Showing posts with label Christina Tobin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christina Tobin. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Millennials Don't Vote and What To Do About It


More than half of respondents in a survey released by Harvard University's Institute of Politics said they think elected officials don't share their priorities, and almost two-thirds said elected officials seem motivated by selfish reasons.  Less than a quarter of the millennials polled said they will definitely be voting in November.

CLICK HERE to read more about the poll.

Wall Street and private central banks are the chief financiers of political campaigns and they are also the owners of the media outlets that shape public consensus.  This leaves major political parties indebted to the agenda of their financiers, who funnel millions of dollars into the Commission on Presidential Debates which is co-chaired by former members of the RNC and DNC. This leads to the question:

How can we get Millennials to vote when they know corporate financial interests dictate the party representatives and their choices?

Here are two individuals working to fix our Democracy in crisis.

Christina Tobin is the founder and chair of Free & Equal Elections Foundation.  She has a long history of supporting ballot access, having gathered over 1 million signatures for the Green Party, Constitution Party, Republican Party, Democratic Party, Libertarian Party, Socialist Equality Party and independents.

The Foundation is a non-partisan grassroots organization, whose mission is to shift the power back to the individual voter through education.  Their motto, "More Voices, More Choices."

Christina describes herself as a “realistic optimist”, aware of the difficult task ahead of her but ready for the challenge.  Free and Equal is here to reach out to all those who have given up on voting and tell them about their choices while bringing together art, media, and journalism, providing an alternative platform that will allow a multitude of voices to come together harmoniously and be heard.

Free and Equal’s answer to this question has been to offer necessary alternatives to the scripted mainstream debates.  In 2012, Free and Equal reached out to millions during the Open Presidential Debates and put the questions that matter on the table.

More recently, the United We Stand Festival brought together socially conscious musicians, journalists, leaders, and activists to inspire young people to educate themselves about the issues and get active.

Daniel Lee is a lifelong activist.  He serves on the national leadership team for the group Move to Amend, which is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals committed to social and economic justice, ending corporate rule, and building a vibrant democracy; Move To Amend is calling for an amendment to the US Constitution to unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns.

It is up to each and every one of us to affect change.

Your participation could make a substantial difference in races where real choices exist.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Filing Fee to Get on the Ballot



The Free & Equal Elections Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy advocacy group dedicated to election reform and improving ballot access laws in the United States. Many states have restrictive requirements that make it difficult for non-establishment candidates to place their names on the ballot. Free & Equal will challenge these laws, through lobbying of state legislators, court challenges, and initiatives. Free & Equal will also engage in activism for causes independent of the current two-party duopoly.


From the site's founder, Christina M. Tobin, I received an email discussing:

Today, State Representative Jim Watson (R-97, Jacksonville) introduced House Bill 2854, a ballot access reform bill for Illinois elections. HB2854, originally proposed by the Free & Equal Elections Foundation, would allow candidates for public office an alternative to Illinois' unequal and burdensome signature requirements by paying a filing fee in its place. The bill would allow candidates to pay a filing fee equal to 1% of the annual salary of the office sought in lieu of gathering signatures. Illinois requirements for independent candidates are in many cases a great deal more restrictive than they are for political party candidates, effectively preventing independents from getting on the ballot. HB2854 would make the requirements equal for independents and recognized party candidates, so that Illinois voters have a choice. If the bill were to pass, Illinois would join Louisiana, Florida, and Oklahoma in allowing certain candidates to pay a filing fee in lieu of the petition requirement.

This option is in my playbook of changes. We have started to discuss this here in New York.

Use the above link to find out more about The Free & Equal Elections Foundation.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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