Hello from Columbus, OH, live from the Barack Obama headquarters.  The campaign has taken over three storefronts in a row, including a former discount used clothing store, complete with changing rooms.  They have all been bursting with activity nearly from dawn to dawn.  There is a cot in the back of the former clothing store for the data guru to catch a few hours/minutes of sleep when he can.

The offices are packed with weary staff, many of whom are on their third or fourth state, but they are fueled by the energy from an army of eager volunteers who flood the office taking walk lists and any piece of paraphernalia that isn’t nailed down.  The food donations have been so plentiful that there is a full-time volunteer who has dedicated himself to coordinating the meals.  There has been pulled pork, pizzas, an unlimited supply of cut peppers and dip, burgers, sandwiches and of course plenty of caffeinated beverages.  Here is a picture that really doesn’t do the spread justice.

Yesterday’s massive door knocking was a complete success, as part of an audacious 1 million door push for the weekend.  The turnout was huge, particularly aided by the Change-to-Win unions who have pulled out all of the stops.  The experienced field staff here has been impressed by the knowledge and dedication of the union members, who have bolstered an already remarkable volunteer army.

As for my part, I have been busy helping out with field work, mostly planning and logistics for election day,   Naturally I am pretty chained to my laptop and using my organizing/tech skills to help with internal communications.  I have been working beside a number of political professionals like myself who are here volunteering (aka taking some vacation time).  They like me are impressed with the level of organization and integration of every facet of the campaign into the overall efforts.  The teams are not siloed and it is benefiting them in innumerable ways.  I am of course already tired, having flown a red eye here and worked until the wee hours last night dealing with spreadsheets and other fun activities.  There is much more of that to come.

(volunteers arriving in the office after church)

Barack Obama is here in Ohio this weekend, and then heads to Texas for the last two days.  He has plenty of surrogates here, including members of the Arcade Fire who are playing several free concerts for him.  This thing is tight, with the polls showing Clinton with a narrow lead.  The folks here are working hard to eliminate that and bring this home for Barack.  As the voter information flyer being created beside me reads “Our Moment is Now”.

Below is a shot of the view directly above my desk: an exposed fuse box, grassroots sign for Michelle Obama, and a Homeland Security special: duct tape and plastic sheeting to try and keep the winter out of the office from a massive fan.  It is a pretty typical campaign office, full of random crappy furniture, boxes of walk lists, t-shirts and office supplies everywhere and paper strewn about.  I love it.

(full disclosure: I work for Courage

It’s time to celebrate a victory for democracy!  

Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters has agreed to count every possible ballot effected by the “double bubble trouble”.  He is following the suggestions made by the Courage Campaign and Secretary of State Debra Bowen.  Today he testified in front of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors about the steps he will be taking to tabulate the vote in advance of the 28 day certification deadline.  He also sent a letter to Secretary Bowen (pdf here).

Thank you to the more than 32,000 people who signed the petition to Logan, those who donated and everybody else that helped make this possible.  While it is unlikely that any delegate counts will be effected, that was never the point.  We live in a democracy where every vote should be counted.  That was in danger of not happening in Los Angeles County.

Much more over the flip including Rick Jacob’s statement after testifying and details about how this count will be conducted.

The Courage Campaign applauds Acting Registrar Dean Logan’s solution to the ‘double bubble’ issue in Los Angeles County.

Clearly, the winners in today’s announcement are, first and foremost, the voters of Los Angeles County who can maintain their confidence in the electoral process and in knowing that their vote will be counted.

Also, through the concerted efforts of the Courage Campaign, concerned citizens and organizations, strong Board leadership, and a Registrar willing to listen and do what it takes to ensure that every vote counts, Los Angeles County has, today, avoided the serious and demoralizing problems confronted by election jurisdictions elsewhere throughout the country.

Mr. Logan has arrived at the solution the Courage Campaign has advocated since the day after the election. The Courage Campaign has consistently demanded that all votes be tallied so that we know how many DTS voters tried to vote for president and then that every ballot be counted where voter intent can be ascertained. Mr. Logan is using the method suggested by the Courage Campaign and many of our friends in the election protection community. We will monitor the counting to assure that it is carried out in a timely manner.

In addition to 32,776 Courage Campaign members who signed a petition to Mr. Logan, we thank County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky for his leadership on this issue as well as the ever vigilant Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

This is a complete victory for people-powered politics and a sign that the people of this state will only accept transparency in the election process.

We look forward to working with the County, the Secretary of State and our friends in the election protection community to assure that this never happens again. Mr. Logan has promised to change the ballot design and the Courage Campaign will follow through and ensure that it is completed in time for the June primary election.”

As for the mechanics of how this will work, check out the letter for specific details.  They will be resetting the machines to do the count.  Not every vote will be counted and here is why from the AP.

Of the estimated 200,000 nonpartisan voters, 50 percent voted correctly and 25 percent didn’t pick a presidential candidate, leaving 25 percent who had voted for a presidential candidate incorrectly.

That is the difference between the 100k figure and the 50k figure that we talked about a few weeks ago.  The estimations were established from a 1% canvass of the vote, so these are not hard numbers.

Because the Democratic ballot included eight choices and the American Independent ballot only three, they did not overlap for slots 11 through 15 — notably including the slots for Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Therefore, any ballots marked on slots 11 through 15 can reasonably be inferred to have been cast for a Democratic candidate and will be counted, Logan said.

In the case of ballots marked on slots 8 through 10, the county Registrar-Recorder’s office will determine whether they were cast in a precinct in which all of the nonpartisan voters cast ballots for either the American Independent or the Democratic party by using rosters in which that information was recorded.

If all of the ballots in a precinct were cast for a single party, it won’t matter whether voters specified which party’s candidate they were choosing.

This is exactly what the Secretary of State requested happen, which the Courage Campaign supported.  There is no way to count all of these votes, given the overlap of the other party’s candidates.  It just further emphasizes how poorly designed this ballot was and why we need to make sure this never happens again.  Voter intent will be determined as much as possible and that is all we have been asking for all along.

Needless to say I am very happy.  And thanks again to everyone who helped make this possible.

full disclosure: I work for Courage

It’s time to celebrate!  The Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan has agreed to count every possible vote effected by the “double bubble trouble”.  Logan will be following the suggestions of the Courage Campaign and the Secretary of State Debra Bowen to count the votes prior to the 28 day certification deadline.  Logan sent a letter (pdf) to Secretary Bowen to that effect and also testified in front of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this morning, as did Rick Jacobs.

Delegate allocations are unlikely to change, but that was not the point.  Every vote in this country should be counted.  Thanks to the over 32,000 people who signed the Courage Campaign petition, our lawyers who dogged the registrar and many, many more who made this victory possible.

The registrar has promised to change the ballot, so that this never happens again.  The Courage Campaign will make sure he follows through on that pledge.  In addition, we will be seeking legislative changes to make it easier the millions who are registered as Decline-to-State vote.

Rick’s statement and more detailed information on how this count will happen is on the flip.

The Courage Campaign applauds Acting Registrar Dean Logan’s solution to the ‘double bubble’ issue in Los Angeles County.

Clearly, the winners in today’s announcement are, first and foremost, the voters of Los Angeles County who can maintain their confidence in the electoral process and in knowing that their vote will be counted.

Also, through the concerted efforts of the Courage Campaign, concerned citizens and organizations, strong Board leadership, and a Registrar willing to listen and do what it takes to ensure that every vote counts, Los Angeles County has, today, avoided the serious and demoralizing problems confronted by election jurisdictions elsewhere throughout the country.

Mr. Logan has arrived at the solution the Courage Campaign has advocated since the day after the election. The Courage Campaign has consistently demanded that all votes be tallied so that we know how many DTS voters tried to vote for president and then that every ballot be counted where voter intent can be ascertained. Mr. Logan is using the method suggested by the Courage Campaign and many of our friends in the election protection community. We will monitor the counting to assure that it is carried out in a timely manner.

In addition to 32,776 Courage Campaign members who signed a petition to Mr. Logan, we thank County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky for his leadership on this issue as well as the ever vigilant Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

This is a complete victory for people-powered politics and a sign that the people of this state will only accept transparency in the election process.

We look forward to working with the County, the Secretary of State and our friends in the election protection community to assure that this never happens again. Mr. Logan has promised to change the ballot design and the Courage Campaign will follow through and ensure that it is completed in time for the June primary election.”

As for the mechanics of how this will work, check out the letter for specific details.  They will be resetting the machines to do the count.  Not every vote will be counted and here is why from the AP.

Of the estimated 200,000 nonpartisan voters, 50 percent voted correctly and 25 percent didn’t pick a presidential candidate, leaving 25 percent who had voted for a presidential candidate incorrectly.

That is the difference between the 100k figure and the 50k figure that we talked about a few weeks ago.  The estimations were established from a 1% canvass of the vote, so these are not hard numbers.

Because the Democratic ballot included eight choices and the American Independent ballot only three, they did not overlap for slots 11 through 15 — notably including the slots for Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Therefore, any ballots marked on slots 11 through 15 can reasonably be inferred to have been cast for a Democratic candidate and will be counted, Logan said.

In the case of ballots marked on slots 8 through 10, the county Registrar-Recorder’s office will determine whether they were cast in a precinct in which all of the nonpartisan voters cast ballots for either the American Independent or the Democratic party by using rosters in which that information was recorded.

If all of the ballots in a precinct were cast for a single party, it won’t matter whether voters specified which party’s candidate they were choosing.

This is exactly what the Secretary of State requested happen, which the Courage Campaign supported.  There is no way to count all of these votes, given the overlap of the other party’s candidates.  It just further emphasizes how poorly designed this ballot was and why we need to make sure this never happens again.  Voter intent will be determined as much as possible and that is all we have been asking for all along.

Needless to say I am very happy.  And thanks again to everyone who helped make this possible.

Roger Salazar has been firing back about the shaky legal ground the Pro-Hillary 527 he is working for is treading on, or will be treading on when they ask for money and pay to air ads.

There isn’t anything in our efforts that would warrant such a barefaced attempt to quell free-speech with this kind of unsupported legal bullying.

The American Leadership Project was organized in strict adherence to all new federal rules and regulations as a result of a recent Supreme Court decision. It was established to highlight issues of importance to middle-class families. The type of 527 we have organized does not intend to engage in express advocacy or the functional equivalent of express advocacy and so will not qualify as a political committee under the Federal Election Commission rules, but it will, however, fund “electioneering communications” – ads that feature a candidate and run within the 30 days before the election – and so will have reporting requirements with the FEC as well as the IRS. We intend to be open, transparent and to make all full and appropriate disclosures as required by the law.

I am no lawyer, but what they are arguing is that this organization is not actually working to help Hillary Clinton win the Democratic primary.  It means that they cannot ask people for money to help Hillary.  Someone else can sort all of that out.  

What I am concerned with is the messaging Salazar is using.  I’m sorry, but questioning the legality of this organization has not approached anything close to bullying.  There is no big powerful entity trying to shut up the little guy.  Not to mention the fact that they are twisting themselves into pretzels to be able to claim that this is legal with phrases like “functional equivalent of express advocacy”.  

This is a bunch of really rich people trying to evade campaign contribution limits.  Those of us raising concern about this are not trying to take away their free speech.  We just don’t want them to have a bigger megaphone than the rest of us and have disproportionate impact on the outcome of this race.  The use of “free speech” to talk about campaign finance law is a right wing frame.  It is extremely distressing to see it used by a Democrat in the context of campaign where one candidate is outspending the other on the basis of an unprecedented amount of small donors.

(more on the flip)

This to me is the perfect example of the impact of BCRA (McCain-Feingold) on campaign financing.  BCRA both raised the hard dollar contribution limit and attempted to eliminate the use of soft money.  Democrats were expected to be hit the hardest due to our over-reliance on large donors and the Republican’s success at creating a large small donor base, mostly through direct mail.  The goal was to reduce the ability of people to spend large chunks of money on elections.  The Supreme Court upheld these restrictions due to the inherent corrosive influence of money on politics and impact of the appearance of corruption.

Now 6 years later we have a race where one candidate relied on large checks from a small pool of donors and the other raised more money from what is now nearly one million people who have given small contributions.  Hillary Clinton now has a group of donors who want to go back to the days of soft money.  It is a full-fledged attack on BCRA.  Barack Obama’s fundraising is the dream of campaign finance reformers coming to life before their eyes.  

If you go to the Barack Obama home page right now you will see a big flash graphic that reads “The Goal ONE Million People Who Own This Campaign”.  Those now 951,887 (and growing) people who have donate to the campaign have bought the candidate.  In contrast, you have the major donors to Clinton who own her campaign crowing about “free speech” and cutting six figure checks to try and make sure Clinton is not drowned out by nearly one million people.

Look at the messaging Hillary Clinton is using.  This is from a campaign fundraising email she sent out yesterday.

If we want to win in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont, we’ve got to even the odds. We can’t let the Obama campaign overwhelm us financially. Today, I am calling on you and other online supporters to act together, making sure we have the resources to create a fair, level playing field on March 4.

The hundreds of thousands of small Obama donors are in Clinton’s mind and those of her big donors creating an unfair, unlevel playing field.  So they are crowing about “free speech” and saying it isn’t fair when people tell us that we aren’t legally allowed to run a stealth campaign mirroring the messaging of the official campaign.

It is dispiriting to me to see fellow Democrats bemoaning the influence of small donors.  We should be celebrating it and figuring out how we can free our own state and politicians from the corrosive influence of big donors who want something in return for their money.  We shouldn’t have the spokesman for the California Democratic Party, which should be working on their own small donor program accusing us of bullying.

This seems like a very clear contrast between the old way of doing things and the new school approach.  Democrats will go much further by running campaigns and candidates that rely on small donors and volunteers and not simply top down organizing and big media buys.

(And here’s AdamB’s post on this at the Big Orange. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

In the wake of Feburary 5th some of Hillary’s major bundlers started floating the idea of financing a Pro-Clinton 527 to try and make up ground on Obama’s phenomenal small donor fundraising.  Today they are launching it and Roger Salazar, who has served as a spokeman for many a campaign here in California will be running it.

The new pro-Clinton 527, the American Leadership Project, incorporated with the IRS on February 15, and lists as its chief a former Clinton White House deputy press secretary and former Gray Davis aide, Roger Salazar, according to its federal filing.

They are targeting white women under 50 and are running tv, radio and sending mailers.  More details here.

The AIP may have some serious FEC problems establishing itself as a 527.  MoveOn and other orgs payed huge fines after the 2004 cycle for incorporating that way and doing express advocacy in the presidential election.  This is from the press release on the fines from the FEC.

If an organization receives contributions or make expenditures in excess of $1,000, and its major purpose is involvement in campaign activity, it must register with the Commission and abide by the contribution restrictions and reporting requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act.  Each of these entities registered with the Internal Revenue Service as “Section 527” organizations – tax exempt groups whose function is to influence the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to Federal, State, or local public office or office in a political organization, or the election of Presidential electors.

I imagine we will see an Adam B post on this over at the big orange later today.

[UPDATE] Roger just called.  He noted that they have not actually done any campaign work, thus they have not filed with the FEC and therefore could not have broken any laws yet.  Indeed this is true.  He did confirm to me that they will be operating as a 527.  Thus I believe they may have a legal issue once they do start working.  Now they may just proceed and deal with any fines afterwards.  This is huge soft money and the whole organization is an attempt to get around contribution limits and BCRA.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has added her voice to those who are calling on the superdelegates not to overrule the voters.  She joins MoveOn, Democracy for America and many more in urging the superdelegates not to determine the winner of the Democratic presidential primary by what amounts to a vote in a smokey back room. ChronBlog

Don’t veto the people’s choice.

“I think there is a concern when the public speaks and there is a counter-decision made to that,” she said, adding quickly, “I don’t think that will happen.”

She said the governors, lawmakers, DNC members and others picked as super delegates are chosen through a grassroots process and are accountable to the party’s voters.

“I do think that they have a respect — it’s not just following the returns, it’s also having a respect for what has been said by the people,” Pelosi said. “It would be a problem for the party if the verdict would be something different than the public has decided.”

This is obviously an argument that would appear to most benefit Barack Obama, given that he currently leads in both the pledged delegate count and the popular vote.  Speaker Pelosi’s opinion should wield a great deal of influence on her fellow superdelegates.

Several of those members of the House closest to Pelosi like Rep. George Miller have endorsed Obama.  Miller is on the team of current legislators tasked with swaying superdelegates to endorse Obama.  The Speaker is rumored to be supportive of Obama, but does not want to undermine her own authority by making an endorsement.  I have to assume that there is a two pronged approach from the Obama superdelegate team: if they don’t get the outright endorsement, supporting the “let the people decide” tact is almost as good.

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

Dean Logan, the acting Registrar of Voters in Los Angeles issued a detailed

report (pdf) yesterday evening, following a 1% sampling of the Decline-to-State vote.  Unfortunately, he is still refusing to count every possible ballot.  Following his report, the number of uncounted ballots is estimated at 49,500, since the sampling showed that a significant portion intended to just vote non-partisan.  We do not know the hard number, since he has only done a sampling, not pulled and examined all of the ballots.  AP

Registrar Dean Logan said those improperly filled out ballots are impossible to count by hand because of the county’s complicated voting system, which requires crossover voters to fill in two “bubbles”: one to choose a political party and one to indicate their presidential choice.

“There’s no way in looking at the ballot to discern voters’ intent,” Logan said after releasing preliminary findings about the flawed voting system.

Wrong.  Voter intent, as the Courage Campaign has argued all along is clear.  These voters requested a Democratic ballot, voted for a Democrat and just because they missed an extra bubble does not mean that you can’t determine voter intent.

28,000 people have signed our petition to the Registrar demanding he count every possible vote.  Have you signed yet?

Check the flip for more, including excerpts from a letter our lawyers sent back to Logan that specifically discuss voter intent and his obligations under the state Constitution to count every vote.

The full letter from Steven Reyes, a lawyer for the Courage Campaign is available for download in pdf.  Here are the main sections:

First, the “universe of ballots impacted by the cross-over issue” while smaller than some media reports, is nonetheless staggering: 49,500 voters will, unless additional action is immediately taken, have their votes discarded. Twenty-six percent of all DTS voters in Los Angeles County are estimated to have cast ballots that will not count. In some districts, that rate climbs to 41% (in the 46th Congressional District); 45% (in the 27th Congressional District); and 56% (in the 37th Congressional District). We remind the Board that requiring DTS voters to take additional steps to cast their ballots – such as filling in a party selection bubble — is neither required, nor permitted, by law.

Second, we strongly disagree that the “limitations of our voting system and the ballot design impede an ability to determine voter intent on those ballots that were impacted . . . .”  The report states that “there is no way to definitively rule out the distinct possibility that a non-partisan voter used, for example, a Republican Party or minor party vote recorder and marked their ballot for one of those party candidates.”

If this were true, all ballots cast at the polls would be suspect unless poll workers personally escorted each voter to the correct voting booth and ensured that a correct ballot was cast.  Thus, for example, if a registered Green Party voter inadvertently cast a ballot in the Republican Party voting booth, the Inka-Vote system would record that voter’s ballot for the corresponding Green Party candidate. The mere possibility that such a voter might cast a Republican ballot should not cause those ballots to be thrown out.  Moreover, we find the likelihood of this “distinct possibility” extremely remote. Ultimately, when a DTS voter cast his or her ballot for a candidate in positions 11-15 – ballot positions for which DTS voters were only authorized to vote for Democratic candidates – it is contrary to the State Constitution and to the state Elections Code to disregard that vote.

In response to the Florida electoral fiasco in 2000, California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 43 on March 5, 2002. Proposition 43 inserted one simple line into Article II of the California Constitution:  A voter who casts a vote in an election in accordance with the laws of this State shall have that vote counted. (Emphasis added.)  Further, state law clearly states that when reviewing votes and voting systems, Election Code requirements “shall be liberally construed so that the real will of the electors will not be defeated by any informality or failure to comply with all of the provisions of the law.” (See Cal. Elec. Code Sec. 19001.)

Logan is coming up with excuses not to count all possible votes.  Our lawyers are arguing that these voters cast legal votes, since the additional bubble is not required to be filled out under the law.  Our state constitution requires that every vote be counted.  Therefore Logan should count every vote.

Here are the actions that the Courage Campaign has demanded be taken in response to the report.

1. The Registrar must take all necessary steps to identify the precise number of DTS voters that were adversely affected by the ballot design flaw and identify the candidates for whom these DTS voters cast a ballot or, alternatively, the range of candidates for whom these voters may have cast a ballot.
2. The Registrar must ascertain voter intent, in a manner consistent with the Elections Code and the State Constitution.
3. The Registrar must count the votes of all DTS voters who cast a ballot for a presidential candidate, but did not mark the party selection, where voter intent is clear.
4. The Registrar must, as identified in his preliminary report, take all necessary steps to ensure that the DTS ballot design flaw is remedied for the June 3, 2008 State Primary Election.

The good news is that Logan is indicating that he will make sure that this will not be a problem when voters head back to the polls in June.  We will make sure he keeps his word.  In the meantime the Courage Campaign will continue to put pressure on the Registrar to count every vote.