Obama Presidential Voting Commission To Be Announced

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will announce a bipartisan presidential voting commission to focus on improving the Election Day experience, The Huffington Post has learned from two sources outside the White House with knowledge of the plans.

The commission is one of a number of efforts the Obama administration is making to address the problems that plagued voting on Election Day 2012. The commission, which will focus specifically on Election Day issues and not broader voting reform, will likely be co-chaired by one Republican and one Democratic lawyer, according to one of the sources.

The White House announced Tuesday that 102-year-old Miami resident Desiline Victor will be a guest of first lady Michelle Obama during the president's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, during which Obama is expected to discuss voting reforms. Victor is a naturalized U.S. citizen who stood in line for three hours at a local library on the first Sunday of early voting until workers told her to come back later that evening. A crowd of thousands of people erupted in applause when she emerged with an "I Voted" sticker, the White House said.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/obama-voting-commission_n_2672538.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

[Mr.Bill]

1. Unfortunately, "bipartisan" has come to mean

nothing will happen.

[valerief]

2. +1 gazillion!!!!!

[sheshe2]

3. Damn, kpete. This is great news!

Perez said voting reforms were a top priority for the Obama administration in its second term. He said he had spoken with Attorney General Eric Holder in the early morning the day after the election.

Thanks for sharing!

[kpete]

5. sheshe2

tell me about it

YEAH BABY IT'S ABOUT TIME



peace, kpete

[rhett o rick]

15. I will hold my excitment until I hear who he selects as the Democrat. His

track record isnt too good.

[robinlynne]

20. nor is the election "experience' what is at stake. It is democracy itself.

[rhett o rick]

21. I agree. If we cant assure free and fair elections then all other issues are moot. nm

[Redfairen]

4. Oh, you mean like a "supercommittee"??

Hold hearings. Issues report. Congress ignores. Nothing happens. Hohum. Seen this one before.

[denverbill]

6. Oh, bipartisan! Are Democrats going to help suppress minority and urban voting as well?

Wake up Obama. Republicans in every state in the country do their damnedest to make sure voting is more difficult for minorities and other Democratic leaning populations.

Every election law change proposed and/or passed by Republicans in the last 20 years has had the same goal - to decrease turnout and suppress Democratic leaning populations from voting.

[forestpath]

8. +1

[rhett o rick]

22. My fear is the Democrat he chooses will not be dynamic enough to out shout the Repub nm

[sheshe2]

7. I don't know who to answer first here kpete...so I will just post this to you.

We haven't even gotten out of the starting gate and all I am reading above is no no no, never happen.

For the love of God, will we let this man get the words out of his mouth, before some here sit in judgement! Damn!

Again, Thank you, kpete!

I say yes WE CAN!

[kpete]

10. we can

and must

peace, kp

[woo me with science]

9. Corporate money out of elections and the halls of Congress,

or we get two more corporate/neocon candidates to choose between, again.

That's the reform we need, before any other efforts will amount to a hill of beans in terms of change. It is impossible for a non-corporate candidate to emerge as a serious contender in the current purchased system. And we are working against time here.

Unless we get corporate money out of the elections between now and 2016, we are looking at more corporate-selected candidates and years more of the metastasizing corporate, neocon, and police state agenda. Just imagine what they will be able to do to our country with that much time and no serious opposition.

[KoKo]

11. Another Commission? well...I guess it's good...maybe he's leaving it up

to Congress? The Commission Reports and then it's Up to Congress?

Like Bowles/Simpson? Which was so cool it got the MSM going for 4 Years with the DLC and Repugs going at it.

Wasted much time reading articles from MSM which turned out to be about nothing.

Whatever.... Good on Obama for doing a "Blue Ribbon" thingy to STUDY. It's his Second Term...let's hope for better since he's "Got Nothing Left to Lose" and can "Hit His Stride."

[woo me with science]

12. Yep,

Lotta "Dry Powder" left. And who knows what dimension we are on now in that Eleventy-Dimension Chess Game for Freedom and Democracy.

[bluestateguy]

14. The Simpson Bowels movement never became law

It still gets talked about a lot by the Georgetown cocktail party crowd and think tankers, but there is little evidence that any of it will find its way into law.

[rhett o rick]

25. Looks to me like the Simpson Bowels was never intended to succeed. Two conservatives running it.

Added on edit:

Simpson Bowels was the artillery, intended to soften us up.

[bluestateguy]

13. I prefer the executive order approach

As in, "This is the way it is going to be, and I dare you to try and stop me"

[KoKo]

16. So far though...he's been very reluctant to use it.

He did use if for one item....I just read..and maybe it was historic...but, fails me as to what it was.

Not trashing him...but one executive order? Given what he inherited from Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld?

Whatever. he did do something...maybe it was good with Executive Order in the last four years...I just can't remember it.

[daybranch]

17. the reason

It sure would be nice if the President and the democrats could get some focus on the Gerrymandering that occurs at state level. This is the great enabler . Hopefully OFA in Ohio , Michigan and other places will take this on as an issue. It aint't democrat, it is democracy.This is the issue of the first part of this century. If we win on this, most of the others will be instantly solvable. Citizens United means little if we can make our representative accountable to the people. Voter ID will go away, Long long lines on election day will disappear. Gun control will be reasonably implemented and enforced. Decisions will once again be founded on science and Congress will implement much more of what the citizens want rather than what big donors and their corporations want. This is a no brainer. Lets focus dems, and get er ' done.

[KoKo]

18. Tell me about it...I'm here in devastated NC..where the Dem

Convention was held and meanwhile Alec had already gotten the Repugs to Gerrymander some of our Best Dems out of serving. Ones we Dems had worked hard to get in office during the Dean Years.

It's been rough. Eric Holder didn't get involved with the redistricting of African Americans and other Dem Voters when it started...just saying.

[robinlynne]

19. a bi-partisan voting commission. sorry. just not holding my breath here.

the voting experience. This is so sad.

[Grins]

23. Ben Ginsberg?????????????????

That's the rat-bastard they put on the committee for the Rethuglicans???? Ben Phucking Ginsberg?

From Raw Story:

"Norm Coleman's efforts to force a reconsideration of the recount that showed him losing his Minnesota Senate seat to Democratic challenger Al Franken are being led by attorney Ben Ginsberg, who has a long history of involvement in questionable Republican campaign activities.

"Not only was Ginsberg one of the senior lawyers in the Bush v. Gore recount case in 2000, but in 2004 he was at the center of a Republican scandal when he was found to be advising both the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign.

"...However, it soon turned out that Ginsberg, who was the chief outside counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaign, was also giving legal advice to the Swift Boat Veterans on complying with campaign finance rules. Ginsberg resigned from the campaign in August 2004 following these revelations."

Go to the Esquire Politics blog and read Charles Pierce on this bastard.

How could the administration be this phucking stew-pud?

[link:http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Coleman_lawyer_at_center_of_Swift_0201.html|

[KoKo]

24. OMG...Ben Ginsberg! And read this....from update to KP's Original

Article:

Apparently Obama thinks that Election reform is a "Consumer Services" problem.... that reform is about the "Voting Experience" and not Corruption by Big Money, ALEC, Gerrymandering and possible Voting Machine Corruption.

Quote from Update:

UPDATE: 10:45 p.m. -- The White House said Tuesday night that the new Presidential Commission on Election Administration would focus on "common-sense, non-partisan solutions" and "develop recommendations for state and local election officials to reduce waiting times at the polls and improve all citizens' voting experience."

It will address voters' experience at the polls and will take input from customer service experts. The commission will also make recommendations to improve the voting experience of members of the military, overseas voters, voters with disabilities, and voter with limited English proficiency.

[rhett o rick]

26. He is the "bad cop". The "good cop" will probably be a Blue Dog.

Looks like the better of two evils technique is being used again. We have to like whatever the "good cop" proposes because it will be guaranteed to be better than what Ginsberg proposes. Looks like Simpson Bowels all over again.

[KoKo]

27. sigh...and the way it's "framed" so obviously using "marketing/MBA speak"

"Voter's Experience at polls, Customer Service Experts, Improving Voter Experiences.... This is what they think "voting reform" is about?


It will address voters' experience at the polls and will take input from customer service experts. The commission will also make recommendations to improve the voting experience of members of the military, overseas voters, voters with disabilities, and voter with limited English proficiency.

[rhett o rick]

29. I recognize the technique from my old job. When a problem arises the boss always has

the same response. Investigate, change policy and train. The "investigation" was always carried out by sycophants. The policy changes were never more than window dressing. And the subsequent training was always a joke.

[KoKo]

30. yep..."window dressing." Heard it in same circumstances..

sigh. "MARKET SPEAK" for SUCKERS" often passes as wisdom from the "enlightened" that know more because of their special education and dealings with the "powers of influence."

Really...it's getting OTT after all we've been through with S&L , Dot. Com and Banking Implosion ...all of which the US Taxpayer, Investor, Pension, Charity and 401-K owners have had to put up with.

WHEN will it STOP?

[rhett o rick]

31. "When will it stop?" When the capitalists have taken every cent the middle class has. nm

[KoKo]

32. Darkest Scenario....

We can stop it ...I believe...but, time is short.

[rhett o rick]

33. Ok, I will play the game. How can we stop it? Like Occupy? The President has given himself

the authority to kill terrorists with drones anywhere in the world. The Patriot Act makes it clear that anyone that interferes with the operation of the government, can be classified as a terrorist.

The ruling elite have us where they want us. I dont really see a way out. Doesnt mean I wont fight like hell every step of the way.

Stay cool, KoKo

[KoKo]

34. It's all we can do...and what we do is important...

somewhere in the scheme of things..it's the "ground troops" that do the grunt work.. Whatever.

back attcha...and ...Yep...here we are....

[rhett o rick]

35. What do we specifically need to get this "leaning left" forum off the ground?

I will help.

[Uncle Joe]

28. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.