Reply #5: You think the BushCons are going to restore our right to vote? [View All]

These are excellent proposals**, but I think there is great danger in the notion of a national solution right now.

1. The BushCons are NOT going to agree to any bill that restores our right to vote that is not replete with poison pills that actually take more of our rights away. For instance, if, in their new zeal for election reform, Democrats agree to reducing the states' control over election rules, they will have cut off the ONE AVENUE of election reform that ordinary citizens can pursue: local, state, county.

2. It's my opinion that the Democrats in Congress have NO POWER to enact these changes, and don't even have power to BLOCK any new bad provisions. So opening this up in this hostile Congress is very perilous.

3. A Constitutional amendment is a pipe dream. BushCons will NEVER agree to it, and will delay and obstruct ad infinitum. It is a very long term project that will never be realized UNTIL we restore our right to vote and can elect a progressive congress and/or president. It also gives Democrats an easy out (something I criticized it for, when J Jackson first proposed it.) They can say they are for a C. amendment and then slack on reform efforts, oppose local reform efforts, and go on denying that the BushCons have stolen TWO elections in so small part due the failure of Democratic leadership.

4. I see only one way left to restore our right to vote: highly focused, grass roots groups working in local jurisdictions, on local voters and officials. Most people would agree that elections should be transparent. It is an easy sell locally. But I'm not sure most Congressmen and other BushCons agree. They have fought it tooth and nail. It is a HARD sell federally.

5. The corruption, and wining and dining, associated with electronic voting machine companies must be looked at. It is probably partly responsible for Dem inaction and blindness to BushCons owning and controlling the voting system.

6. **NOTE: Paper receipts for electronic voting need to be described something like this: "A first count paper receipt that takes precedence over electronic tallies in any recount."
They can write the law so as to ignore a paper receipt and say the electronic result wins.

I wish I could be there! I hope someone will convey my warnings about reducing state and local power over election rules.

For difficult states, like Ohio and Florida, where BushCons are in charge, all I can say is that it is going to be easier to change those states than it is to change Congress.