Tell your U.S. Senators to unblock vote of Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007

Public Campaign asks us to contact our U.S. Senators concerning S.886-- Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is blocking a bill that would return the presidential records, including possibly all previous presidents, their family members and vice presidents, to the American people. Take action now to help bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Thank you.

In 2001, President Bush issued an Executive Order that gives current and previous presidents the power to withhold their documents and records INDEFINITELY. What's more, the order extends this extraordinary authority to presidential family members, and even vice presidents.

Bush's order was a direct attack on the Presidential Records Act of 1978, a law passed in the wake of Watergate that makes presidential records the property of the American people. The president should not be allowed to permitted to flout open-government laws and lock away his records with a stroke of a pen.

But this is not just about Bush. It's about the records of ALL presidents.

Right now the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007, a bipartisan bill to undo the Bush order, is close to becoming a law, but it is being blocked by Senator Jeff Sessions.

Take Action NOW: Contact your senators and ask how they can allow a colleague to block this important bill.

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Will the Democratic Party's superdelegates vote the will of the people?

The role of the "superdelegate" in the presidential nomination process of the Democratic Party is under scrutiny, as the remaining two candidates-- Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama-- are in a tight race in this primary election season. Superdelegates are party public officials and party activists that individually vote for their nominee any time up to the party convention when the nominee is officially made.

FairVote's blog takes the position that the will of the people who vote in all of the primaries and caucuses that result in "delegates" should dictate the will of the party's "superdelegates". FairVote, along with other democracy-leaning organizations, have purchased an advertisement to appear this week in USA Today (it's in pdf format-- free Adobe Reader required).

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Check your state for electoral reform bills in legislation

FairVote has "Roadmap for Reform - 2007", a page of bills introduced in the states in 2007 on electoral reform. Many of these bills are still in the legislative process, so check out your own state to see how your state is doing; then, call on your state representative and state senator to make your own opinions heard.

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Make Voting Work initiative brings millions of dollars to electoral reforms

A large, private foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, is financially supporting election system reforms. Although the Help America Vote Act of 2002 was a major overhaul of electoral machines and other system problems in the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential elections, this is an effort to focus on additional problems. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts:

The Pew Center on the States’ Make Voting Work initiative and the JEHT Foundation today are joining with election experts and state and local officials across the country to address the most pressing problems facing voters during the 2008 elections. In partnership with the JEHT Foundation, Pew is awarding $2.5 million in funding to 16 projects that advance innovative solutions to critical flaws in our elections system and improve accuracy, convenience, efficiency and security for voters. An additional $1 million in funding will be awarded over the next six months. The projects were selected from 183 proposals submitted to Pew in 2007 from state and local governments and election experts.
Make Voting Work selected the 16 projects, which focus their work on five distinct areas where major failings have been identified and improvements are being debated and implemented by election officials, but where additional expertise is desired and necessary to shape and evaluate these efforts. These areas include:

Voter Registration System Assessment ($669,000)
Successful voter registration systems enable eligible citizens to vote without undue burden, secure our elections from those ineligible to participate and facilitate communication with voters. Yet, registration rolls are created from piecemeal data collected by local election officials, state motor vehicle agencies and other nonpartisan and partisan get-out-the-vote campaigns. As a result, rolls fail to keep pace with a mobile society and are often inaccurate and costly to maintain. ...

Vote Centers ($568,000)
States are increasingly grappling with the problem of overcrowded, inconveniently located and poorly designed polling places. In response, some states are experimenting with vote centers that replace neighborhood precincts and allow voters to cast ballots at large, centralized polling places anywhere in their city or county—near their work, school, shopping center or other destination. ...

Audits of Elections ($467,000)
With concerns about the accuracy of voting systems continuing to rise, post-election audit requirements have been adopted by states seeking to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. Still, state requirements vary dramatically and there are no generally accepted standards for how to verify an election outcome. Make Voting Work seeks to fill that void by funding the testing of multiple techniques for measuring the validity and accuracy of vote counts on various voting systems. In addition, Make Voting Work is supporting efforts to broaden the definition of an election audit, seeking to identify other elements—beyond vote counts—that should be audited, such as pre-election preparations and poll worker performance. ...

Online Training for Poll Workers ($318,000)
Volunteer poll workers are the foot soldiers of democracy, but, as recently documented by Pew’s electionline.org, their enthusiasm needs to be joined with proper training—particularly essential as voting systems and rules take on greater complexity. ...

Election Performance Assessment ($465,000)
To further help election officials, policy makers and the public assess the true impact of changes in policies, practices and technologies, Make Voting Work aspires to identify means that can be consistently applied to measure accuracy, convenience, efficiency and security. ...

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Upload your question to the presidential candidates, and vote for your favorite!

10 Questions is an "ask the presidential candidate" website through the use of videos. You ask your question on video, then upload it to 10 Questions; then, viewers will vote up or down for the best videos to forward to the candidates. Check it out; be careful of the home page, as it is slow due to all of the videos. Also, vote up for the "clean elections" clip!

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Your state and federal representatives' ratings scorecards

U.S. PIRG, the center for PIRG state affiliates active in the public interest, has a ratings scorecard for each state legislator and U.S. Congressman. It appears to be continuously updated as legislation is passed. The scorecard concerns how each have already voted in the areas of democracy, consumerism, energy, government waste/ budget and others. It is a good way to see how your state and federal representatives stand on the issues that are promoted by All Things Reform.

You can return to the "U.S. PIRG Public Interest Ratings" link any time on this blog, in the left column under "Government Reform-Related Databases."

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FairVote 15 year Anniversary

FairVote is celebrating 15 years of "The Way Democracy Will Be". Based in Washington, D.C., FairVote promotes electoral reforms nationally and across the country; reforms include IRV (Instant Runoff Voting), Proportional Representation, Presidential Primary Reform, and NPV (National Popular Vote.) Here is their message and invitation to supporters on their upcoming celebration:

Three Exciting Opportunities
Help sustain our 15 years of reform advocacy.
To commemorate our 15 years of advancing bold reforms like proportional voting, instant runoff voting, a constitutionally protected right to vote, and fair presidential elections where every vote counts, FairVote is highlighting three exciting opportunities for our supporters. Read below about how you can get involved. There's never been a greater time to help build the pro-democracy movement than today, and with a presidential election looming, FairVote is needed now more than ever.

1. Save The Date: Claiming Democracy 2007 & 15th Anniversary Gala
Excitement is growing about FairVote’s upcoming Claiming Democracy conference on strengthening a pro-democracy movement, to take place in Washington, D.C. on November 9th to 11th. Fellow conference sponsors include election reform and media reform organizations like Demos, Free Press, New America Foundation, Public Campaign, and the Brennan Center. Details at ClaimDemocracy.com
On November 10th we will also hold our 15th anniversary banquet in D.C.’s majestic Union Station. This will be a special affair with leaders from FairVote’s history and high-profile supporters in attendance, such as former independent presidential candidate and FairVote chairman John Anderson, as well as appearances by New Yorker editor Hendrik Hertzberg, Daily Show correspondent Dan Bakkedahl, and Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic. An evening of fine dining and great entertainment awaits all who attend, along with the winning videos from our Upgrade Democracy Video Contest! Stay tuned for more details at fairvote.org/gala – and please save the dates for these two exciting events!

2. Make a Video: Upgrade Democracy Video Contest
There’s still plenty of time to flex your creativity and submit your entry into FairVote’s first-ever Upgrade Democracy Video Contest! Tell us what you think ought to be done to improve elections by making a short video answering the question:
“If you could change anything you wanted about elections, what would our democracy look like?”
You could win $2000 and have your video seen by celebrity judges including filmmaker Richard Linklater (School of Rock, Dazed and Confused), political guru Donna Brazile, The Daily Show’s Dan Bakkedahl, MoveOn’s Eli Pariser, Nirvana bassist Krist Noveselic, and New Yorker editor Hendrik Hertzberg! The winners will be honored at FairVote’s 15th Anniversary Gala at the Claim Democracy conference.
To learn more about how to enter, visit http://www.upgradedemocracy.com/. The deadline is September 28, 2007, so spread the word and get filming!

3. Donate Items, Make a Pledge: 15th Anniversary Auction & Pledge Drive
Timed to coincide with our 15th anniversary celebrations this November, FairVote is holding an online charity auction to raise funds for our work. We hope that some of our loyal supporters, and maybe even some new ones, will make in-kind contributions of items and services for us to auction. Do you have a vacation home or timeshare to donate, or perhaps some rare or autographed items? Please pull them out of your attic and put them to work for democracy!
Pledges for FairVote: FairVote of course needs your 2007 donations to sustain our progress toward 'the way democracy will be,' but also seeks commitments of support for the coming five years -- a critically important opportunity to win reform at all levels of government. Please consider commitments in the form of gifts of stock, pledges of annual support and bequests in your will. Contact Ross Margulies at Ross [at] fairvote.org for more information, or to donate an item to our auction.

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