 |
____________Breaking News____________
September, 10 2009MIKE BLOOMBERG UNVEILS PLAN FOR AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION AND WEEKEND VOTING The Mayor's Plan, "Easy to Vote & Easy to Run" Will Also Eliminate Barriers that Discourage Residents from Voting and Will Reform New York’s Antiquated Ballot Access Laws
Mike Bloomberg announced his "Easy to Vote & Easy to Run" plan to transform the City's election system over the next four years. The plan will make it easier for New Yorkers to participate in the democratic process by reforming New York's antiquated ballot access laws to enable more candidates to run for office and give unaffiliated voters greater ability to participate in the democratic process, creating a New York City "Democracy Index" to assess the administration of elections in New York City, and urging Congress to pass laws that enable automatic registration of all eligible voters and to move Election Day from Tuesday to the weekend.
Since taking office in 2002, Mayor Bloomberg has been a vocal advocate for election reform. After the 2004 presidential election, the Mayor created the Election Modernization Task Force to provide guidance to the Board of Elections on new voting machine implementation, phone and internet voter assistance, poll worker training, and other issues. Many Task Force recommendations were incorporated into 2005 State legislation, ensuring the City received federal funds to comply with new voting machine regulations. Today’s announcement builds on the Mayor’s record of accomplishment.
"For far too long, our election system has been plagued with antiquated rules and procedures that effectively limit its fairness and effectiveness," said Mayor Bloomberg. "This plan will enable more New Yorkers to engage in the democratic process by making it easier for them to run for office and easier for them to vote."
Heather K. Gerken, the J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School, an election law expert, and an advocate for the modernization of our country’s antiquated election administration system, endorsed the Mayor’s plan. Professor Gerken is also the author of The Democracy Index, a blueprint for how the United States should spur improvements to its election system by using a ranking system, similar to that utilized by U.S. News & World Report to rank colleges, which would measure the ability of states to efficiently run elections against their peers.
"Mayor Bloomberg has taken the lead in improving New York City's election system with this impressive new election reform plan," said Professor Gerken. "A New York City Democracy Index will help the City identify problems before they happen and ensure that every New York voter can have confidence in the election system. This first-in-the-nation index is destined to become a national model for other localities and states, and perhaps even the federal government."
Marc Morgenstern, Executive Director of Declare Yourself, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-29 year-old in America to register and vote in local and national elections, also endorsed the Mayor’s plan. Since 2004, Declare Yourself has registered almost 4 million young people, contributing significantly to the turnout of 24 million young voters in the 2008 Presidential Election.
"Mayor Bloomberg's plan will improve voter access, particularly for under-represented groups such as our young people," said Mr. Morgenstern. "The Mayor's creation of a democracy index and support for voter registration modernization can help move our election system into the 21st century and promote fuller participation in our democracy."
Norman J. Ornstein, Co-Founder, Why Tuesday?, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2005 to find solutions to increase voter turnout and participation in elections, praised the Mayor’s plan. Mr. Ornstein is also a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, serves as an election analyst for CBS News and writes a weekly column called "Congress Inside Out" for Roll Call newspaper.
"This set of reforms is a huge step forward to making the voting system work and revitalizing democracy in New York," said Mr. Ornstein. "It should serve as a model for elections across the country."
Key Elements of Mike’s "Easy to Vote & Easy to Run" Plan:
* Create a "Democracy Index" to Reform NYC’s Election System: The city’s "Democracy Index" will include metrics that assess the effectiveness of the election administration process, focusing on easily comprehensible and quantifiable performance outputs related to registration, voting and tabulation, rather than complicated policy inputs. For example, the index will measure how long voters must wait in line and how long it takes for voter registrations to be processed.
* Make 311 NYC’s Voting Hotline: Mayor Bloomberg will work with the City’s Board of Elections to enable 311 to field all election-related requests for information, including questions regarding poll site location, absentee ballots, and complaints about election administration or fraud.
* Support National Voter Registration Modernization: To boost voter turnout while making our election administration less costly and more efficient, Mayor Bloomberg will support the federal effort to automatically register all eligible voters, also known as "Voter Registration Modernization." This important reform would save the Board of Elections time and money that it can then put towards preparing for Election Day.
* Support Federal Effort to Institute Weekend Voting: To make it easier for voters to exercise their right and to increase voter turnout, Mayor Bloomberg will call on Congress to pass the Weekend Voting Act, sponsored by Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Congressman Steve Israel of Long Island, which seeks to shift Election Day from Tuesday to Saturday and Sunday. In polls, one quarter of eligible voters who failed to vote blamed scheduling difficulties.
* Halve the Signature Requirement for the Petitioning Process: In order to make it easier for candidates to qualify for a spot on the ballot, the Mayor proposes changing State election law to halve the number of signatures required to the lesser of (a) 2.5% of the party voters in the district or (b) half of the current number required under State law.
* Streamline Ballot Access Requirements: After consulting with good government groups, the Mayor will propose State legislation that would significantly simplify and streamline petition requirements by eliminating the arcane, technical rules that currently exist. The legislation will set a higher threshold for disqualifying petitions and candidates, and streamline the process for correcting errors.
* Open Up Petitioning Process to Independent Voters: Independent voters represent nearly 20% of the electorate and are the fastest growing group of voters in the city. To enable them greater participation in the political process, the Mayor proposes changing state law to enable independent voters to gather and sign petitions for candidates that are members of a political party.
### pdf link
 |
|
|
|
With all the focus directed at the wide open presidential field in 2008, the down ticket seats once again were largely ignored by the major media. Incumbents won 90% reelection to congress despite having the lowest rating in history.
The numbers of registered independents saw a decline for the first time this decade. As it stands now, 24 million people are registered independent with 40 million D & 30 million R. That does not include some states that do not require specific party registration. Obviously the reduction in indies was due to the large numbers of people that wanted to participate in the primary of one of the big two parties. While true independents did choose among four major minor party candidates, just over 1.7 million voted outside of the big two. That means that most independents are actually swing voters and chose to once again hand over the reins of government to the same "establishment" that gave us questionable election methods, unfair ballot access and continued third party exclusion from debates and media participation. We forgive those who made that decision. And we will welcome you back once you realize that choosing the "establishment" party will not benefit the people at all.
There is still an opportunity for Independents to take the higher ground and demand real Election Reform to include fair ballot access and secure voting machines. Here is a summary of the main points:
* Uniform Ballot Access/Loosen Third Party Ballot Restrictions * Proportional Representation * Universal Voter Registration * Election Day Holiday * Equal Media Access/Debate Inclusion * Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) * Secure Voting Machines * Public Campaign Financing * Direct Popular Vote Election of the President * DC Congressional Representation
Join our team of independent Americans who have helped me craft this plan. Considering that 1% of the nation's population own 40% of the nation's wealth, shoudn't we be asking: Why is it that that one percent has two political parties to choose from (with very little diferentiating them) and the rest of us have none? Many of our true independents have pledged to boycott the two party debates (really just scripted infomercials). Many others chose not to even vote. In fact, one in every four registered voter chose NOT to vote in November 2008.
Once the majority of Americans realize that their elected establishment figures do not represent the people, they will quit pretending that a democracy exists in the US. After seeing the long arm of our federal government's questionable involvement in the financial crises (brought to us by the big two party plunderers) it is difficult to recognize this as a functioning democracy.
So join our silent majority and help us gradually displace the establishment out of office in elections coming to a state or city near you in 2009, 10 & 11.
---
To reverse the troubling reality that 50% of all elections have only one name on the ballot, we offer this National Election Reform Platform.
Our mission is to recruit capable citizens to get on the ballot and challenge career politicians who only answer to campaign contributors.
We aim to encourage citizens to run for office as Independents because the Big Two parties have proven unwilling to fix our electoral process in ways that make it fair for all to participate.
Empowered citizens are needed now to solve the complex issues of war, health care, environment, education, immigration, trade, financial mismanagement, net neutrality etc.
We need Action Against Apathy: the National Election Reform Platform.
We encourage all candidates to adopt this National Election Reform Platform and pledge to enact these measures in their first six months in office.
Here are ten key points of our National Election Reform Platform.
1. Uniform Ballot Access for federal candidates. Rather than candidates for president having 51 different rules for making the ballot, make the criteria uniform throughout the land. Loosen Third Party Ballot Restrictions. Force states to untie ballot access to past election results. Without fair ballot access in place, the thresholds to become a recognized third party are too difficult to achieve (by design of the Big Two). Currently only 37 states have at least one recognized third party and that changes based on election results.
2. Proportional Representation. According to Steven Hill, “No rule or law says we cannot combine our single-seat districts with proportional representation. Proportional voting methods offer a fairer and more flexible method for achieving representation in diverse cities”, and would “lesson the degree of polarization.” 3. Universal Voter Registration. Legislation has already been passed that will require government standardized identification cards which should be acceptable to election officials to allow anyone who shows up at the right precinct on Election Day to vote on-the-spot whether registered or not.
4. Extended Election Hours. Either hold elections on weekends or move it to a holiday like Columbus Day in October.
5. Media Access for third party contenders to include broadcast time on public airwaves and inclusion in debates.
6. Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which allows voters to rank their choices. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote – over 50% - then the lowest number of first place votes is eliminated and the second place votes are counted. This continues until a candidate secures a majority.
7. Secure the Vote - Ensure the security of our voting instruments whether it is via a papertrail or some better method. Six years since the Florida debacle should have provided secure voting machines. Electronic machines subject to manipulation are not the answer.
8. Public Campaign Financing - Instituting a fair and equitable method of public campaign financing reduces taxpayer burden. Here's how: It costs the country more now under the current system that forces candidates to raise exorbitant sums of money from corporate and private donors (read: elitists). The winner is then beholden to the group of financiers that paid for that victory which creates a corrupt system of paybacks (no-bid contracts) and legislation (energy bill subsidizing oil and gas; prescription drug bill favoring pharmaceutical companies) that raids our Treasury at an enormous cost to the taxpayer - the real owners of our country.
9. Direct Election of the President by popular vote. Get rid of the Electoral College. 
10. Voting representation in congress for the citizens of the federal District of Columbia (which also gives them an Electoral College vote). *** Send your Feedback! *** Independent Election Reform Platform written by Joseph Oddo. Many thanks to Pat LaMarche, Christine Smith, Marv Pixton, Kevin Murphy, Tatyanna Pattan, Webster Brooks and Richard Winger for contributing their ideas. ### Forward this to the contenders for president asking them to pledge to adopt this platform if elected. Authorized and paid for by Independent America Political Action Committee. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
|
|
|
|
