellow ants to join in by sending out various pheremones until they are inspired to join. Voter registration is one place to rally and attack because voter apathy (as justified as it is) has left the electoral front unguarded in the battle for rights. Voting fraud is another. Disenfranchisement of felons is another, especially since "we are the champions of the world" as to how many people are in prison.

We are many - so I had to interrupt my brilliant blogging to print out voter registration forms and instructions for how to vote in NY. I also put the website address for Common Dreams and other sites on my instructions so voters can get information about issues. This is my next mini project -to get 1000 people to send in voter registration forms to show we are not dead. Also to ask my fairly good Congressperson Nydia Velazquez why she endorsed Clinton and how she intends to pressure Clinton and others to do what is right in the future.

The Giant (Gulliver) Awakens!

We have been:
Penned
Cattle prodded
Poisoned
Lied to
Spied on
Bulldozed
Robbed
and
Assassinated
Long Enough.

It's over.

Their Filthy, Dirty,
Corrupt, Polluting
System of GREED
Is Self Destructing
As we watch

Now they want to take it up a notch.
Full and total, Blatant Fascism.
Out from the shadows and finally into the light.
Enjoy the Show.
The New Reality Show
Cor'pirate' Self Destruction
Corpirates eaten by Parasites.
From the inside out.

The veils become transparent.
One by one
The dominoes fall
The Repression Lifts
Like a house of cards it's falling apart.

A Millennium of Hypnotic Conditioning and
Propaganda is coming to:
The End!

They would rather destroy themselves and us
Rather then set us free.
Offer no resistance!
It will only make them stronger.
They have all the weapons anyway.
It is the only game they are good at!
Brutality and War.
If we let them pull us down into the gutter with them,
They have WON!

We would become what we hate.
What they are!
THEM!

We have more important things to do besides dwelling in the past.
The future is finally ours and much more important work has to be done.
The possibilities are endless and the rewards great.
Our whole system has to revamped from a
Centralized version to: A totally Decentralized One.
They have gotten us this far and
Now we must take it the rest of the way.
An Economic Renaissance.
The totally diversification and decentralization of:
Energy, Food, Education and Manufacturing production.
Local is better, fresher, healthier and energy conserving.
Self reliance and self sufficiency is the key.
Set the good example.
Take the best of what we know and use it to create something better.
Let's give our positive, intuitive, creative process a free hand and a blank canvas to work on.
Provide the resources, cooperation, manpower and time to create something
Grand!
A Free Country.
One for all and All for One.

Two paths diverged in the yellow woods and being a free citizen.
We will take the path less traveled.

We must stay true to our Ideals!
They have gotten us this far and are strong enough to take us the rest of the way.
Relying on what we know and Love.

These Positive Creative Ideals!
Cooperation, Brotherly Love, Peacefulness,
Patience, Helpfulness and True Compassion.

It is over.
Just sit back and relax.
All that is left is a lot of Postulating.

Sorry,
You must go!
and
We must stay.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »]
The Proclamation!
[Report this comment] [Ignore this user]
Posted by: williameon on Feb 8, 2008 4:29 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]

The Emancipation Proclamation
By United Communities of America:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the eight day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand and eight, a proclamation was issued by the United Communities, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

"That on the twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand and nine, all persons within any Community or designated part of a Community, the people whereof shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

Now, therefore we the United Communities, by virtue of the power vested in us as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United Communities in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war for freedom, do, on this eight day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand and eight, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaim The United Communities of America a free and sovereign Nation.

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, we do order and declare that all persons indentured within said in the United States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And we hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and we recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for a living wage.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon humanistic necessity, we invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of The Creative Spirit.

Not that I approve of disenfranchising anyone (except racketeers shouldn't have the right to run for high office). However, everyone can vote with their feet, and with their hands. Your age doesn't matter either. When you work, you vote early and often.

Remember to work on local elections. They don't have much power, but you can succeed. Eventually local elections influence state and national elections.

From what I can make out, Diebold is going to win the election for the Repubs anyway. Seems they make all the voting machines, machines which are...well...er, not always reliable?

The world is waiting for the next Republican Dummy...sorry, President. He or she will be hard pressed to out-dummy Bush. He deserves an Oscar for his portrayal of Presidentus Brainrecessivus!

www.dangerouscreation.com

Living in the UK, there are a couple of things which strike me as really strange about the US electoral system.
You are supposed to be a democracy, but certain people - ex convicts, and people who are not on the register for some obscure reason cannot vote. Immediately, we have a situation, where a particular segment of persons (who would most probably vote for a socialist party), are being taken out of the equation.
There is then the matter of the two party system, which I assume has come about, because of the influence "big business" has in the political system.
Is it possible to establish a third party, or is it the case that there are not enough people who are concerned about this happening?
Here in the UK, in the last election the votes cast by percentage were:
Labour (Tony Blair) 37%
Conservative 33%
Liberal Democrats 22%
Others 8%
This shows two things:
We have a healthy interest in alternative politics, and Tony Blair's popularity is not all it was hyped up to be.
We need electoral reform, because the first past the post, or, as Stonewall points out "winner takes all" is not fair. If proportional representation was introduced, there would be more chance of having a coalition government, with parties having to vote on more issues. With the current system, our Labour party have a falsely inflated majority lead in Parliament, which does not reflect the views of the nation.
That is not democracy.

In those same states ,mainly in the south, it was the slave owner that voted his slaves.

I wanted to share my experiences as a Canadian on the voting process here, BECAUSE after years of hearing about all the voting problems down south, faulty machines made by defence contractors, hanging chads, Florida cousins, Fox news calling the shots . . . it troubles me Americans are not mobilizing to reform their increasingly complicated, corrupted and tampered electoral process. I think I'd be ready to burn my ballot like they used to burn draft cards!! Oh ya, you are not allowed to have a ballot!

First of all, there are never any lines in a Canadian polling station. Why would there be lines? Folks aren't shopping for new shoes, they are voting! Poling stations are usually in school gymnasiums or church basements. Polls are open for half the day, giving ample time for everyone to vote without crowds and lines forming. Every neighbourhood in every town has a polling station. If you want a lift to a polling station, there are services available free of charge, usually provided by one of the main three parties.

Generally most folks go to vote in the afternoon after work. Canadians do have the right to skip out of work early if they feel too pressed for time on election day.

Once you hand in your card, that was mailed to you, your name is checked off the list and you are given a paper ballot. The candidates on the ballot represent the main three parties plus a slew of other representatives usually including the green party, Marxist-Leninist, Socialists, and a half-dozen more. For a while we had a joke party called the rhinocerous party. Anyone can run after paying a two thousand dollar deposit, refunded if you win. Every party has representatives overlooking the election who can stay to witness the counting, along with Elections Canada officials and usually a few folks hired for the day. The count happens in-house and as soon as the polls close.

You take your paper ballot, mark it with a pencil, fold it and hand it back in. You are on your way five minutes after you walked in.

Here comes the best part. You go home, make supper, sit down to eat, maybe play a game of scrabble, then with bedtime approaching, you turn on the tv or radio and get the results of the election by the 11 o'clock news. Without fail, every election. No scandals, no re-counts, no shinanigans. Bang, there it is. Some Americans would say, well the population is 1/8th of the states, but I would counter it would work if we had ten times the population. The system is simple, precise, yields results clearly and quickly.

FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE, YANKEES!
take it to the streets, take it to the man! overturn those machines, demand the paper ballot!

In those same states ,mainly in the south, how many Hispanics do you think will be denied the right to vote because they will be considered illegal immigrants.

We had a voice for the people, but that voice, that of John Edwards, was silenced by Main Stream Media, yes, but by Alternative Media as well, including, yes, you, Amy Goodman.

Karita Hummer

I don't understand why a person is denied the right to vote if he's ever been in prison. Hasn't he served his time? In the U.S. everything is about punishment and not rehabilitation. What a sad situation.

It's time that we allow all people who have been in prison and jail the right to vote.

In regard to the first comment in this thread by DD:

"This is a great reason why we need statehouses and governors' mansions full of Democrats. They are the ONLY ones who will ever be for forgiving former offenders enough to let them vote again. Maybe we'll have a national Dem win this year and some more state legislatures and governors will go Dem on the coattails. In my dreams, as always."

I think this is an important issue regardless of someone's political party. Of the ten states referenced by Amy Goodman, Democrats are currently governors in six states and Republicans in four states. Democrats are governors in Virginia, Kentucky, Arizona, Delaware, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

If the political spectrum in the world is from A to Z, then the American political spectrum is V, W, X. Three unpopular letters out on the far right fringe.

There is a simple solution to all this election voting mess. Push for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) or Range Voting. We will only need one election for a public office - no primaries, no caucuses, no irritating conventions. It is efficient and neat, people can vote their conscience without fear that voting for a candidate will cause a less desirable, but more popular, candidate to get elected.

Check them out on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_runoff_voting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_voting

Regarding the Nader reference:

1. 200,000 registered Democrats voted for Bush in Florida.
Nader did not cost Gore the election.

2. 6 other parties had more votes than the phony difference of 537 votes between Gore and Bush.
Once again, Nader did not cost Gore the election.

3. The newspaper consortium sponsored recount showed that using all four definitions of a vote Gore won all four.
I can't remember if I said this, so I'll say it again: Nader had nothing to do with Gore losing.

"Eight other states have permanent felony disenfranchisement laws, with some conditions that allow people to rejoin the voter rolls: Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Wyoming."

make that 9. the state of washington refuses to let felons vote until they pay off any court ordered restitution, which in many cases, are so high they can't be paid off in one person's lifetime, unless they are milionaires.

There are not millions, but BILLIONS without a voice in the conduct of USA Incorporated by which their lives and livelihoods are directly affected -- sometimes to the point of death and worse. And the vast majority are not felons.

Their expectations of those who do have that opportunity aren't very high either.

http://www.american.edu/ia/cdem/usp/hava_papers/Fischer_Coleman-Voter_Registration_Systems-AU.pdf

The article above asserts that, throughout history, the acknowledged primary purpose of voter registration is to "restrict access to the voting booth."

Those that advocate voter registration claim it prevents fraud. But, that's a dishonest claim. First, it is not true. Second, it is not the main reason for the advocacy of voter registration. The main reason is to exclude eligible voters who you have good reason to suspect will not vote your way.

North Dakota has no voter registration. A detailed study of voter fraud in North Dakota would no doubt reveal no significant problem of voter fraud, this eliminating the stated rationale for voter registration.

Those concerned about Amy Goodman's article should help register voters, and work at the same time to eliminate the whole system of registration altogether.

Voter registration is the solution which obviates the need to address the problem above.

In the 2004 election, only about 72% of eligible citizens were registered to vote. Eligible citizens were 197 million. Registered citizens were 142 million.

Digging a bit, one finds that the least registered group is Hispanics. There were 16 million voting age Hispanic citizens in 2004, but only 9.3 million registered to vote. The picture was also stark for Asian-Americans.

Other segments are also under-registered, including the less educated, less economically privileged.

The US compares very poorly with other industrial nations on the proportion of eligible citizens who are not registered to vote. In many, voter registration is actively accomplished by the government, and does not require citizen effort, but is rather a responsibility of the government.

If the % registered voters increased by 5% or 10%, that would mean 10 to 20 million more registered voters, and probably 7 to 15 million more voters in federal elections.

With 120 million votes cast in 2004, that would be about a 10% increase.

And, that -- my friends -- would be the death of these radical right wing politicians.

Data comes from here:

http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p20-556.pdf

One approach might be -- why have registration at all? Is it not enough to be a citizen and present proof of it? What purpose does voter registration serve other than putting up a roadblock that disproportionately affects population segments that have inconvenient political views?

This administration is in a race to the bottom of the toilet bowl. Are we there yet?

Re: "the Democrats have still not corrected this problem for us."

This is not the Democrats' problem. This is the citizens'/voters' problem. It is up to citizens/voters to correct this problem with their representatives who are responsive to the lobbying efforts of the electronic voting machine industry, and with their local Registrar of Voters offices that are hiring/appointing elections officials with close ties to the electronic voting machine industry.

The Montana Republican "caucus" or "farcus" as I call it disenfranchised the entire rank and file Republican electorate. It was conducted with poor public notice to begin with, but ultimately the rank and file voters that did show up had no vote. Only appointed local delegates and elected officials had votes. At the "farcus" the candidates apparently were discussed, and live video feeds from every campaign were displayed, it theoretically was possible to ask questions of the candidates... but time did not allow. The rank and file then attempted to persuade the delegates to vote their way on an individual (or group) basis. The delegates had no obligation whatsoever to cast their votes in accord to local sentiment. Thus a number of individuals were handed what amounted to "super votes", and the rest utterly and completely disenfranchised. Before worrying about ex convicts being disenfranchised, perhaps we need to worry about ordinary voters being disenfranchised.

Not being a Republican, I did not attend the caucus.... the Democratic primary is in June and is being held normally.

The system as it exists is deeply flawed. A caucus is an excellent format..... but it has two glaring flaws if conducted in the traditional (not Montana) manner. First is that it is at a specific time and place (brief), and second the vote is not by secret ballot.

I would propose the following changes in our "democratic" (primary) system. First that the process is conducted by caucus..... rather than simply by ballot. The reason is that it forces people to interact with each other, and the candidates, and discuss issues. something there is not enough of. Second that the caucus be conducted for an entire day with ONLY people from the local precinct in attendance. Third, a secret ballot be cast by each participant rather than a public head count. Forth that state delegates be assigned PROPORTIONALLY rather than "winner take all" and be obligated to cast their vote accordingly. Fifth.... That NO counts be done until 2 weeks before the convention...... Sixth... that the primary season be distributed throughout the time from the first of the year through the convention to allow more time for candidates to interact with the individual voters. The reason for the "sealed vote" being to prevent one primary from influencing another. "Super Tuesday" is an abortion and should be abolished. Eliminate the influence of one state primary over another, and you eliminate the competition to be first.
"Winner take all" is wrong in either the primary or the general election..... it should be abolished as it effectively disenfranchises the voter.

Howard

Electronic voting machine fraud with lack of a paper trail is a much bigger issue and the Democrats have still not corrected this problem for us.

McCain is being berated by the right because of his "McCain Feingold" bill, most of which has been thrown out by the Supreme Court (7 of 9 of which have been appointed by repugs, something like 12 of the last 15).

Probably the single biggest issue in this country is campaign finance reform. Why the hell are corporations given more right to free speech than I am (I can't pin a campaign poster up in my cube! I've been told my rights to free speech are suspended once I walk through the doors to my job).

And no real campaign finance reform will ever be enacted because the supreme court won't let it. It would have to be done through an ammendment, and the corporations, with their free speech rights and bottomless pockets have made sure that there's enough confusion in the general public to, well, elect some shithead like W. Enough said there I think.

I agree with Amy's points about felony disenfranchisement being unfair and arguably racist against blacks. But I'm not voting because I think our entire election system is biased and corrupt. Unlike Germany, France, or other modern industrialized nations our government limits us to only 2 viable parties: the democrats and republicans. Our federal election system is designed to KEEP OUT other political parties: no Greens, no Libertarians, no Socialists, etc. There are like 7 different parties in Germany's representative government, and all of them have real influence over policy. This never happens in the USA! We have just two crappy parties. Further, the democrats have shifted so far to the conservative/right wing end of the political spectrum we really have just one party: the "business party". Like Noam Chomsky once said, "in the USA political system there is only one party, and that's the business party". Dems and repubs are two sides of the same coin. Democrats--especially after Clinton--only represent corporate management: the democrat party's traditional base of working class, minorities, and labor unions have been abandoned. What am I driving at? Our federal government and our election system has been subverted by wealthy corporate interests to the point that we the people have been effectively removed from our own country's political process. There are clear examples of deliberate exclusion and silencing of candidates who stand for real change in Washington: look how Dennis Kucinich was deliberately kicked out of the Nevada democratic primary debates which were televized. NBC's army of attorney's worked diligently through the night to overturn a judges ruling in favor of Kucinich that he had the right to stay in the debate. In the end NBC-corporate America-won the day and millions of Americans watched a myopic debate sanitized of diversity of thought on pressing issues of the day. Sad to say it's always like this in America. Any real agent of political change is actively, aggressively removed from the election process early on. In this way, the corporate status quo and Wall Street keep everything just the way they want it: 99 pennies for me, and 1 penny for you". Good night.

"It is enough that the people know we had an election.

It is not the people that vote that matter, what matters is who counts the votes."

Joseph Stalin

Re: "Disenfranchisement-people being denied their right to vote-takes many forms, and has a major impact on electoral politics."

For this election, it is the disenfranchisement of non-partisan (decline to state) voters. The California Democratic Party opened its primary election on Feb. 5 to non-partisan voters. However, these voters, the ones who registered as non-partisan and who wanted to cast their votes on a democratic party ballot, were disenfranchised in the following ways:

(1) They were misinformed by poll workers that they could only vote on a non-partisan ballot.

(2) After the election, poll workers professed that they were not required to explain the various options available to non-partisan voters, and that it was up to the non-partisan voter to know what options were available to him/her, and to make their request without any assistance by the poll workers.

(3) LA County in CA (and possibly others) provided special ballots for non-partisan voters to use that were confusing to voters, and for which inadequate instructions were provided to the voter by the poll worker, resulting in as many as hundreds of thousands of non-partisan voters' ballots being nullified.

(4) Non-partisan voters were required to vote on provisional ballots. The process for counting provisional ballots is not as transparent as is the process for counting regular ballots. Therefore, there is a much greater possibility that these voters were disenfranchised.

Additionally, many voters who claim to have registered correctly in one of the parties were on the polling place rosters as non-partisan voters, which resulted in their being subject to all of the above ways of being disenfranchised.

The election is not on TV.

The election IS TV!

Media reform NOW. All this election banter is counterproductive until the issues the talking heads are talking about are selected more democratically

I like Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. Dennis dropped out and Ron hasn't a chance. Too bad.

Voting is a usless exercise because:

The candidate selection process is bias towards Democrats and Republicans.

The finacing of elections is private therefore giving the "established" parties an advantage.

The counting of votes is grossly inaccurate. One to two percent are miscounted or not counted.

There is more.

Wow, we can have 5 million more people standing in lines for hours to have their vote not counted!

Dear Amy,
fyi
The Kentucky Constitution prohibits felons from voting unless the governor restores their civil rights. Note the phrase 'unless the governor'. Under Fletcher not many ex-felons got their rights restored.

This is a great reason why we need statehouses and governors' mansions full of Democrats. They are the ONLY ones who will ever be for forgiving former offenders enough to let them vote again. Maybe we'll have a national Dem win this year and some more state legislatures and governors will go Dem on the coattails.
In my dreams, as always.