Wellstone Action!

posted by Ross Wallen

OCTOBER 17, 2008

The voting rights enjoyed today were not always a given; it has taken many years, many social movements and much struggle to reach the point where nearly all US citizens can vote. So it is a horrible shame when individuals, parties, or any other entity deems it necessary to silence the voices and votes of citizens in our country. Just recently there have been efforts to curb the voting rights of students, veterans, those affected by the housing crisis, and others.

Here on the blog we have covered same day registration, which makes the voting process much more easily accessible and navigable for voters, and some of the different tactics that were used during the primary to make voting more of a hassle and more of an obstacle for certain communities. In this post we will take a look at some problems that have come to our attention since then.

The unfortunate reality exists where nefarious political campaign operatives or party drones are not the only problem; some states are not acting in the interest of voters or democracy. A recent article by the New York Time's titled States' Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal, sheds some light on how "tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law."

More problems can arise from a lack of training and preparedness by Election Judges that are ostensibly there to protect voters. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School published a study documenting the "de facto disenfranchisement" that results. "The interviews revealed an alarming national trend of de facto disenfranchisement:

• Election officials do not understand the basic voter eligibility rules governing people with criminal convictions;
• Election officials do not understand the basic registration procedures for people with criminal convictions;
• Interviewers experienced various problems communicating with election officials, including repeated unanswered telephone calls and bureaucratic runaround.

So we are left with a situation where voters may not be able to vote because states, election officials, or political parties are not acting in the best interest of an active, healthy democracy. Despite the previous paragraphs, not all is bad; with the challenges of legitimate voters comes the fight to maintain the integrity of our democracy. It is now the duty of average citizens to stand up and take responsibility for protecting those most vulnerable to these tactics.

Efforts to suppress votes have been going on for years, but only recently has the instant gratification and easy organizing of the internet allowed for such quick documentation and dispersal of information about those that wish to stifle democracy and their actions. Tools such as wikis are leading the way. A wiki, according to Wikipedia, is a web page or collection of pages "designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content." Two new Wikis have debuted recently that are answering the call to allow average citizens to be active protectors of our democracy.

The first Wiki, the Election Protection Wiki is an effort by The Center for Media and Democracy, the same people that brought you SourceWatch and Congresspedia in the name of transparency and citizen engagement.  Described as "citizens tracking voter suppression and election integrity" the Election Protection Wiki is imploring caretakers of our democracy to help out. "The Election Protection Wiki's success depends on the contributions of volunteer editors - no experience is necessary, if only because so many of the problems with elections in the U.S. today are mind-bogglingly simple." For those looking to help out and wondering what is going on in their state, you can get state by state information here, or up to date news.

The second http://votersuppressionwiki.wetpaint.com is introduced by Baratunde Thurston in the video below. You can follow them on Twitter @votesuppression. According to Jon Pincus, "it has three major goals: educating people about voter suppression, tracking incidents of voter suppression activity, and mobilizing action to combat and prevent voter suppression." If you find any of this interesting and would like to get involved, participate in their discussions and you can contribute as we move closer to Election Day.

For an idea of where you can direct people if they want to ensure their vote is counted prior to voting, http://www.866ourvote.org/ is a coalition established to "provide Americans from coast to coast with comprehensive voter information and advice on how they can make sure their vote is counted." Their state of the art hotlines are 1-866-OUR-VOTE (administered by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law) and 1-888-Ve-Y-Vota (administered by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund).

As we work hard to elect progressives, empower communities and register voters all across the country, may we ensure that their ballots and their right to cast a ballot are not unjustly taken away.

Photo by mhaithaca