Progressive Democrat Issue 90: NATIONAL ACTION FOR VOTING RIGHTS

In 2000, the Republican Secretary of State of Florida, Katherine Harris, led the way by orchestrating a stolen election for George Bush. Or, more accurately, she blocked all attempts to verify the election and did all she could to favor a vote count that gave her state to Bush.

In 2002, Georgia surprisingly elected Republicans to the Senate and Governor positions in an election many call suspicious. No official investigation was ever done.

In 2004, Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell of Ohio did in Ohio what Katherine Harris did in Florida...make every attempt to disenfranchise Democratic areas and block any attempts to verify the vote.

In 2006 in San Diego county there was a special elecetion to replace the now-jailed Randy Cunningham. In a very close election, the Republican candidate won under circumstances that even right wing talk show host and former San Diego mayor Roger Hedgecock saw as highly suspicious.

Throughout the nation voting irregularities are occurring, usually under the watchful eyes of Republican secretaries of state, which almost always favor the Republican candidates. The scale of this is huge, but it can only happen if the public allows it to happen. We need to fight back.

There are MANY reforms we have to work for, including voting machines with paper ballots that can be legally recounted, and the elimination of partisan election boards. But for now, the number one issue is to get honest Democrats elected to secretary of state to stop the corruption of the Republican secretaries of state in states like Florida, Ohio and Georgia.

Many progressives around the nation have come to a similar conclusion. I have my own Act Blue Page focusing on secretary of state, attorney general and auditors in key states where election fraud or financial fraud need to be weeded out. These elected positions are CRITICAL if we want to deal with the Republican culture of corruption, cronyism and greed symbolized by people like Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Randy Cunningham, Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell.

I also want to highlight two other efforts along these lines, focusing specifically on the position of secretary of state. First there is the Secretary of State (SoS) Project:

The Secretary of State Project was created by concerned citizens to provide an easy-to-use, low-cost vehicle for online donations to key Secretary of State races...

A modest political investment in electing clean candidates to critical Secretary of State offices is an efficient way to protect the election in 2008. It’s impossible to place election observers at every precinct where voter suppression tactics may be deployed. What’s more, the most significant barriers to voting are set months in advance of any election – when voter registration laws are selectively enforced, when minorities are purged from voter rolls, and when decisions are made about what kind of voting machines are purchased.

The SoS Project focuses on the secretary of state position in Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, Michigan and New Mexico.

Then Democracy for America has its own version of the secretary of state project which seems related to but also distinct from the above project. DFA's own SoS Project describes itself as follows:

The best way to protect our vote is to elect responsible, ethical leaders to the office of Secretary of State. When people like Ken Blackwell and Katherine Harris control the election process it should be no surprise that voters are disenfranchised and that our democracy is undermined.

Democracy for America is supporting four great Secretary of State candidates that will start restoring fairness to our elections. These candidates all support verifiable paper ballots and strong protections for voter rights. They all have a great chance to win, but they need your help to put their campaigns over the top.

The four candidates supported by the DFA SoS Project are those running in California, Ohio, Minnesota and Vermont. I suspect that this list differs from the previous one because each group has its own endorsement process, leading to an overlapping but distinct focus.

PLEASE make some donations here. Or if you live in these states, please volunteer to help. Secretary of state is an often ignored position...but the future of our democracy partly depends on who is elected to these positions. Help elect honest, dependable, intelligent secretaries of state.