Oregon using Fusion Voting

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

Early in 2012, Oregon voters will fill the vacancy in the U.S. House seat, First District, vacated by David Wu. The Independent Party of Oregon has nominated Suzanne Bonamici, who is also the Democratic Party nominee. She defeated Rob Cornilles, the Republican nominee, by a vote of 56-31 in the Independent Party nomination process.

Registered members of the Independent Party voted in this primary by going to the party’s web page, downloading and printing the ballot, and mailing it to the party, together with a photocopy of that voter’s ID.

Voters in Independent Party primaries cannot vote unless they had been registered members of the party for a short period (around 70 days) before the election had been announced. This party rule is to prevent the party’s nomination from being influenced by partisans of either major party who might join the Independent Party at the last minute, to influence the outcome.

Since 2009, Oregon has permitted two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. The IPO played a significant role in passing legislation to allow a form of Fusion voting, a reform that allows candidates to list multiple party nominations on the Oregon ballot.

Use the above link to view the Oregon Independent Party's website.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Americans Elect Update

Charle Rose interviewed Kahlil Byrd, CEO and Elliot Ackerman, COO of Americans Elect on Friday, November 25, 2011.

Some new information from the interview:

1. AE has gained ballot status in Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Alaska, Utah and Arkansas. It has acquired the 1,030,040 valid signatures required to do so in California and has submitted them.

2. The original 50 donors plus the online donations is around $30 million. Half the money is going to ballot access and the other is the build out of the website and organization. Each of the original donors has loaned the money and only the first $10,000 will be the donation and the remaining will be a loan. How they will be repaid has not been reveled.

3. If AE does stop any candidate from getting 270 votes they would reconvene and have the online delegates determine which of the Democratic or Republican candidate their electors vote for. This would removed the vote going to the Congress.

Would it be better if it went to the Congress where the House would pick a Republican President and the Senate a Democratic Vice-President?

Use the above link to view the interview.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY Redistricting Update

From the New York Times By THOMAS KAPLAN.

As the State Legislature and the governor argue over how best to draw a new political map for New York State, a group of community leaders has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to take control of the contentious redistricting process.

The lawsuit, which names Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders as defendants, asserts that the officials’ effort to redraw Assembly, Senate and Congressional district boundaries to reflect the most recent census “has stalled and threatens to throw the state’s 2012 elections into a quagmire absent court intervention.”

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, follows similar legal challenges in more than a dozen states that are also in the midst of the often-bitter process of redrawing districts. In New York, it is the first major face-off in what seems likely to devolve into a chaotic legal battle, as well as a major fight in the legislative session that will begin in January.

A task force is working on drawing a set of political maps for consideration by the Legislature. But Mr. Cuomo has said he would veto those maps, because the panel is not independent. He has called on the Legislature to approve his plan for an independent commission; it has declined.

In an interview this week, the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, sketched out what he said could be a compromise — an eight-member bipartisan commission, with equal representation for each party, that would be appointed by the Legislature but made up entirely of people who are not lawmakers. The Democratic and Republican leaders in the Assembly and Senate would each appoint two members who would have equal funding, access to data and control of the map-making process.

“I think that goes a long way toward reform,” Mr. Silver said. “It wouldn’t be a political advantage to anybody. Majorities cannot just draw districts to the exclusion and the detriment of the minorities.”

Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican, did not comment on Mr. Silver’s proposal, but he said: “Senate Republicans remain committed to a redistricting process that is bipartisan, open and fair. We look forward to continuing our discussions with the governor and others to enact a plan that is in the best interest of all New Yorkers.”

A stalemate between Mr. Cuomo and the Legislature would probably wind up in court, but the stakes for a legal battle are high and the timeline is short: The state primary elections next year could be as early as June, because of separate litigation over New York’s compliance with a federal law meant to ensure that residents serving in the military overseas have enough time to return ballots and be counted.

Among the six plaintiffs in the new redistricting lawsuit are a district leader in Brooklyn, a pastor in Westchester County and a lawyer from the Finger Lakes region who is mulling a State Senate bid. Their complaint described New York’s usual redistricting process as “an exercise in partisan self-dealing and incumbent protection.”

It also criticized the task force for not acting quickly enough to comply with a new law — the legality of which Republicans are disputing — specifying that for the purpose of drawing districts, prisoners should be counted in their hometowns, and not in the communities where the correctional facilities are located. Many prisoners are from downstate but are incarcerated upstate.

Richard Mancino, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, said that “the system here in New York is broken” and that lawmakers were intent on perpetuating the status quo “where the incumbents pick who their voters are going to be.” He said the possibility of primary elections as early as June made it prudent to mount a legal challenge now, instead of waiting until the legislative task force released a draft of district lines.

“If you wait for a flawed product to come out of the current system that will neither be independent nor nonpartisan nor apparently in compliance with the law,” Mr. Mancino said, “you’re going to be stuck with something that just won’t work.”

Mr. Mancino is a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the New York City firm for which Mr. Cuomo’s father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, is of counsel. The law firm said he was not involved in the case.

Spokesmen for the current Governor Cuomo, Mr. Skelos and Mr. Silver declined to comment on the lawsuit.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY denied a Waiver to keep 2012 Primary in September

Thanks to the Ballot Access News for this post.

On November 16, the federal government refused New York state’s request for a 2012 waiver from the 2009 federal law, the MOVE Act, that requires states to mail overseas absentee ballots at least 45 days before any federal primary or federal election. As a result, it's very likely that a U.S. District Court will order New York state to move its non-presidential primary from September to August at a December 1, 2011 hearing.

The U.S. Justice Department has asked the federal judge in Albany to move New York’s 2012 primary from Sept. 11 to August or earlier, a change that would give the state more time to distribute general election ballots to absentee voters.

In denying New York’s request for a waiver Wednesday, the Defense Department said the state’s election plan for 2012 “provides no concrete solution to the problems that arose in 2010 from the state’s overly-compressed schedule for preparing and transmitting ballots.”

The NY legislators' are split between an August or June date. In 2012 there is the Presidential primary in April, the Congressional primary, and the State's primary. New Yorker's are not looking forward to three primaries in 2012. Our state budget has enough problems.

UPDATE

The hearing in U.S. District Court in the federal government’s lawsuit against New York on this point has been postponed once again, from December 1 to December 12. This is the fourth postponement. It seems somewhat likely that the judge is hoping the legislature will act before he must choose a new primary date. The case is USA v State of New York, northern district, 10-cv-1214.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NYIPC 12th Annual ANTI-CORRUPTION AWARDS

The New York City Independence Party set out 17 years ago with a simple idea: to create a new and independent reform movement of New Yorker's from all walks of life. We are a new kind of minor party, genuinely independent, built from the bottom up, and not tied to the major parties.

The Independence Party has over 100,000 members in New York City, 4,500 of them have joined local county committees in all five boroughs, the governing bodies of the organization. Thousands more sign petitions, volunteer, and play a role in the Independence Party's many campaigns for political reform.

Partisan politics holds back development in our city. We support political reforms that bring the one million New York independents into the heart of the political process, such as nonpartisan municipal elections, seating independents on the Board of Elections, separating party interest from the public interest, and making sure that good policy, rather than partisan politics, guides the running of this city.

We have built a new electoral coalition in New York City that took center stage in 2005 when 47% of African Americans and 65% of independents supported our mayoral candidate, Mike Bloomberg, in his re-election bid. We partnered with Mike Bloomberg since 2001, when the votes on our line gave him his first margin of victory. In 2007, Mayor Bloomberg became an independent himself and we believe he has governed our city in a nonpartisan fashion. In 2009 the Independence Party received 150,000 votes on our line for Mayor Bloomberg, a record breaking number for a minor party.

The New York City Independence Party believes in change and community. We need to change the culture of New York politics and community. We need to change the culture of New York politics so that it is grounded in genuine civic debate that includes and empowers all New Yorkers. And it is by building a new community of independents from the bottom up that we can effect that change.

The 2011 Honorees are: Former Arizona State Legislator Dr. Ted Downing & Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Activist Larry Sakin.

They are leaders of the Arizona Open Government Committee, which is spearheading a 2012 ballot initiative for top-two primaries.

I received my Anti-Corruption Award in 2008.

In the political year of 2012 with the very important primaries and general elections, the New York City County Committees must reconstitute. I must decide if I will run for my 5th term as a State Committee member representing the 73rd AD (Eastside of Manhattan). Petitioning this year is a moving target, as the legislators have not decided on when to move primary dates to comply with the MOVE Act, mailing absentee ballots 45 days before elections to military voters.

If you can not attend but want to support our efforts, use the above link to donate.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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New Optical Scanner Voting Machines in NY Leads to Increase in Write-in Votes

Two candidates who weren't even on the ballot are apparent winners of two seats in NY's Chemung County Town of Baldwin.

Several Steuben County races could also be decided by write-in votes. And one Schuyler County race was won by a write-in candidate.

This sudden increase in successful write-in candidates isn't a fluke, election officials say.

New optical scan voting machines that were put into use in recent years make it easier for residents to write in a name, rather than just automatically pull the lever for someone whose name appears on the ballot in front of them.

"This is the first time in my life I've ever seen write-ins win," said Mary O'Dell, Chemung County deputy election commissioner. "It's so much easier to do write-ins with these new ballots. It's right there in front of you. There will start being more write-ins."

The change was apparent in the Town of Baldwin, where there was only one candidate on the ballot for two available Town Board seats. And that candidate, Gerald Tillotson, didn't even win. Tillotson captured 67 votes, but 280 write-in votes were cast. As soon as election officials saw the large number of write-ins, they decided to count them Tuesday night, O'Dell said. The result: Patrick Collins collected 149 write-in votes and Herschel Rohde had 141. That made them the apparent winners of the two seats. The same thing happened in the Baldwin town supervisor race, where Russell Purvis was running apparently unopposed. But Purvis grabbed only 70 votes, while write-in candidate Keith Rosekrans collected 124.

Write-in votes could play a role in several unsettled Steuben County races as well, according to Election Commissioner Veronica Olin. "We got some with the Jasper highway department. It's an issue there. There were 133 votes for the top vote-getter in Jasper, but there were 155 write-ins," Olin said. "There's a position on the Cameron Town Board that came close. We had 95 votes and 87 write-ins. We don't know if they are all for the same person or not. It's the same for the superintendent of highways in Cameron. If the write-ins are all for same person, the write-in would take the superintendent race in Cameron. "It looks like we definitely had more write-ins on the ballot than we normally do," she said. "The new ballot definitely leaves it open, because it's right there in black and white to do it. On the lever machines, people didn't understand how to do a write-in." Steuben County won't count all the write-in votes until Nov. 21, when it will also count absentee and military ballots, Olin said.

In Schuyler County, Tyrone town supervisor candidate Alan Hurley grabbed 121 votes, but there are 256 write-in votes. In that case, it appeared to be an organized write-in campaign mounted by other candidates, said Deputy Election Commissioner Carolyn Elkins. There were signs for at least three different Tyrone write-in candidates posted prior to the election, Elkins said. Election commissioners are expected to open those ballots Thursday.

With the large number of NY independent voters, over 2 million, there is the opportunity for write-in campaigns.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Mandatory Voting in the U.S.

This opinion is from William A. Galston, a senior fellow at the Bookings Institution.

Jury duty is mandatory, why not voting?

Thirty-one countries have some form of mandatory voting according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. The list includes nine members of the Organization for Economics Cooperation and Development and two- thirds of the Latin American nations. More than half back up the legal requirement with an enforcement mechanism, while the rest are content to rely on the moral force of the law.

Proponents offer three reasons for mandatory voting:

- A democracy can't be strong if its citizenship is weak. American citizenship is strong on rights and weak on responsibilities. Requiring people to vote would re-inforce the principle of reciprocity at the heart of citizenship.

- A democracy would take into account the interests and views of all citizens. But if some regularly vote while others don't, officials will give greater weight to participants. Mandatory voting would tend to even out disparities stemming from income, education, and age, enhancing our system's inclusiveness.

- Low turnout rates pushes American politics toward increased polarization. Hard-core partisans are more likely to dominate lower turnout elections, while those who are less fervent about specific issues and less attached to political organizations tend not to participate at levels proportional to their share of the electorate.

My next door neighbor is from Brazil and when you turn 65, voting becomes optional.

Next week we vote in NY and in my district there is five judgeships on the ballot. But there are only 5 democrats running unopposed. If there is no contest I would expect there would be no fine.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY could have 3 Primary dates in 2012

A dispute over when primary elections should take place has opened the costly possibility that New York will wind up with three separate voting days: one for President, a second for congressional races, and a third for state offices.

Under current law, next year’s presidential primary is scheduled for April 24. Congressional and state legislative primaries are set for Sept. 11.

But the Justice Department is asking a federal judge to order the state to move the congressional and legislative votes to no later than Aug. 18. The jump forward would ensure New York meets a new federal law (The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act) requiring states to get absentee ballots out to those in the military at least 45 days before the Nov. 6, 2012, general election.

The law, however, applies only to presidential and congressional elections, officials say and Albany lawmakers are balking about moving their own races up to the earlier date. Officials say that means Albany Federal Judge Gary Sharpe could keep the presidential primary in April and move the congressional vote to August while the state leaves the legislative primaries in September.

“It could be chaos and it could be costly,” said one legislative Democrat. The Board of Elections estimates each primary carries a statewide cost of slightly less than the $50 million for a general election, not to mention the hassle.

The Legislature could agree to link state primaries to whenever the congressional votes are set, but the two houses are feuding over a date. Senate GOPers want to move the legislative primaries up to August, something Assembly Speaker Sheldon Speaker opposes. Republicans, holding a thin majority in the Senate, say a June primary held during the legislative session would force lawmakers to choose between doing their job and campaigning for reelection.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Obama's Voter Protection Program

The Obama re-election campaign has quietly opened a counteroffensive against Republican backed changes to election laws that will suppress voters and limit get-out-the-vote efforts.

The effort led by former White House counsel Robert Bauer, prompted the suspension of an Ohio law limiting early voting and is fighting the Wisconsin law that disallows student photo id cards for voting identification. The campaign will mount the Voter Protection program with thousands of volunteers in battleground states to help navigate new election laws and find ways to fight them.

More then 30 states have changed voter laws since 2008, including limiting early voting and 7 that added requirements that voters show photo identification.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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2012 Presidential Debates

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

On October 31, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that it will again hold presidential general election debates, and named the dates and locations for each of the four debates.

The only vice-presidential debate will be October 11, at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.

The three presidential debates will be:

(1) October 3, University of Denver

(2) October 16, Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

(3) October 22, Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.

Also on October 31, the Commission said that its old rules for inclusion will still apply: 15% in the polls and on the ballot in enough states to theoretically win the election.

The Commission is famous for its prejudice against minor party and independent candidates, but it is also seems unfair to the different regions of the country.

The Commission has sponsored 26 debates for president and vice-president starting in 1988. Eleven have been in the South, seven in the Midwest, but only four in the East, and only four in the West.

It is time to replace this commission.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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