Monday, January 28, 2008

Bloomberg's Independence Primer

This week TIME spoke with ballot access expert Clayton Mulford, who ran both of Ross Perot's Independent candidacies as campaign manager and principle spokesperson in 1992 and as general counsel in 1996. Mulford, a 51-year-old corporate security lawyer and Director of Peerless Manufacturing Co., more recently has been working with the National Math and Science Initiative, a nonprofit education organization geared at expanding school programs in those areas. On Friday, January 18 in Austin, Texas, he met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Use the above link to read the entire article.

Michael H. Drucker
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Friday, January 25, 2008

Open Primaries

Here is a sample letter to your paper if your state has closed primaries:

Dear Editor,
Everyone's talking about the impact independent voters are having in this presidential election. But in 18 states, independents can't vote in the primaries or caucuses. With polls showing independents making up 40% of the electorate, closed primaries disenfranchise a significant number of the American people. Currently, the law allows the Democrats and Republicans to determine whether independents can vote in primaries. But shouldn't our rights as voters trump the rights of the political parties? Shouldn't all of us, whether we are Democrats, Republicans or independents, have a fundamental right to participate in every stage of our election process? And who pays the costs associated with holding primaries and caucuses of these quasi-governmental entities, the Democrats and Republicans? In the vast majority of states, it's the taxpayers.

Independent voters in closed primary states don't enjoy the rights of full citizenship and are excluded from what is often the most critical part of the electoral process. In these states, where one party often dominates, the primary election is the only one that matters. The general election is a rubber stamp of the primary's results, and then, the votes of independent voters are irrelevant. Voter interest and participation increase when independent voters are permitted to participate in the primaries. It forces the candidates to be less partisan, and to address problems that affect all Americans, so they appeal to all voters.

Our primaries are not open to independents. Independents are getting together as part of a growing network in our state and in the country (see www.independentvoting.org) to loudly demand that democracy and the voters come before party interests. The parties should open their primaries!

Get involved and write!

Michael H. Drucker
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Monday, January 21, 2008

Independent Voters

The following is from an article by Stanley Fish the Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and a professor of law at Florida International University, in Miami, and dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Use the above link to read the entire article "Against Independent Voters".

What do independent voters do? Well, most of all, they talk about the virtue of being an independent voter. When they are asked to explain what that means, they say, “I can’t stand the partisan atmosphere that has infected our politics” (forgetting that politics is partisan by definition); or “we like to make up our own minds and don’t want anyone telling us what to do (as if Democrats and Republicans were sheep eager to go over whatever cliff the leadership brings them to) or (and this was a favorite of those interviewed in Iowa and New Hampshire), “We vote the person rather than the party.”

This is a comment on the article from a reader:

"In my view, presidential elections are just means to an end, and not ends in themselves. Consequently, I find it puzzling why someone would register as an independent. As far as I know, being an independent voter only denies one the opportunity to participate in primaries or caucuses in certain states. It confers no tactical advantages over those registered for one of the two major political parties. My own political philosophy is, as is the case for numerous others, well represented by neither of these parties, which leads me to have little loyalty towards either. Still, I am registered as a member of one because of the extra opportunity it affords me to participate in the democratic process."

There are different ways to view this. Yes if you believe there should be only a two-party system, you would have to register so you can take part in the selection process. But if you want to change the two-party system you need to start by rejecting it. One way to do this is to fight for non-partisan elections where all voters collectively go through the political process regardless of party loyalty.

This process will need to start locally and work its way through to the state and then national governing systems. I can only hope we can put independent members of the political process in place to help express our views and cause all politicans to listen to what the voters have to say and form coalitions for doing the peoples work.

Michael H. Drucker
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Sunday, January 20, 2008

Fringe Presidential Candidates

Senior Editor Nathan Thornburgh of Times traveled to New Hampshire recently to meet with some truly unique presidential candidates.

Use the above link to view the video.

Michael H. Drucker
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Friday, January 18, 2008

Independents Will Make the Difference

On the political calendar, February 5th is a date that looms large. Twenty-two states hold presidential primaries or caucuses. No wonder it’s been dubbed not only Super Tuesday, but in some quarters Tsunami Tuesday. What is the Super Big Wave that could sweep through 15 of those 22 states? Independent voters – who are eligible to cast ballots in open primaries and caucuses.

Use the above link to read the entire article.

Michael H. Drucker
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Thursday, January 17, 2008

NY Voting Machine Plan Approved

A federal judge has approved the State Board of Election’s latest plan for bringing New York into compliance with federal voting laws. New York is years behind federal deadlines to comply with the Help America Vote Act, which was enacted after the contested 2000 presidential elections to ensure better vote-counting accuracy and access for the disabled. On Wednesday, Judge Gary L. Sharpe of Federal District Court gave the state permission to follow through on plans to come into compliance. If the state meets the agreed-upon timeline, voting machines accessible to the disabled will be available in every polling place around the state by November’s elections. The state would then replace all pull-lever machines with high-tech machines by the fall 2009 elections.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG DELIVERS 2008 STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

"Unfortunately, a Charter Revision Commission can't affect an area that desperately needs modernization: The Board of Elections, perhaps the only agency that still has the party bosses directly calling the shots. But this year, we will work with Citizens Union to build a nonpartisan coalition that unites the left and the right around a very basic idea: Hiring should be based on merit, not party ties. 2008 is the 130th anniversary of the death of Boss Tweed. Let's also make it the year we finally put to rest his style of politics."

Michael H. Drucker
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

N.H. Primary Re-count Underway

Democrat Dennis Kucinich has paid $27,000 to start the re-count.

Kucinich has asked that the re-count start with Manchester ballots and spread out from there to other Hillsborough County precincts. He can stop the re-count and get a refund for the balance of the costs. To re-count the entire state would cost him about $70,000.

Republican Albert Howard of Michigan also has asked for a re-count but has not paid for it yet.

The re-count will began Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Rock The Debates!

Never before in American history has it been more vital to have an open, honest, and innovative examination of America’s problems and solutions.

The best way to sparking the minds of Americans is to open up the presidential debates beyond the Democrat and Republican parties. Rock-the-Debates seeks to include third parties who will energize the presidential debates placing their ideas into the mix, without endorsing or opposing any particular candidate. We just want the ideas out and let the American people decide.




Use the above link to get envolved.

A Nevada judge has ordered MSNBC to include Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic presidential candidate, in Tuesday night’s debate in Nevada, the Associated Press reports. The debate was expected to feature Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. Charles Thompson, a senior district court judge for Clark County, Nevada, said he would issue an injunction stopping the debate if Mr. Kucinich is excluded. In a statement, MSNBC responded: “We disagree with the judge’s decision and are filing an appeal.”

The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that NBC’s debate can go forward without Kucinich.

Michael H. Drucker
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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Hillary has company

This is from the Transported Newsletter.

"Hillary Clinton is boldly running for President in 2008, and the thought may seem unusual, since we've never had a woman President. We have, however, had a President election with a woman on the ballot before - 13 elections, in fact! Here's a look at some of the more notable cases of this phenomena, and why Clinton may just have a chance.

Dr. Lenora Fulani - ran for the New Alliance Party in 1988. She is a developmental psychologist and psychotherapist. She is perhaps the most successful female Presidential candidate so far. She is both the first woman and the first African-American to achieve a spot on the ballot in all fifty states, and she pulled a record number of votes for a female candidate, at 217,219. She ran again in 1992 for the same party, but didn't do as well. In 1993, she joined with activists rallying around Ross Perot, to get an alternative voting platform going."


Use the above link to read the entire article.

Michael H. Drucker
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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Harlem has a choice

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination, as it moves to Nevada and South Carolina, remains as unsettled as ever. Senator Barack Obama visited New Jersey and New York on Wednesday for a rally and a fund-raising event, while Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton gave interviews from her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., in Westchester County. The New York Times took the occasion of their visits here to ask several self-identified Democrats in Harlem which candidate they supported and whether the results on Tuesday in New Hampshire had affected their decisions.

Harlem seemed a particularly fertile place to hear strong opinions about these two candidates. Bill Clinton set up his office there after leaving the White House in 2001, and the area’s local politicians have been strong supporters of the Clintons.
But as the neighborhood long seen as the capital of black America, Harlem also has played a major role in advancing the political aspirations of African-Americans.

Click the above link to listen to interviews with Harlem Democrats. The interviews were conducted around Lenox Avenue and 125th Street. Then share your own views in the comment box.

Michael H. Drucker
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2008 NH primary analysis

Read Jackie Salit's, president of CUIP (Committe for a Unfied Independent Party) and Executive Editor of THE NEO-INDEPENDENT magazine "Some thoughts on the New Hampshire results" by clicking the above link.

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, January 8, 2008

VOTER ID REQUIREMENTS LIMIT POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

A new Brown University study finds that "requiring voters to present identification at the polls leads to lower levels of voter participation" and discourages "legal immigrants from becoming citizens, particularly for blacks and Hispanics, reducing odds of naturalization by more than 15 percent." Last year, legislatures in 27 states passed laws to increase identification requirements to register to vote or cast ballots. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Indiana's law requiring voters to present a current state-issued photo identification card tomorrow, just over a year after a U.S. appeals court barred the state of Georgia from requiring voters to obtain government-issued photo IDs. Though supporters of voter ID laws claim that they are necessary to prevent voter fraud, as The New York Times has reported, there is "virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections." Such laws have been called "modern-day equivalents of poll taxes and literacy tests that kept Black voters from the ballot box in the Jim Crow era." The study finds that the suppressive effects of voter ID laws affect "not only minorities, but also persons with less than a high school education and less than $15,000 income."

Michael H. Drucker
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National Popular Vote Bill

Under the current system of electing the President, a candidate may win a majority of the Electoral College without having a majority of the nationwide popular vote. The National Popular Vote bill would reform the Electoral College by guaranteeing the Presidency to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia). The bill would enact the proposed interstate compact entitled the "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote." The compact would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the membership of the Electoral College (that is 270 of 538 electoral votes). Under the compact, all of the members of the Electoral College from all states belonging to the compact would be from the same political party as the winner of nationwide popular vote. Thus, the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia) will be guaranteed a majority of the Electoral College, and hence the Presidency. Because the compact guarantees a majority of the Electoral College to the winner of most popular votes nationwide, the compact has the additional benefit of eliminating the possibility that a presidential election might be thrown into the U.S. House of Representatives (with each state casting one vote).

391 state legislators (in addition to 366 sponsors) have cast recorded votes in favor of the National Popular Vote bill.

Use the above link to find out more about the bill.

What do you think about a National Popular Vote?

Michael H. Drucker
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