voting

If you have any doubts about your registration status,
check it out and get it handled today. Please.

We have been through a lot in the last 3 to 4 years. We've seen our economy teeter on the brink of collapse. We've seen thousands of Jobs go overseas. We've seen our brave men and women travel abroad, fighting two wars to defend our freedoms right here at home. We've seen our political process become more and more bitter, divisive and down right ineffective.

With the election of Barack Obama as the first black President, we've seen that most people in this country are ready to move past our ugly past of racism, and Jim Crow. But we've also seen that there are still some who want to hold on to that dark past, expressing hate and anger over the fact that a Black man is in the White House. We've seen partisan gridlock basically cripple Washington, DC and political posturing and grandstanding dominate our legislature in Raleigh.

In January 2012, the Wake Board of Election UNANIMOUSLY approved requesting enough funds from the Wake County Commissioners to have 25 to 30 One-Stop Early Voting sites for the 2012 General election. The County Commissioners only approved roughly HALF the money. The BOE staff worked up a plan for roughly half the total number of hours for early voting we had in 2008, and 1/3 the sites originally asked for.

Saw this on Facebook today - http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/MediaRoom/PR/Pages/BoardofElectio...

Mecklenburg is getting 22 locations and 2741 hours of voting.

Mecklenburg County has only slightly more voters than we have in Wake, but we turned out nearly 30K more voters in 2008 than they did. Yet somehow our County Commissioners feels we only deserve HALF the sites and hours for Early Voting than Mecklenburg is getting this year.

Can someone explain that? If that's not a Republican attempt at Voter Suppression, I don't know what else it can be!

It's looking pretty ugly right now. For the life of me I don't understand what is going on. I read a poll the other day that said a majority was against banning civil unions, yet when they were told that Amendment One would in fact ban civil unions, that same majority still planned to vote for the damned thing. Hell, ten percent of those polled thought a For vote would legalize gay marriage.

Anyway I'm not giving up. My personal goal was to get 20 Against votes and at this point I am several short of that. I actually had a small house party Saturday night and tried to sway some votes. It did not turn out well. After pleading what I thought was a pretty convincing case I wound up calling several of my guests bigots. But only after they insisted they were voting Yes regardless.

http://www.raleighpublicrecord.org/news/2012/03/12/voter-ed-group-questi...

Voter Integrity Group Questions Wake Voting Machine Certification
By Jennifer Wig
March 12, 2012 | Posted in: 2012 Election, News | Tags: election, voting, voting machines | 2 Responses

Editor’s Note: In the original posting of this article, Chris Telesca was identified as a member of the NC Coalition for Verified Voting. While that is true, his statements in this story reflect his role as the founder of the Wake County Coalition for Verified Voting.

Putting voting machine maintenance in the hands of local technicians is not a good idea, according to a member of a nonprofit voter integriy group.

Wake County Board of Elections Director Cherie Poucher wants to certify two of her own technicians to inspect, fix and maintain the county’s 248 voting machines each year.

What is the best way to make change when you feel strongly about something?

Start from the ground floor! Thanks to encouragement from a very knowledgeable & informative friend, we put our grown up pants on and attended our first precinct meeting for our Democratic party. I was mainly there to submit a resolution to ban fracking...which was already on the agenda...and it passed! But we also learned more about Amendment One...which sounds simple but is actually very complicated & scary...and the resolution to oppose that amendment passed as well!

How did we get info? Well, we went to our county's Democratic Party site which listed all the meetings and tons of other info. For example, we live in Chatham County so here's our site: http://www.chathamdemsnc.net/

Then, I actually found some links to written resolutions here on BlueNC.

North Carolina has $4,000,000 to help voters sitting unused and unavailable until the General Assembly appropriates $660,000 in matching funds.

The $4,000,000 in federal funds via the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002, is intended to help administer the 2012 elections with poll worker training, testing of voting equipment, and other technical support needs.

Take action to release the HAVA funds by contacting legislators, via NC Conservation Network:
Tell state legislators to release the HAVA funds.

Information on HAVA in North Carolina from Democracy NC HAVA Funds Memo

• HAVA Funds Factsheet
• County Boards of Elections Letter
• HAVA Letter Press Release
• HAVA Heart Flyer

Commentary on HAVA by Action NC: What's in your wallet?

The following will appear as an editorial in the Roxboro local paper. I put out flyers this week at the high school where I work promoting a Teen Democrat meeting next week. 2012 is here.

Conservatives by definition look backwards. Unfortunately, time does not flow backwards; our children and grandchildren will live in the future, not the past.

Originally cross-posted from the Institute for Southern Studies, by Chris Kromm.

Last November, the big themes of the 2010 elections were jobs and the economy. But in states across the South and country, many of the most pitched legislative battles have focused on another issue entirely: voting rights.

With Republicans taking power or strengthening their hand in many state legislatures -- and the 2012 elections looming on the horizon -- GOP leaders are seizing the opportunity to push a raft of measures they claim will restore integrity to the voting process.

But the new voting bills share some important features: They all work to restrict the franchise and shrink the electorate -- in most cases, in ways that would decrease Democratic votes.

And many of the most restrictive measures are being pursued in key battleground states, where shaving just a few percentage points off the black, Latino or youth vote could mean the difference between a state going red or blue.

"It's shocking that the media is reporting on these bills as if they are merely innocent attempts at election reform," said a local North Carolina election official. "Why are they being pushed so hard now? Why in battleground states? Who stands to benefit? The most relevant questions just aren't being asked."

In case you (or your cat) were confused about the May 5th British referendum on voting system reform, cats are here to help...