Dean calls for election changes, reform

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2006/11/dean-calls-for-election-changes-reform.html

Dean calls for election changes, reform

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean says there needs to be election reform to make sure that everyone feels like their vote counts.

Dean says Democratic leaders should now focus on redistricting areas that were altered by Republicans. Dean says the party should also push for reforms when it comes to improving voting machines.

As for actual voters, Dean says Democrats made big gains in the Hispanic vote because of the way Republicans presented immigration reform.

Dean says that led many of them to decide that their "future was not with the Republicans."

[BattyDem]

1. Paper, Dr. Dean... we need PAPER!

:-)

[kentauros]

3. Paper and purple thumbs!

We also need IRV (Instant Runoff Voting) :)

namastEric

[druidity33]

14. welcome to DU!

and i agree about IRV, though it's a tough sell for folk entrenched in the system...

[kentauros]

31. Thanks! I've lurked for too long :)

...although I think I may have upset a few of my fellow Texans in that forum earlier today ;) Hopefully, I smoothed things out a bit...

I know IRV will be a slow change, but it needs to start so we can educate the masses not only on how it works but the reasons it's the better method.

namastEric

[AzDar]

2. Right on, Howard! n/t

[SoFlaJet]

4. it should be

the FIRST thing congress does-NOTHING is more important.How do we get started?Any letter writing campaigns in the works?

[tridim]

5. Paper ballots and optical scan tabulators with OPEN SOURCE software

written by competent engineers.

That'll make me happy.

[lakemonster11]

28. And regular auditing of statistically significant,

truly random samples (in full view of the public and media).

[bitchkitty]

35. The most important thing of all

are the words you wrote in caps - OPEN SOURCE!!!

[The Wielding Truth]

6. Howard Dean is a soldier for Democracy. Keep fighting, Howey!

"...to make sure that everyone feels like their vote counts."

[lumpy]

39. Howard Dean is one of the Democratic party's

greatest assets. Let's never let him go.

[Acadia Blue]

7. Print out 2 voter verifiable receipts, one for ballor box, one for voter.

And every F----- election should have 10% of the real paper ballots counted even if there is not an issue. Paper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We must never let these stinking greed pig thieves steal our elections again, because of 2000 and 2004 almost 3000 American military men and women are dead and 600,000 Iraquies and the rich are being encouraged to outsource their corporations. And the Paris Hilton's got tax breaks while the poor got much poorer. Damn republicans damn them all to hades.

[Solon]

42. Bad idea...

What's to stop your employer from demanding that receipt? A ballot for the ballot box, yes, but not a receipt for the voter, that just opens up possibilities for abuse and intimidation.

[mhatrw]

8. Yes! That should be priority #1!

Also, break up the media mega-monopolies!

[Vidar]

9. Right on, Howard!

[Cha]

10. Yes! And make sure polling places

are open long enough to accommodate all the voters.

[madfloridian]

11. That's all they got from a 45 minute press conference? Link.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/582

This was his 45 minute press conference on C-Span this morning at 10. It was very clear about his goals for the party.

Here is a better link to the video itself.

http://c-span.org/Search/basic.asp?BasicQueryText=howard+dean&SortBy=date

[Copperred]

12. OPEN SOURCE VOTING IS THE ANSWER

www.openvoting.org

www.openvoting.org

www.openvoting.org

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

13. Mentioning re-redistricting. Excellent.

Ridding the country of the Neo-corpo-con disease.

[dysfunctional press]

15. everyone should vote on identical equipment nationwide-

with a verifiable, recountable, paper-trail.

[texpatriot2004]

16. THANK YOU Dr. Dean! Let's get rid of that Hack America's vote

Act ASAP!

[ozone_man]

17. He has earned a reappointment as DNC chairman.

He definitely knew how to harness the voter backlash to the war in Iraq and other key issues in a 50 state strategy. Time to return the Democratic party to it's core issues, away from the DLC direction. Go Howard!

[lumpy]

40. Yey verily. One of the best Dems around.

v

[tblue37]

18. Don't "improve" voting machines--

get rid of them!

[kster]

19. HR 6200..................nt

[ShockediSay]

20. (me too) YEA HOWARD; 50 States; K street; Murtha

the 50 state strategy did it and will continue to "take back America"

now if we can unplug K street and the Abramoffs of DC .......

and please support Murtha for House Majority Leader so we truly are strong and smart on defense; he stuck his neck out to say what needed to be said, and will continue to do so

[Hekate]

21. Keep on keepin' on, Dr. Dean! And don't forget the paper ballots! nt

[CharmCity]

22. And get rid of the Electoral College

[Odin2005]

23. GO DEAN!!! Instant Runoff Voting NOW!

[blm]

24. Paper ballots. Hand Counts. Videocameras trained on counters. Simple.

and cheap.

[buddysmellgood]

25. DRAFT HOWARD FOR 2008!

[GetTheRightVote]

26. I like it, right to one of our major concerns, voting confidence key to Democracy

:kick:

[Peace Patriot]

27. "Improve the voting machines"? I was afraid of that. There are just too many

corrupt election officials and legislators, both Dem and Repub, on these billions of dollars in e-voting contracts. That's been the problem all along. It's responsible for our Dem Party leadership's MIND-BOGGLING SILENCE as Bushite corporations took over our election system, with TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, between 2002 and 2004. And the establishment that took away our right to vote is not going to give it back. Mark my words. The "trade secret" programming is the key. No "paper trail" can compensate for SECRET vote tabulation. And that is where the citizens of the country need to part company--and HAVE ALREADY parted company--with almost all of our political leaders. I may be the only one who noticed, but there was a HUGE voter rebellion against the machines in these elections, in the form of Absentee Ballot voting--it was up to 50% and 60% of the vote in many places.

So here's what we have to do: Mobilize this huge base of distrustful and discontented voters to put pressure on LOCAL election officials to, a) HAND COUNT the Absentee Ballot votes, and, b) to POST the results BEFORE any electronics are involved. These simple, common sense demands--which are clearly what the AB voters want--are doable. And, if we succeed, we will be well on our way to a paper ballot system BY DEFAULT. Next: The same demands for the optiscan ballots: count them, post the results immediately. This strategy circumvents the entrenched corruption. It gives the honest election officials the chance to do the right thing, and gives those who were fooled by these diabolical corporations, and the corrupt, a face-saving position.

We have to do this ourselves. We, the People. Our own party is too corrupt to just throw these Bushite corporations out of our election system, as they should do. Even HR 550 (Holt's bill) has a loophole by which they can hang on to their rigged central tabulators. We've got to get rid of the secret code. And I think this backdoor strategy, with the Absentee Ballot voters' demands, at the LOCAL level, is the way to get it done.

The new Congress, EVEN WITH a 30+ Dem majority in the House, and a 50/50 split in the Senate, STILL does not reflect the SEVENTY PERCENT of the American people who oppose the war on Iraq and other Bush policies. We do NOT have transparent elections YET. Too many compromisers and war supporters and corporatists among the Dems, hand-picked by Diebold/ES&S and other corporate interests in the primaries. We need a Congress that represents the REAL majority in this country. And the way there is transparent vote counting.

[nicknameless]

29. The voting machines cannot be "improved", Mr. Dean.

The only answer is to GET RID OF THEM!!!

Remember democracy?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=456594&mesg_id=456594

[w4rma]

30. "Improved" is the AP's term. Not a quote. (nt)

[nicknameless]

32. The way the article was written, makes it sound like that's what he was saying.

"Dean says the party should also push for reforms when it comes to improving voting machines."

x(

[w4rma]

33. *shrug* (nt)

[Eurobabe]

34. Open Source Software and Paper receipts please

And yes, stop the fucking gerrymandering!!

Oh and one more thing...look to Germany, notice how they give candidates free airtime on TV so we don't keep spending gobs of $$$ on elections. Get the corporate and religious interests OUT of US politics.

Thanks Howie, I take back all the shitty things I said about you in 2003. :)

[niceypoo]

36. Paper Trail Amendment in the bill of rights

[PATRICK]

37. Hope is here

Dean's last e-mail confirmed my hopeful consolation that gerrymandered districts will NOT be written off as a safe haven just because we gave a great shot this time and fell short. Upstate NY has a besieged enclave where the GOP registration is tens of thousands greater in each district. Gerrymandering itself has become a huge mistake IF we keep applying the pressure and the HOPE that is causing a steady rate of fed-up defections over anointed slobs and extremist hacks that waste the supposed advantage. the elimination of one liberal leaving Louise Slaughter with a mammoth Dem advantage netted them one seat. Other "safe" GOP districts have fallen. The use of dirty politics by the GOP and wasting millions holding onto their havens is still sinking in.

We can pick up our discouraged volunteers and make another assault for DECENT representation and know that Howard dean and the party will be behind us, stronger than ever.

I hope the reform will seek to eventually eliminate gerrymandering as much as possible. It hurts BOTH parties to have places where they can cheaply and topdown anoint officials for reasons not conducive to representative accountability and public service.

The real victory is not that we have arrived but that progress is here to stay. That itself is the living victory and our defeat against tough odds and propaganda did contribute to the national victory.

[heliarc]

38. Good Timing

Thanks Howard Dean. This was good timing. Proving yet again that he is a clever tactician.

[Solon]

41. Hey Dean, some suggestions from me...

First things first, get rid of that stupid limit on the amount of House members, its extremely low, I mean, 435 people are supposed to represent 300 million Americans, that's not representative government.

After you do that, using a set ratio instead, like 1:100,000, then the next reform, state by state, is to get rid of districts entirely, use at-large candidate or party lists, state's choice.

By the way, neither of these require a Constitutional Amendment, districts aren't even mentioned in the Constitution.

[MasonJar]

43. Essential item is paper ballots or paper trail. Enough is enough!

[Allyoop]

44. National Holiday

Make Election Day a National Holiday.

If I never get the wrong result when I use the touch screen on my microwave or ATM - why can't an e-voting machine be designed to get it right?

We use opti-scan machines - fill in an oval next to your choice - machine scans and records vote. If problems develop there is a paper ballot to examine. I have more faith in the accuracy of these machines than the touch screen ones. And the ones with dials to take you from one vote to the next sounds like a real nightmare set-up - especially for elderly, non tech-savy, visually impaired, etc.

If we have to have e-voting - I think there should be just one model - let all the companies compete and let well vetted computer experts make the final decision. I know, I Know - too simple! Corporate America would scream and kick and, of course, they are more equal that us citizens.

[crossroads]

45. Way to go Howard!!! nt