Cyber Bullying in Connecticut: A Lesson in Empathy

Fellow Independents!

Internet voting can be used as the ideal substitute for our current two-party dominated system of conducting elections. But the progress toward that goal is being stymied by a crafty and powerful opposition. For example, recently, in Connecticut, some anti-Internet voting meanies set a trap for West Virginia Secretary of State, Natalie Tennant. They led her to believe that they wanted her advice on how to set up an Internet voting system for that state’s overseas military voters, like the system West Virginia has. As you will see, that’s not what happened …
http://internetvotingforall.blogspot.com/2011/11/cyber-bullying-in-connecticut.html

William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
Blog: http://tinyurl.com/IV4All
Twitter: wjkno1
Email: Internetvoting@gmail.com
Author of Internet Voting Now!
Kindle edition: http://tinyurl.com/IntV-Now
In paper: http://tinyurl.com/IVNow2011

Bill King: Party System Blocking Meaningful Change

ECONOMIC CRISIS

• King: Party system blocking meaningful change (By BILL KING, Houston Chronicle) To get any meaningful change in the current system, we are going to have to return to the Founders' view of political parties and start thinking differently about them. Instead of being proud to be associated with a political party, it should be an embarrassment. After this week's debacle with the so-called supercommittee, that sentiment should not be much of a stretch.
• Community Impact of Supercommittee Failure (by Yanick Rice Lamb, Special to the AFRO) Among independent voters surveyed, seven in 10 favor cuts in domestic spending and increases in taxes on corporations and wealthy people. About six in 10 of all respondents are against reductions in defense spending.

BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg pivots to slamming D.C. (By: Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman, Politico) “My suspicion is he hasn’t quite figured out what his next act is, but the one thing he knows he wants is to stay relevant and continue cultivating his brand as the independent, sane, grown-up voice in American politics,” said Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein, a veteran of Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s independent 2006 campaign. “This plays into his sweet spot: It’s the intersection of independence, adult leadership, and finance and economics.”

2012
Is the Stage Set For a Third-Party Presidential Candidate? (By Amy Bingham, ABC News) “We are not a third party,” said Elliot Ackerman, the group’s chief operating officer. “The country has enough special interests and goofy ideologies out there. We are a second way to nominate our leaders.” By gathering enough petition signatures, the group has already secured a spot on the ballot in nine states. Ackerman said that number will jump to 28 by the end of the year and before November 2012, he said the group will have secured the remaining 22 states.

happy turkey day

CA Prop 14 Under Attack From Third Parties

SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY
South Carolina Supreme Court turns back challenge to presidential primary (By Jim Davenport, Associated Press, Augusta Chronicle) Election officials in Beau­fort, Chester, Greenville and Spartanburg counties said county taxpayers would be left with more than $1 million in costs the state wouldn’t cover for the Jan. 21 contest.

PROP 14

• Lawsuit: Prop. 14 violates California minor party voters' rights (Sac Bee/ Capitol Alert) "By limiting access to the general election ballot, Prop. 14 effectively bars small political parties, their candidates, and their members from effective political association, precisely at the moment when the highest number of voters are engaged in the electoral process," the complaint reads.
• Proposition 14 Lawsuit (VIDEO, KCRA Channel 3) with CT Weber, Chair, Peace & Freedom Party
• Open primaries: 3rd-party backers sue over law (Marisa Lagos, San Francisco Chronicle) "This is really a lawsuit about keeping the field of political debate open," said attorney Michael Siegel. "Proposition 14 narrows the political debate by saying only two candidates can participate in general elections, and we think that's unconstitutional because many Supreme Court cases have said you can't have a barrier to small parties competing in the general election."

Mayor Bloomberg Criticizes Washington for Failure of Super Committee

BLOOMBERG

• Shame On Us, Washington (By Ron Fournier, National Journal) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, blamed Obama and lawmakers in both parties for the failure of the so-called super committee to reach a deficit deal, calling the stalemate a "damning indictment of Washington's inability to govern this country."
• Cuomo says Bloomberg's criticism of Obama 'misses the point' (By Azi Paybarah, Capital New York) But unlike Bloomberg, an independent who periodically blames both parties in Washington for federal-government dysfunction, the Democratic governor said that it wasn't Obama's fault that Washington lawmakers didn't come up with a plan.
• Bloomberg Blasts Obama, Congress Over Deficit Deal Standstill (By: Josh Robin, NY1 Staten Island) "Washington's inability to get its fiscal house in order and work in a bipartisan fashion to create jobs represents a fundamental failure of government that has bred frustration and anger among the people and prolonged the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression," Cuomo said.

Citizens Union Presents New York Redistricting Plan

REDISTRICTING

CITIZENS UNION PRESENTS COMPREHENSIVE CASE FOR REDISTRICTING REFORM (PRESS RELEASE, Citizens Union) The report entitled ReShaping New York: Ending the Rigged Process of Partisan Gerrymandering with an Impartial and Independent Redistricting Process highlights how uncompetitive elections have become because the two majority parties, the Democrats in the Assembly and the Republicans in the State Senate, have colluded for decades to draw safe districts that protect incumbents and maximize their seats in their respective house of the legislature.

Partisanship - the Failure of the Super Committee

FAILURE OF THE SUPER COMMITTEE

• The Supercommittee Fails—and That's Good for Obama (—By David Corn, Mother Jones) Obama: In addition to my [deficit-reduction] plan, there were a number of other bipartisan plans for them to consider from both Democrats and Republicans, all of which promoted a balanced approach. This kind of balanced approach to reducing our deficit—an approach where everybody gives a little bit, and everyone does their fair share—is supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans—Democrats, independents, and Republicans. It's supported by experts and economists from all across the political spectrum.
• A Failure Is Absorbed With Disgust and Fear, but Little Surprise (By MICHAEL COOPER, NY Times) Does the American political system even work anymore?
• The new age of uncertainty: Does the world seem more volatile than ever? Get used to it, experts advise (By Douglas Brown, The Denver Post) People who study politics, financial markets and the media say it has been decades since so many consequential events and trends have emerged simultaneously around the globe, from the decline of many economies to the rise of organized dissent to the spread of the independent voter.
• Obama targets GOP in New Hampshire as he pushes for extension of payroll tax cut (By Associated Press, Washington Post) It’s been nearly two years since Obama visited New Hampshire. And on Tuesday, he’ll find a state that has shifted distinctly to the right since his 2008 victory. Recent polls show that, if the election were held today, Obama would lose by roughly 10 percentage points to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
• Analysis: End to debt gridlock is not in sight (CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press, Albany Times Union) Nathan Daschle, who heads a political networking firm called Ruck.Us, and whose father was a Democratic Senate leader, said the only way he can envision "really changing the incentives of our political system" is to have huge numbers of Republican and Democratic voters switch their affiliation to independent.
• U.S. Voters Say Almost 3-1 Super Committee Will Fail, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; More Blame Republicans (Quinnipiac) Expecting failure are Democrats 54 - 36 percent, Republicans 84 - 14 percent and independent voters 71 -22 percent, the independent Quinnipiac   University poll finds.

Obama, Paul Face NH Indies and Dems

2012

• Obama on Tuesday to face NH voters now sour on him (By Steve Peoples, Associated Press, Boston Globe) In a likely nod to independents, Obama is expected Tuesday to prod Congress to extend a temporary cut in payroll taxes that has enjoyed bipartisan support. The tax cut will expire at the end of the year unless Congress extends it again.
  
• Brooks: Country needs a ray of hope (BY DAVID BROOKS, NEW YORK TIMES in Albany Times Union) The era of the two moons is a volatile era. Independent voters are trapped in a cycle of sour rejectionism -- voting against whichever of the two options they dislike most at the moment. In policy terms, the era of the two moons is an era of stagnation. Each party is too weak to push its own agenda and too encased by its own cocoon to agree to a hybrid. The supercommittee failed for this reason.

• Anti-war Ron Paul attracting support from local left (By Michael Kitch, Laconia Daily Sun - NH) Lynn Rudmin Chong, former chair of the Belknap County Democratic Committee, has publicly endorsed Paul and said that "I have found other kindred souls." The Sanbornton resident said that she left the Democratic Party and changed her voter registration to "undeclared" in anticipation of  taking a Republican ballot in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary and casting her vote for Paul.

falling

PHOTO: Nancy Hanks (View Out My Window)

Bill Schneider: False Promises and Third Party Efforts

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
The False Promise of a Third-Party Candidacy (Bill Schneider, Distinguished Senior Fellow and Resident Scholar at Third Way, Huffington Post) Most of the money for Americans Elect is believed to be coming from wealthy Wall Street hedge fund managers who want to get rid of President Obama but can't abide Tea Party Republicans. (The organization keeps its donors secret.) Those donors may find themselves pleasantly surprised if the Republicans repudiate the Tea Party and nominate Mitt Romney. Romney's one of them.

Mississippi Open Primary Drive Goes to the Next Level

OPEN PRIMARIES
Tea party meet hears of open primary effort (Daily Leader - Brookhaven and SW Mississippi) Now, Marla Nottingham is moving from a petition to a full ballot initiative. Her goal is to bring a constitutional amendment opening up Mississippi's primaries to a statewide vote. Nottingham appeared Monday night at the first meeting of the Brookhaven Tea Party. Organizer Kendall Boutwell praised Nottingham's efforts and voiced support for them.

Independent Redistricting: Create American Nonpartisanship

REDISTRICTING

• Editorial: Independent redistricting commission is the ticket (By: Winston Salem Journal) There's a better way to do this: an independent redistricting commission created by constitutional amendment.
• EDITORIAL: Gov. Brewer’s Overreach (NY Times) The court decision was a ringing defense of state voters, who approved creation of the independent commission in 2000 after decades of gerrymandering.

Sonoran Alliance Warns of "Independent" Label

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Poll: Voters pessimistic on supercommittee deal (By Jonathan Easley, The Hill) The pessimism among voters is not specific to any party. Eighty-eight percent of Independent voters, 84 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats are doubtful that a deal would be reached… Sixty-seven percent surveyed are in favor of increasing taxes on the wealthy. That breaks down to 83 percent of Democrats saying they're in favor of raising taxes on the highest earners, 64 percent of Independents, and 53 percent of Republicans.
• Sonoran Alliance Website is an extreme far right Republican website (by Hispanic-Politico, Tucson Citizen) Only in “extreme” Arizona.  Shane Wikfor’s Sonoran Alliance website has gone too far for communicating that using the label Independent is a branding strategy.
• Beware the ‘Independent’ Label, Democrats Use New Branding Strategy (By Sonoran Alliance) Using the label “Independent,” Democrats are now attempting to fool voters by taking the “new & improved” branding strategy.

Occupy Redistricting Pennsylvania

PA REDISTRICTING

• FINAL: Occupy movement disrupts redistricting commission meeting (By Eric Boehm, PA Independent) Protesters said the redistricting process put political interests above the concerns of the people. In particular, they said Friday’s hearing did not include everyone who wanted to speak.

 RECOMMENDED VIDEO
"What makes you more uncomfortable: children starving or gay marriage?"

• Winner in Redistricting Is Still to Be Determined (By MICHAEL D. SHEAR, NY Times/ The Caucus) If you listen to officials at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, things are looking up for their candidates. They point to states like California, Illinois and Nevada, where independent commissions or legislatures under Democratic control have increased the party’s chances of gaining seats… Both parties are also watching the process in Virginia and Pennsylvania, where the legislatures are still not finished with their maps.

Pew Poll: What's Wrong with This (Presidential) Picture??

Polls are reporting "fast-breaking" mood changes among the American electorate and pundits relate our perception of the "down-to-earthness" of President Obama and Repub heir-apparent Mitt Romney to their "popularity."  Hmmm.... The fact that ordinary Americans have very little say in politics seems absent from this picture. What do you think?

"October is the worst time of the year for a cold!"

2012

• Poll: Mitt Romney trails President Obama by 2 percent (The State Column) The poll, conducted by Washington D.C. based Pew Research Center, revealed that Cain is neck and neck with Romney. The Pew poll gave Romney 23 percent of the votes and Cain 22 percent of the votes. However, the survey focused primarily on the head to head match ups between President Barack Obama and the eventual Republican presidential nominee. Obama holds a slight advantage over Romney at 49 to 47 percent, and a 49 to 42 percent advantage over Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
• Obama Gets a GOP Gift for the 2012 Presidential Campaign (Eleanor Clift, The Daily Beast) Unlike Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, “one of the president’s problems is he has a detached and analytical way of talking—which Romney has, too,” Olsen said. Obama’s professorial loftiness and Romney’s buttoned-up boardroom style don’t endear them to these independent voters. The election could well turn on which man is better able to connect with these disaffected Americans.

Maine: Eliot Cutler and Americans Elect

Independent Just Like Maine

MAINE
Cutler seeks to shake up presidential race (By David Carkhuff, The Portland Daily Sun) Today, Cutler is a board member for Americans Elect, a national group spearheading an online nominating process that aims to give voters the power to choose a presidential candidate in 2012. Cutler seeks to shake up presidential race.

Sean Reardon: Education Income Achievement Gap

2010 Census: 1 in 7 Americans live in poverty

EDUCATION REFORM
“Income achievement gap” almost double black-white achievement gap (By Louis Freedberg ~ EdSource Extra-Engaging Californians on Key Education Challenges) The report by Sean Reardon, a Stanford professor of education and sociology, shows that the income achievement gap—the difference in the average standardized scores between children from families at the 10th percentile of income distribution and children at the 90th percentile—is now “nearly twice as large as the black-white achievement gap.” A half century ago, the situation was just the reverse. The black-white gap was one and a half times as large as the income achievement gap as defined in the report, Reardon found.

where are we going?

PHOTO: Jillian Mai Thi Burke-Epperly

TED: Robin Ince: Science vs wonder

h/t to @aricochet Byron Conway

TED: Robin Ince: Science versus wonder? - Robin Ince (2011) j.mp/t9vhOj
Robin Ince: Science versus wonder?

independents

IMAGE: CBS News

Oregon Sec of State Candidate Knute Buehler Supports Open Primaries

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Bend surgeon kicks off Republican campaign for secretary of state (Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian) Knute Buehler, a Bend orthopedic surgeon who backs tight campaign finance limits and open primaries, kicked off his Republican campaign for secretary of state on Wednesday.
• M. Julian Bradley: Election process needs (By M. Julian Bradley, vice chairman of the La Crosse County Republican Party, La Crosse Tribune) To further protect Wisconsin and our electoral system, we need to eliminate open primaries.
• Mandatory voting: An idealistic inefficiency (Kim Tran, Opinion Editor, Los Angeles Loyolan) For busy citizens, there need to be more convenient voting methods available, such as absentee ballots, early voting or same-day registration, that would ease the process for those who want to vote but do not have the time. Unaffiliated citizens should be allowed to participate in open primaries of their choice.

Virginia Senate Candidate Sues for Access to Debates

OPEN DEBATES
Senate candidate files lawsuit seeking to join December Kaine-Allen debate (By Ben Pershing, Washington Post/ Virginia Politics) Modica’s lawsuit argues that excluding him from the December debate ”based on standards, defined and created behind closed doors, that, theoretically and practically, only two former Virginia Governors can meet is like excluding your youngest son from Christmas celebrations just because he lives in Northern Virginia.”

Colorado Discriminatory Campaign Contribution Case Riddle v Ritter Back to U.S. District Court

Colorado Case on Discriminatory Campaign Contribution Limits Returns to Federal Court (Ballot Access News) The lead plaintiff is Joelle Riddle, who wanted to give more than $200 to Kathleen Curry, an independent candidate for the Colorado legislature in 2010.

Arizona Supreme Court Reinstates Independent Redistricting Commissioner

ARIZONA REDISTRICTING
In win for Democrats, Arizona redistricting commissioner reinstated (By Cameron Joseph, The Hill) The state supreme court's decision that Brewer did not meet the constitutional requirements for removing a commissioner will reinforce the views held by some in the state that Republicans crossed the line on this issue.

Obama, Paul, Third Party, Millionaire's Tax Up in Polls

2012

• Obama Job Approval Edges Up, GOP Contest Remains Fluid (Pew Research) Obama continues to trail Romney by a wide margin among independent voters. Currently, 53% of independents favor Romney while just 41% support Obama. In matchups with other leading GOP candidates, Obama leads or runs about even.
• Ron Paul takes 2nd in an Iowa poll for 2nd time in 4 days (The State Column) Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, garnered 20.4 percent of the votes to secure 2nd place in a ISU/Gazette/KCRG poll of 1,256 registered Iowa Republican and independent voters.
• The GOP’s third-party nightmare scenario - A poll shows Ron Paul doing shockingly well as an independent candidate. What would make him take the plunge? (By Steve Kornacki, Salon) In reality, of course, this probably won’t happen — because he’s been shunned by the GOP, Roemer would likely be just as anonymous as an independent candidate. But Roemer’s third-party flirtation is a reminder of another potential spurned candidate revenge scenario that the GOP should probably be much more worried about: What if Ron Paul decides to run as an independent?
• Political Intelligence - Top Rank Beltway Pundit Will Offer 2012 Election Forecast at UCSB (By Jerry Roberts, Santa Barbara Independent) Independent Candidate: Gergen said that in Washington, there is “increasing talk about a third-party” challenge for president. While potential candidates like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg or Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz may have the resources to mount an independent effort, the practical logistical requirements, coupled with the difficult challenge of Electoral College calculus, make such a bid unlikely.

MILLIONAIRE'S TAX
Poll: New Jerseyans support a Millionaire's Tax by a 2 to 1 margin - Poll finds they also strongly support Occupy Wall Street movement (BY TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM) Voters support a tax hike on the rich by 64 to 28 percent, up from a high of 55 to 34 percent in a Feb. 10 poll, according to a Quinnipiac University poll made public Thursday. Current support is 82 to 13 percent among Democrats and 67 to 25 percent among independent voters, while Republicans are opposed 54 to 38 percent.

NY: Charles Barron Set to Challenge Rep. Ed Towns

NEW YORK
Charles Barron on the rise of Moammar Khadafy and the fall of Herman Cain (By Reid Pillifant,
Capital New York) "We don't need the [Hakeem] Jeffries and the [Ed] Towns there. Because look what happened with David Paterson. He has a chance to select a black senator, the black senator for this state, and he gives us Gillibrand, because he's trying to win an election that he's not going to run for. You know, just having black people in certain positions, without black consciousness and black commitment to black agendas and black issues, is a problem."

The Removal at Zuccotti Park

OCCUPY WALL STREET
Whose Police? (Posted by Philip Gourevitch, The New Yorker) The N.Y.P.D. descended on the park with deafening military-grade LRAD noise canons and several stadiums’ worth of blinding Klieg lights, and while they worked, they drove journalists steadily back further and further from their area of operations.

rat boy

Why are there more independent voters today than perhaps ever before?

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Appeal to Voters... Presidential (By Bill Miller Sr., Missourian Editor) Political experts in increasing numbers say that the independent voter is the one who will decide who our next president will be. Why are there more independent voters today than perhaps ever before? Is it because people are fed up with the party first and the nation second mentality of incumbents? Are people weary of professional politicians and that’s why a Cain with money can be a viable candidate?
• Study Conducted To Determine Where 2012 Election Ad Dollars Should Go (Sarah Novotny, Adotas) Bizo has partnered with Vizu to conduct a joint campaign to characterize, in real time, the party alignment and political donation plans of business executives, a highly coveted audience for presidential hopefuls in the 2012 election.

Independents Disapprove of Congress by 89%

CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL
Congress' Job Approval Entrenched at Record Low of 13% - Congressional rating similar among Republicans, independents, and Democrats (by Frank Newport, Gallup) The disapproval cuts across party lines. Democrats have the highest approval of Congress this month at 15%, while independent voters are on the low side at just 11%.

2012 Presidential Election: Ron Paul, The Economy, Obama, and Two-Party Politics

2012

• Overshadowed by the Cainwreck and Newtmentum, Ron Paul Climbs into Second Place (By Alex Altman, Time/ Swampland) In a Public Policy Polling survey this week, the Texas Congressman leads President Obama 48% to 39% among independent voters — the only Republican hopeful to earn that distinction.
• The Economy Isn’t Obama’s Only Challenge (By MATT BAI, NY Times/ The Caucus) Simply put, Mr. Obama now has to run for president as a conventional Democratic nominee. And this, at least in the modern political era, isn’t an especially easy thing to do. Mr. Obama did not have to deal with this in 2008, when a bunch of mitigating factors came together to make him something more than his party’s choice for the presidency. The war in Iraq, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the market, the erupting fury at Washington’s impotence, the way Mr. Obama himself seemed to embody generational change and a renewal of the American story — all of this made it possible for him to run, essentially, as an independent candidate who rarely talked in terms of party.
• Two-party presidential race faces challenge (By Richard McGregor in Washington, Financial Times) Michael Toner, a former head of the Federal Election Commission, said third-party candidates have traditionally struggled to get over electoral laws and ballot-access rules to allow them to run. “A third-party candidate likely would need to be a major self-funder to be potentially viable, someone capable of contributing $100m-$200m of their own money into their campaign,” he said. “In short, someone like Michael Bloomberg.”

San Francisco Mayoral Race Rasies Questions About Ranked-Choice Voting

CALIFORNIA
Critics Aim to End Ranked-Choice Voting After SF Mayoral Race (Posted by Lance Williams, KQED) “Regardless of its merits, ranked-choice voting will probably be repealed,” he said in an interview. Ordinary voters struggle with the system because “it’s complicated,” he said. And politicians and political professionals quickly grew to dislike it because its results were so unpredictable.

Wisconsin Recal Gov Walker Makes Way for Better Politics?

WISCONSIN
Recall Walker campaign begins (BizTimes Daily) If the recall is successful, Walker would become just the third governor in the country's history to be recalled from office. California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was recalled in 2003, followed by Arnold Schwarzenegger besting 134 other candidates to win the seat.  And in 1921, North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier was ousted amidst economic turmoil and a dispute between his progressive Nonpartisan League and the opposition Independent Voters' Association.

New York City Local Round-Up: John Liu Down, Charles Barron Iffy, Independent Redistricting Nowhere to be Found

NEW YORK

• New fundraising arrest raises more doubts about Liu’s future (By Colby Hamilton, WNYC/ THE EMPIRE) “It doesn’t look good for a city comptroller to now have two sets of investigations going on over his campaign fundraising,” said Dick Dadey, the executive director of the good government group Citizens Union. “For a citywide elected official, and an aspiring mayoral candidate, it raises questions that he can’t afford to have asked.”
• Towns Faces Opponents in 2012 Primary (by Harold Egeln, Brooklyn Daily Eagle) Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Crown Heights/Bedford-Stuyvesant), who has already started a campaign web site and a fund-raising effort, and Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York/Brownsville/Canarsie), who is just now exploring a possible run for Congress, are his contenders at this point.
• Charles Barron has already decided where to announce his run for Congress (By Reid Pillifant,
  CAPITAL NEW YORK) After a "very positive" meeting on Friday night, Councilman Charles Barron said he's "moving closer and closer" to running for Congress, and he's already settled on when and where he might announce a second challenge to Representative Ed Towns.
• Lawmakers Already Drawing Up Special Session Wish Lists (By Andrew J. Hawkins, NY Capitol News) Sen. Joseph Addabbo, who has been advocating for a special session since the regular session ended in June, said redistricting during the special session amounted to “wishful thinking” at this point, especially since it lacked budgetary implications.

Occupy Wall Street Gathering, Losing Support

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Fascination and Fear (Rick McGahey, an economic policy adviser to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, is a professor of professional practice in the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at the New School, NY Times/ Room for Debate) Democrats want to tap Occupy’s energy, but there's a risk of losing independent voters.
• Poll: Occupy Wall Street movement losing America’s support (Matthew Borghese, Gant Daily) Where the movement begins to lose support most dramatically, is among independent voters. A month ago, independent voters supported the movement (39 percent) but now a majority (42 percent) oppose the protests.
• Poll: Tea party trumps OWS (by Kyle Wingfield, Atlanta Journal Constitution) If a recent opinion survey by Public Policy Polling is any indication, the end of the full Occupation of Wall Street might have been the best thing that could have happened to the movement. Not because it will earn them public sympathy, but because the occupation itself had become the least sympathetic thing about the group.
• Buddy Roemer Slams Mike Bloomberg for Cops Clearing Occupy Wall Street (Kevin Derby's blog, Sunshine State News) "The mayor of New York City is standing on the wrong side of history. His actions in the midnight hours against the Occupy Wall Street protestors are unjust, uncalled for, and unconstitutional," said Roemer in a statement on Tuesday. “The First Amendment right of assembly and speech exists to protect America from this kind of government power abuse.

occupy raleigh

Race and Occupy Wall Street: Blacks and Independents in America

Race and Occupy Wall Street

Tuesday, November 15 2011 by Frank Stasio and Ginny Mueller

 The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread across the country and captured the attention of millions of Americans. The movement deals with national issues, but it doesn't necessarily represent all factions of society. Are minorities being well represented in the revolution of the 99 percent? Host Frank Stasio talks about Occupy Wall Street and race with Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP; Omar Ali, an African-American studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and Marcella Robinson, an Occupy Raleigh protester and member of the group Mortgage Fraud in North Carolina.

mp3 download

We need to transform the current presidential nominating process

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
People powerless to party politics (By Jessica Wolfe, UWM Post - University of Wisconsin Milwaukee) There is much discontent with the current two-party political system, and as a result, we need to transform the current presidential nominating process. We may not be able to change the two-party system, but we can change the quality of candidates these two parties bring to the voting booth. The time has come for voters to transcend beyond traditional party politics and choose candidates who mirror our own ideologies.

Poll: More than half of Arizonans support a nonpartisan ballot in primaries

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Poll: More than half of Arizonans support a nonpartisan ballot in primaries (By Joanne Ingram, Cronkite News) More than half of Arizonans support switching from partisan primaries to a nonpartisan ballot that would send the highest-polling candidates on to the general election regardless of party affiliation, according to a poll released Monday by a public policy research group.
• S.C. high court hears arguments over how to finance GOP primary (By NBC's Ali Weinberg, msnbc) The Supreme Court today heard arguments in a lawsuit, brought by four South Carolina counties, claiming that the South Carolina Republican Party should cover the entire cost of conducting the 2012 primary election. Until 2008, the primaries here were considered private affairs, funded by state parties. But during 2008’s wide-open primary, the legislature approved a law authorizing the use of taxpayer funds for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries.

Indiana’s current ballot access laws are reprehensible.

BALLOT ACCESS
Indiana’s unfair ballot access laws (By Sheldon Dance, Indiana Daily Student) Indiana’s current ballot access laws are reprehensible. I urge the state legislature to enact electoral reform to allow for fair ballot access for all candidates and all parties. Readers interested in learning more about ballot access laws should Google Electoral Reform Act of 2012 or learn more about ballot access issues at ballot-access.org.

Nonparty Party for 2012: Use your browser to build a dream ticket for President

AMERICANS ELECT
Crashing the Party - Hate all the presidential candidates? Use your browser to build a dream ticket. (by Andrew Romano, Daily Beast) “A nonparty party isn’t how you gain power,” says Princeton historian Sean Wilentz. “It just hasn’t worked that way in American politics. You have to stand for something very clearly—not ‘we don’t like parties’ in the abstract.”

Opposing Crony Capitalism

2012

• Ron Paul's Real Electability: Stopping The Third Party Threat (Written by Thomas R. Eddlem, The New American) Electoral Fact #4: Ron Paul is the only Republican who can win voters who oppose "crony capitalism." While Ron Paul is not the only Republican who opposed the TARP and other bailouts (Michele Bachmann and Gary Johnson also opposed it), he's the only GOP candidate currently polling in double digits to have done so.
• Republicans Lose Way Misreading Bush History (By Ramesh Ponnuru, Bloomberg News) It seems much more likely that Republicans lost in 2006 because of the bleeding in Iraq, corruption in Washington, wage stagnation and the lack of any agenda by the party to do anything about these or other problems. Some of these issues had faded in importance by 2008, but in that year voters were also ready for a change after eight years of Republican control of the White House and, above all, dismayed by the economic crisis. In 2008, 60 percent of voters said the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, wasn’t “in touch with people like them” -- and 79 percent of people who felt that way voted against him. That’s what defeated Republicans, not a perception that they were doctrinally impure.
• Is Smart Money Leading GOP Off Cliff Again? (By THOMAS SOWELL, Investors Business Daily) The smart money inside the Beltway says that the Republicans need to pick a moderate candidate who can appeal to independent voters, not just to the conservative voters who turn out to vote in Republican primaries. Those who think this way say that you have to "reach out" to Hispanics, the elderly and other constituencies. What is remarkable is how seldom the smart money folks look at what has actually been happening in presidential elections.

new fall fashion

PHOTO: Nancy Hanks

Hankster Blog Round-Up on Independent Voters

INDEPENDENTS ON THE BLOGS

• The "Myth" of the Myth of the Independent Voter (by Todd Eberly, Assistant Professor of Political Science at St. Mary's College of Maryland, The FreeStater Blog… Where the Old Line meets the On-Line) Of those respondents who self-identified as an independent Democrat in 2000, 31.4 percent no longer identified with the Democratic Party in 2002, nearly as many, 29.8 percent, no longer identified with the party in 2004. For Republican Leaners the results were similar, 27.2 percent no longer identified with the Republican Party in 2002, 26.1 percent in 2004.
• Independent's Day (RUDNICK for Philadelphia City Council Blog - The web log of BRIAN RUDNICK 8th District, Independent Green, for Philadelphia City Council) I have changed my registration from Green to no affiliaton.
• OneMaine (Zeb Pike, Inside Zebster) NOTE: Zeb Pike, a Hankster alumnus, has rejoined the independent blogosphere and is now a contributor to The H. WELCOME BACK, ZEBSTER! -- Announcements: The first of my posts for The Hankster is now posted. I will post it here later but please visit that multi-author blog for independent news, newsfeeds and editorials. -- Those of you who know me personally or have read enough of my writing know that I am nothing if not fiercely independent.  That means that not only do I not always vote for one party in elections, it also means that I strongly support maintaining my right to be independent, not affiliated with any political party; therefore, not having pressure from my chosen party to go along with something I disagree with.
• Rational Irrationality (John Cassidy, Obama’s Mini-Surge, Posted by John Cassidy, The New Yorker) #3. Independents. Obama’s rebound has been particularly noticeable among voters who identify themselves as independents. The conventional wisdom is that this is where elections are decided. In September, Gallup found that among independents Obama was trailing the generic Republican candidate by 27 per cent to 48 per cent—a massive gap. In the new poll, he has pulled back to even. Both he and the generic Republican get 38 per cent of the independent vote.
• Live Blogging of CBS News/National Journal Republican Debate (Amazing Bloggers - Blog and etcetera) My focus is on how the participants come across in the race and the possible impact on independent voters — who are not a monolithic group — rather than who I agree with or not. These are the reactions of an independent voter who has belonged to both parties. NOTE: This post is a link to Joe Gandelman's post at The Moderate Voice.
• Research Log 4- UPWARD MOBILITY (by TAZMAN, Why Dems can't lead & Repubs can't govern) Article take from Zakaria, Fareed, "The downward path of upward mobility" Quote: "Most Americans are increasingly concerned over the growing gap between the rich and the poor. The biggest causality seems to be the shrinking American middle-class. In Fareed Zakaria's article, he shows how this argument is quickly divided among party lines with liberals wanting some sort of government intervention and Conservatives saying let the free market find its equilibrium. The all powerful and ever vacillating Independent voters are leaning towards the Liberals."

The Partisan Prism: Ohio Voters' Defeat of SB5

2012
Following SB5 vote, GOP and Dems begin decoding Ohio voters ahead of 2012 (By David S. Lewis, The American Independent) But the Governor was elected in 2010, when Democrats were purged nationwide, the result of a massive effort by the Republican Party to place blame on the Obama administration and cast every Democrat as guilty by association.  Even so, Kasich was only elected by a 2-percent margin, or roughly 77,000 votes, over incumbent Ted Strickland, who was elected by nearly 50 percent more votes than his Republican challenger J. Kenneth Blackwell in 2006.

The Arizona Redistricting Wars

ARIZONA REDISTRICTING

• Capitol coven stages a witch hunt (by E. J. Montini, The Arizona Republic) Essentially, Brewer and the behind-the-scenes bigwigs pulling her strings didn't like the way the maps were being redrawn under Mathis. Some Republican Congress members were no longer in "safe" districts. There might have been some actual competition. That could not be tolerated, so Brewer rallied the Republican townsfolk at the Capitol and they brought out the torches and pitchforks.
• Arizona recall vote energizes Democrats (By JERI CLAUSING, Associated Press) Last week's recall election defeat of the Republican legislator who wrote Arizona's tough anti-immigration law and the seating of Democratic mayors in Phoenix and Tucson have given Democrats renewed hope for picking up the state in next year's Senate and presidential elections. Combined, the outcomes underscored the diversity of voters in what many view as a conservative state even though voters here are split nearly in thirds among Republicans, independents and Democrats.
• Russell Pearce recall may indicate new political climate - Some see pushback on conservatives' influence (by Alia Beard Rau, The Arizona Republic) A multipartisan group also is working on what it believes will be a more long-term solution to lopsided primaries. It would abolish party primaries in Arizona, instead allowing all voters to vote on all the candidates. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, would then go on to the general election. The goal is to encourage more independent voters to participate and attract more moderate candidates who appeal to a broader range of voters.

Indies Prefer Obama Over Romney

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Dem poll analysis: Competing visions (By: Celinda Lake and Daniel Gotoff and Kristin Pondel, Politico) More encouragingly, independents’ appetite for either of the current Republican frontrunners is limited. Independents support Obama 47% to 34% over Romney—Romney being the candidate a 48% plurality of Republicans believes will win the nomination… However, while the topline dynamics may appear static, there has been considerable movement underneath—particularly among independents. In September, independent voters leaned toward the GOP (29% to 26%), with a 45% plurality undecided. Today, Democrats have a decisive 9-point advantage over the GOP among independents (35% to 26%), with another 39% undecided.

PA Redistricting Needs Independent Nonpartisan Touch

PENNSYLVANIA REDISTRICTING
Redistricting commission should map out a new plan (By HEATHER LONG, The Patriot-News) What this really speaks to is the need to reform redistricting overall. As former editorial writer Herb Field pointed out last week, the ideal is the Iowa model where an independent, nonpartisan group handles things. In other words, politicians are taken as far out of the process as possible.

Occupy Wall Street: Most Americans Agree With the Movement

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Pols and protesters - Trying to get close, but not too close (EDITORIAL Chicago Tribune) Tea partiers have clearly pushed GOP presidential candidates rightward in their early campaigns. That could prove a big liability once the eventual nominee turns his or her attention to independent voters and disaffected Democrats.
• Fox Panel Bashes OWS As ‘Toxic,’ ‘Marxist,’ ‘Anti-Democratic And Un-American’ (By Marie Diamond, Think Progress.org) [A]ccording to the CBS/New York Times poll taken just one month after the start of the first encampment in New York, 43 percent of Americans said they agree with the movement. Another poll for the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found a similar level of support. Most importantly, in both polls, support for the movement was stronger among independent voters.
• Out Of The Shadows (Bruce Gyory, NY The Capitol) Victory since 2006 has come from the voters within what I have called the “40 within 40.” Nearly 40 percent of voters describe themselves as independents, and within that group, 40 percent describe themselves as moderates.

OneMaine

Those of you who know me personally or have read enough of my writing know that I am nothing if not fiercely independent.  That means that not only do I not always vote for one party in elections, it also means that I strongly support maintaining my right to be independent, not affiliated with any political party; therefore, not having pressure from my chosen party to go along with something I disagree with.
Sometimes I find it important to vote for Independents to make a point, although usually I vote for Independents because I believe in what they stand for, and always support issues that make it easier for independents to get involved in politics or make it easier for all of us to vote, such as open primaries.
Aside from voting for an Independent, it can often be difficult for an independent like myself to find organizations to support who stand for the same things.  Well, there is an organization now here in Maine called OneMaine, founded and chaired by Eliot Cutler, who you'll remember I wrote about and supported during his run for Governor last year (very nearly winning and becoming our third Independent Governor).  He founded this organization to attempt to bring under one roof all the people in Maine who are of like mind about having less partisanship and more cooperation in our politics for the benefit of the people of Maine.  From the OneMaine website:

OneMaine provides a rallying point for people who think for themselves, who believe that our politics need to be more effective and less partisan, and who care less about parties and more about common interests and shared purpose. We are not a political party, but rather a big tent in which Mainers of all stripes – Democrats, Republicans, Greens and unenrolled, independent voters – can collaborate, share ideas and move Maine forward.

Mr. Cutler helped establish this organization following last year's gubernatorial election to try to take advantage of the independent momentum of that campaign and to provide a place for disparate people with a common goal of the best interests of Mainers.
I would encourage you to support OneMaine (you can start at the link above or like them on Facebook) or to look for like organizations if you live outside of Maine.  There are many of you out there like myself who have always been independent and have looked for a place to get involved without joining a party.  Now you have that place.
The other day I sent an email to OneMaine asking if they'd be so kind as to give me a progress update on OneMaine that I could share with you.  Kaitlin LaCasse, the media relations director, was gracious enough to get right back to me with the following:

"So far, the response to OneMaine has been fantastic. When we launched in Bangor a few months ago, over 75 people attended to learn more about OneMaine and to have a conversation about how to best move the organization forward. Since then, we've held events all around the state, and the enthusiasm for OneMaine continues to amaze me. At our Portland event (where there were over 100 people!), an older gentleman came up to me after and said, "thank you, I've been yearning for something like this." The best part is that the man hadn't ever connected with us before - he had read about the event in the paper and decided to come check it out! So, OneMaine continues to grow and mature and we're excited about the potential."
 Thank you!
 Kaitlin

 Cross-posted at Inside Zebster

Dr. Omar Ali: Need Political Vehicles That Express People's Sentiments

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Ali interviewed about elections (University of North Carolina Greensboro News) WITH VIDEO Historian Omar Ali spoke to WFMY about the Nov. 8 elections. The election results reflect the same distrust of government and the two major parties that has sparked the Tea Party and Occupy movements, he said.

NC Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform Wants Iowa-Style Redistricting

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING

• Letter: Look to Iowa for redistricting reform (Daily Reflector - Greenville NC) The N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform strongly agrees that it is time to change the way North Carolina does redistricting… N.C. House Bill 824, co-sponsored by Rep. Edith Warren, passed the N.C. House by a vote of 88 to 27, with support from Warren and Rep. Marian McLawhorn. H.B. 824 is based upon this Iowa model and crafted to fit North Carolina — both its people and its political culture.
• Ouster of Arizona redistrict chair provokes backlash (by Mary K. Reinhart, The Arizona Republic) "The initiative was designed to prevent exactly what the governor and the Senate seek to accomplish with the removal of the chair," attorney Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest wrote in a filing Thursday on behalf of Dennis Burke, Ann Eschinger and Bart Turner. "It was intended to create a commission beyond the reach of raw political power of the sort exercised in this case."

Ron Paul Top Choice for Independents Among Repub Hopefuls

2012
Cain's Lead in Iowa Narrows, Gingrich Surges in SC (By Caitlin Huey-Burns, RealClearPolitics) While Cain and Romney sit atop the ballot, Paul leads the field among independent voters with 27 percent of the support. Cain comes close with 26 percent, followed by Gingrich at 14 percent. Romney attracts just 7 percent of independents.

Buddy Roemer Reaches out to Occupy Wall Street

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Rabble in Arms (By Keith Kreitman, Daily Journal - San Mateo CA) Meanwhile, as I have written before, the candidates for the Republican nomination for the presidency march along from debate to debate, not recognizing and addressing the growing middle class dissent in the land they wish to rule, ignoring the Occupy movement and clueless that, with their ever more extreme programs that gain them love and kisses from their slivers of extreme right admirers, they are alienating more and more of the moderate middle class and independent voters and the Occupy movement will eventually rule. 
• Mulling Third Party Bid, Buddy Roemer Reaches Out to Occupy Wall Street (By: Kevin Derby, Sunshine State News) As their candidate’s path to the Republican nomination becomes increasingly difficult, this week the Roemer camp threw out signs that he is considering launching a third party or independent bid for the White House.

empire state bold

PHOTO: Nancy Hanks

New Jersey Independents Officially Classified as 'Unaffiliated'

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
No political party? N.J. calls you unaffiliated (By LYNDSAY CAYETANA BOUCHAL, NJ HERALD) McCabe said New Jersey in 2005 passed legislation stating that as of Jan. 1, 2006, the category of independent voters would be eliminated. Any voter who chose not to affiliate with a political party or group was thereby classified as an unaffiliated voter.

Ian Ferguson: Get Rid of Party Primaries Altogether

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Committee Lotteries, Open Primaries, Extended Term Limits: 3 Ways to Curb Partisanship (Ian Ferguson, PolicyMic - Next Generation News and Politics) Parties can’t be forced to have open primaries as this would leave them both open to raiding, where members of the other party flood a primary and vote for the weakest candidate. To solve this, we should get rid of primaries altogether. Allow anyone who can meet the requirements to run for an office to do so. This would, of course, require two elections: One to whittle the field down to two candidates and another final election. This would allow the general electorate greater options in candidates and force the final two candidates to woo the voting groups of those who failed to make it past the first round.
• Recall in Arizona - What Tuesday’s mixed electoral results really tell us (National Review Online) Firstly, Shadegg explains, “It is very important to understand the procedural differences between this election and a normal election” — which made it meaningless as an electoral barometer. The race functioned essentially as an open primary, with the only choices on Election Day being two Republicans: Pearce, and a slightly more moderate, but hardly centrist, Mesa accountant named Jerry Lewis. Shadegg argues that this means “the more moderate of the two candidates gets a huge leg up.” By the median-voter theorem, Lewis would win inevitably, so long as he was slightly more moderate than Pearce. Such a dynamic applies in a contest like this one, in which the “extremist” Republican is inevitably not the median-voter choice, but won’t apply to other races, in which a Democratic opponent is no more likely to be closer to the median voter than the Republican.

Arizona Repubs Want Citizen Referendum on Citizen Redistricting

REDISTRICTING
Redistricting backers turn in signatures to overturn new Senate maps (LA Times) Referendum proponents, calling themselves Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting (FAIR), have until Sunday to turn in at least 504,000 signatures needed to get the matter on the November ballot. FAIR is comprised of a group of Republicans who charged that the maps, drawn for the first time by a citizens commission instead of the Legislature, were drawn to favor Democrats. Earlier, the state Supreme Court turned down GOP-backed challenges to state Senate and congressional district maps.

Chris Page: Ron Paul Should Run As Independent in 2012

2012
Ron Paul Should Be An Independent Candidate in 2012 (Christopher Page, PolicyMic - Next Generation News and Politics) Paul’s ability to appeal to voters outside the Republican base might also give him reason to run as independent. In recent debates, he criticized Ronald Reagan for selling weapons to Iran in exchange for hostages, the U.S. court system for being unfair to minorities, and a border fence for being un-American. Additionally, he supports legalizing marijuana, cutting defense, and protecting civil liberties. These positions, which are holding him back in the Republican primary, might actually help Paul in a general election campaign, especially given Obama’s adoption of the Bush foreign policy and opposition to legalizing marijuana. Given this appeal to voters outside the Republican base, it seems as though Paul is running in the wrong race.

Working Families Party Leader to Challenge Brooklyn Councilman Dilan?

NEW YORK

• From City Hall News (via email) John Duane, brother to State Sen. Tom Duane, is making moves towards running for the City Council seat held by Republican Dan Halloran, two sources say.
• WFP Honcho Mulling Dilan Challenge (By Chris Bragg, City Hall News) Larancuent has deep ties in progressive labor circles and among immigrant rights groups. He has run the 5,000-member, largely immigrant Laundry, Dry Cleaning and Allied Workers Joint Board for the past 11 years, has been a key player in the national labor movement, and helped devise the strategy for the WFP’s considerable successes in the 2009 election cycle.

travellog

PHOTO: Nancy Hanks

Open Primaries Trump Partisan Elections for Voter Input

2012

• Election results 2011: Voters signal that GOP overreached (By Mark Trumbull, Christian Science Monitor) Recent nationwide opinion polls reveal a frustrated electorate, with a large majority seeing the nation going down the "wrong track." Yet that frustration is fueled partly by a desire among independent voters for more moderation in policies – such as compromises by both parties on core issues such as taxes and spending.
• GOP: Benefits for rich could go (By: Marin Cogan and Manu Raju, Politico) The Occupy Wall Street movement has generated enormous media attention for its protests across the country as it tries to highlight income inequality — so much so that the language is creeping into Republican talking points and interviews.
• Too many story changes for Cain (By Em Gorham, Duquesne Duke - Dusquesne University) Republican voters are not the only people that Cain needs to worry about. In the United States, 20 states have open primaries, meaning that Democrats and Republicans can vote in whichever primary they'd like, including the ever important early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, as well as my home state, Virginia.

The Bloomberg Model? Ann Arbor's Independent Coucil Member

INDEPENDENT WIN ANN ARBOR COUNCIL
election analysis: Fight for Independents: How Jane Lumm beat a Democratic incumbent in Ann Arbor (By Ryan J. Stanton, Political Reporter, AnnArbor.com) Lumm picked up 60.4 percent of the vote on Tuesday. And she pulled it off as a known Republican running as an Independent, an impressive feat in a city that leans so heavily left and where all 11 council members for the past six years have been Democrats.

Capitalism 101: Joyce Purnick Remarks on NYC Political Corruption

NEW YORK

• Analysis | Close Friends in City Government: Money and Politics (By Joyce Purnick : WNYC Political Analyst) New York City has some of the country's most stringent laws and rules to limit the influence of money in politics. But they do only so much, as we were reminded yet again recently by revelations about questionable practices by Comptroller John Liu and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who finances his own campaigns, cuts corners — different corners, but corners nonetheless. 

bird on a wire

 PHOTO: Nancy Hanks

William J. Kelleher: Voting - An Essential, But Not Sufficient, Requirement for Democracy

Congrats to my colleague and co-blogger from the West Coast William J. Kelleher, PhD on the publication of his new Internet Voting Now! Here's How. Here's Why -- So You Can Kiss Citizens United Goodbye!

Internet Voting Now! is a thoughtful and compelling defense of moving beyond partisan machine politics in America into the current age of technology, bringing our original revolutionary founding principals and intentions with us.

Dedicated "to the men and women of our Founding Generation, who were willing to sacrifice everything for the Original American Dream -- Liberty through Self-Government," Internet Voting Now! begins:

Like the horseless carriage 100 years ago, Internet voting is coming to the USA.

And to get you started on his blog, here's a snipit from his latest post on Internet Voting For All, which rang a serious bell for me:

Voting, of course, is a very serious matter. It is an essential, albeit not sufficient, requirement for democracy. Voting is one of the principle ways by which the people of a nation are empowered to have a voice in their own destinies. The process of voting, that is, the means by which a vote is conducted, must be one that commands the trust of the voters, or the results will not be legitimate. Illegitimate governments can only cause political unhappiness, and possibly political unrest and turmoil. Hence, the right to cast a vote is meaningless unless the means by which the vote is counted is trustworthy.

- NH

Maine Voters Keep Election Day Registration

MAINE ELECTION RESULTS

• Mainers vote to continue Election Day registration (By Eric Russell, Bangor Daily News) Question 1 asked: “Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Public Laws of 2011 that requires new voters to register to vote at least two business days prior to an election?” With more than three-quarters of the state’s precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, the yes side was leading 60 percent to 40 percent and had declared victory. The yes side was prevailing in every county, with especially lopsided results in Portland and Bangor.
• VOTING RIGHTS LANDSLIDE, MAINE REBUKES GOP, But bad news for Mississippi voters... (By Brad Friedman, Brad Blog) The People's Veto of the GOP bill was on the ballot tonight and, if the results are accurate as reported, the people of Maine couldn't have been clearer. Question 1 has is said to have passed by a remarkable 61 to 39% margin (with 90% of the results in), quite literally winning in every single county in the state...
• "We spoke with one voice:" Mainers vote to keep Election Day registration (By Steve Mistler, Sun Journal - Lewiston) According to unofficial results, the coalition that worked to restore EDR held a large lead over the groups that sought to repeal the law. With more than half of the state's 594 precincts reporting, voters favored retaining EDR, 60 percent to 40 percent.

Threat to Collective Bargaining Right Rejected by Ohio Voters

OHIO ELECTION RESULTS

• Ohio repeals law restricting unions; Miss. blocks ‘personhood’ amendment (By Aaron Blake and Rachel Weiner, Washington Post) Ohioans voted Tuesday to repeal a Republican-backed law that restricted collective bargaining for public workers, while Mississippi voters blocked an amendment that would have defined a fertilized egg as a person.
• Ohio Voters Reject Law Limiting Public Unions (By Caitlin Huey-Burns, Real Clear Politics) Ohio voters on Tuesday gave Democrats and President Obama a welcome shot of the arm in the key battleground state by rejecting Republican Gov. John Kasich's signature achievement: a law that curbs collective bargaining rights for public employees. Voters resoundingly defeated the measure, 63 percent to 37 percent.
• Ohio voters reject Republican-backed union limits (AP - CBS News) The state's new collective bargaining law was defeated Tuesday after an expensive union-backed campaign that pitted firefighters, police officers and teachers against the Republican establishment. In a political blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich, voters handily rejected the law, which would have limited the bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers. With nearly 95 percent of the votes counted late Tuesday, about 61 percent were to reject the law.
• Elections may signal a pause in conservative trend (By Paul West, Washington Bureau, LA Times) AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, in Columbus, Ohio, to cheer a badly needed victory for organized labor and its Democratic allies, called the results a defeat for "those who spend their time scapegoating workers and pushing a partisan agenda."

Kentucky's Gatewood Galbraith Garners 9% as Independent in Gov Race Yesterday

KENTUCKY ELECTION RESULTS
Galbraith says he ran for the strength of his message; loses 5th governor’s race (By Cassidy Herrington, Kentucky Kernel) Gatewood Galbraith may not be hanging his wide-brim fedora at the governor’s mansion this year, but his pre- and post-election commentary may be resurrected in future political discussions. Galbraith garnered 9 percent of the vote. At his reception at the Crowne Plaza Tuesday evening, Galbraith said he was “ticked off” by the results.

Mandatory Voting vs. Opening Up the Political Process

MANDATORY VOTING
Mandatory Voting Isn’t a Solution to Polarization (John Sides, The American Prospect) First, the period of the highest voter turnout (of those eligible)—the mid- to late- 1800s—coincided with a lot of party polarization.  And the decline in turnout in the first half of the twentieth century occurred during a decline in polarization.  Compare turnout in presidential elections and polarization.  And the increasing turnout in presidential elections during the past decade has coincided with increasing polarization. Second, although states vary in whether they allow independents to vote in party primaries, more “open” primaries do not tend to produce more moderate members of Congress or less polarized state legislatures.

ALSO SEE:

Should Americans be Forced to Vote?

by  William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.

Some guy who is paid a fat salary by a rich think tank says that the best way to raise voter turnout is to force folks to vote. The New York Times gave him lots of space

This guy fails to see the cause of low interest and low turnout – political powerlessness. Turnout largely follows the power/wealth scale in the US. Turnout increases as you go up the scale, and decreases as you go down it. The wealthiest have the highest turnout, and the most power to get what they want from government... [continue reading]

VOTE YES ON Question One in Maine: The Zebster is BAAAAck!!

UPDATE:

Vote Yes on Question 1

Guess Who's Back?

It's The Zebster!

Yay!

It's voting day in Maine and

This ties in to Question One that we are voting on here in Maine.  Voting yes would overturn a law the Legislature enacted requiring people to register at least two days before voting day.  I can tell you that that would have impacted yours truly today because I moved less than a year ago.  Under the new law I would have had to make two trips, one of them completely unnecessary, just to be able to exercise my right to vote as a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Maine.  The more difficult they make it for you to be able to vote, the harder it is for you to use your vote to keep them under control.  Don't EVER let them start because it's always been difficult for some reason, here in the Land of the Free, to ensure that we all have our rights.

Can People Determine the American Election Process?

ELECTION REFORM

• Should Voting Be Mandatory? Or are there already too many people casting ballots? Choice and Competition (Richard H. Pildes, NY Times) Citizen-led redistricting, open primaries and public financing of elections would bring out more voters. NOTE: Please see William Kelleher's post on The Hankster from earlier today Should Americans Be Forced To Vote?
• People’s Veto is move in right direction (By Doug Rooks, Sun Journal - Lewiston Maine) Hearings on LD 1376 yielded no evidence that the 38-year practice of Election Day registration, or EDR, caused any problems. Yet the bill’s pedigree, sponsored by House Speaker Robert Nutting, with Senate President Kevin Raye co-sponsoring, suggested Republicans were serious about eliminating an option used by 45,000 voters in 2008 alone.

Should Americans be Forced to Vote?

Some guy who is paid a fat salary by a rich think tank says that the best way to raise voter turnout is to force folks to vote. The New York Times gave him lots of space

This guy fails to see the cause of low interest and low turnout – political powerlessness. Turnout largely follows the power/wealth scale in the US. Turnout increases as you go up the scale, and decreases as you go down it. The wealthiest have the highest turnout, and the most power to get what they want from government.

Indeed, elections and government are dominated by the top 1%. Barack Obama says as much in The Audacity of Hope: When socializing with rich campaign contributors, “I found myself avoiding certain topics during conversations with them. … I had no problem telling [them] that the tax cuts they’d received from George Bush should be reversed. … Still, I know that as a consequence of my fund-raising I became more like the wealthy donors I met …,” page 137. Its them he serves first. These key potential campaign contributors of big money are “the top 1 percent or so of the income scale,” page 136, The Audacity of Hope

The lower you go on the wealth and power scale the more intense is the awareness people have of their political alienation. Why bother to go to the polls when you already know it won’t do you any good?

The solution is to have an election system in which the rich and poor, and the moderate middle class, have genuine equality. When the election system is no longer skewed towards the top, folks will feel more empowered. They will turnout more just to feel the joy of exercising their political power. The US should redistribute electoral power as it should be in an authentic democracy.

But to use government power to force folks to vote, like this think tank guy says, won’t advance democracy. That would be merely another act of humiliation of the 99ers.

William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
Twitter: wjkno1
Author of Internet Voting Now!

Former Lt Gov Abel Maldonado Under Attack

CALIFORNIA
Central Coast Republican looks to mobilize opposition against Abel Maldonado's congressional run (by Christopher A. Guzman, CAIVN) With California's top-two open primary system and redrawn congressional districts almost certain to play a major role in the 2012 election, San Luis Obispo financial planner Matt Kokkonen is on a mission to ensure that former Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado is kept from winning the state's 24th congressional district.

Staten Island Rematch for DA - Donovan v. Ryan

NEW YORK
Staten Island DA: Donovan V. Ryan Rematch (BY Celeste Katz (Daily News/ Daily Politics) Ryan, a Democrat who ran against current District Attorney Dan Donovan in 2007, now has the backing of the Staten Island Conservative Party – and he will run on both ballot lines in tomorrow's election. Donovan, the Republican standard-bearer, has the support of the Staten Island Independence Party.

Democracy Demands Voters - Missouri Needs Primaries, Not Caucuses

OPEN PRIMARIES
Democracy demands voters: Participate in Missouri’s presidential primary (By ROBIN CARNAHAN, Special to The Kansas City Star) Historically, political parties have relied on the results of primaries to allocate delegates to nominating conventions. This year, the Missouri Republican Party announced (after the state legislature’s failure to move the election to a date preferred by national party leaders) that it plans to ignore the votes cast by Missourians and instead let only party members who show up at a “caucus” on March 17 decide how delegates will be awarded.