(full disclosure: I work for Courage)

There are 94,000 Decline-to-State (DTS) votes that have gone uncounted in Los Angeles County due to the “Double Bubble Trouble”

The Courage Campaign lawyers have been back in forth with Dean Logan, the LA County Registrar of Voters (ROV) over the last 24 hours.  While the Registrar is making noises to the press about counting all 94,000 votes that have not been counted because the voter missed the redundant Democratic bubble, he is only talking about sampling 5% of the vote.  Those 94,000 amount to about HALF of all of the ballots cast by Decline-to-State voters on Tuesday in LA County.  

That is why this afternoon we launched a petition to Dean Logan.  The message is simple. Count. Every. Vote.

We have gotten dozens of stories via email, phone and our website from DTS voters in Los Angeles who think their votes have not been counted, because they missed the extra bubble.  This one from Julian H. is just heart breaking to me.

“I’ve been following politics before I even hit my teens. And 2 weeks before this election, I turned 18, with my registration in weeks before. I knew the issues, the candidates, the propositions, and for the fist time in my life cast a ballot. I heard the next day about the double bubble. No one at the polls mentioned it, and I didn’t see instructions that even pointed to its existence. It’s not such a great feeling that you’re first close up experience in a system you’ve watched for so long at a distance could have amounted to nothing.”

Julian is just one of the 94,000 voters who are currently disenfranchised.

Despite Logan’s last minute attempts to notify poll workers about this problem, at the suggestion of our lawyers, not everyone got the message.

Maria wrote on a blog post of mine on the Courage site:

As a volunteer pollworker our training materials (which I still have) only indicated that non-partisan voters should be given a non-partisan ballot and should be directed to either a non-partisan booth, an AI booth or a Democratic booth.

Believe me if we had been told that their vote would not count if that bubble were not filled we would have emphasized that.

I feel betrayed by the county. After spending all this time preparing for the elections we had 1/6 of the voters voting provisional ballots because they could not be found in the rosters and now this.

Who can I talk to about what I witnessed on Feb 5th? I am really concerned. I have volunteered 3 consecutive times as a pollworker and this is the worst election by far.

We will not let this one go.  All of the votes need to be counted.  The Registrar needs to make sure that this never happens again.

We need to fix the underlying problem effecting all DTS voters.  Poll workers should be allowed to and trained to offer up choices of ballots to DTS voters.  There is no reason why they should have to ask for one.

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

Here is the latest on the “double bubble trouble”.  Today the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors held a hearing.  Several people testified including Rick Jacobs and the Registrar of Voters Dean Logan.  The good news is that Logan sounded amenable towards counting the votes, but made no specific promises.

Any Decline-to-State voter who failed to mark the extra bubble indicating that they wanted to vote in the Democratic primary has not been counted thus far.  There are no guarantees it will happen and so we are continuing to press the issue until every vote possible is counted.

The Courage Campaign is doing three things right now.

1. Requesting that the L.A. ROV conduct a count of all DTS votes, precinct by precinct.
2. Requesting that the L.A. ROV immediately take steps to fix the DTS ballot design flaw for future primary elections
3. Asking DTS voters across Los Angeles County to hold on to the receipt of their vote (“voting stub”) until further notice.

As to #3 on this list.  If you are a DTS voter in Los Angeles County who asked for a Democratic Party ballot on Election Day and still have your paper receipt for voting (“voting stub”) please let us know so our lawyers can insist that your ballot be counted.  

OR

If you are a DTS voter in Los Angeles County and you had trouble at the polls and/or believe your vote may not have been counted.

Please use this form to report your story and receipt number if you have it on the Courage Campaign website.

Courage Campaign lawyer Steven Kaufman (of Kaufman Downing LLP) sent a new letter (pdf here) today to the L.A. ROV.  Excerpts on the flip:

It is clear that under the state election code that DTS voters who have inadvertently failed to fill in bubble numbers five and six after having received a Democratic or American Independent ballot, took all the required steps necessary to have their ballot counted, and that any additional issues inherent in the Inka-Vote system or ballot design process are contrary to law.

It is not sufficient to merely estimate the scope of the problem through random sampls and investigation. As you have stated in various media statements with regard to this issue, every effort to ascertain voter intent must be made by the Registrar’s office. Taking the steps outlined below will help restore voter confidence and send a message to voters that their votes will count and that their vote does make a difference. All this can be accomplished within the 28-day statutory period for certification of the vote…

That is why the Courage Campaign is asking for a full recount.

After the votes are (hopefully) counted we will need to work hard to make sure this never happens again.  This can be fixed.

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

Here is the short story, if you are just coming to it right now. Chron:

The Los Angeles system requires that decline-to-state voters not only ask specifically for a Democratic ballot – but also fill in a special bubble on the ballot specifically indicating their desire to vote on the Democratic presidential ticket. Failure to fill in the bubble voids their presidential ballot.

The Courage Campaign has contacted Los Angeles County election officials “demanding that they count the votes and that they inform voters of this ‘bubble trouble,”‘ said Jacobs. “They finally agreed they didn’t know how to count the votes.”

Our lawyer Steve Reyes caught this over the weekend.  This problem has existed for several cycles and was caught late.  The Obama campaign held a conference call with reporters about this earlier today and one of our lawyers Steve Kauffman was on it.  They are very much concerned, as we are that voter intent will not be determined.  The law is pretty clear on this.

The Clinton Campaign on the other hand…

But Averell “Ace” Smith, campaign manager for California campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said he is mystified by the Election Day complaints from the Obama team, since the rules for decline to state voters – specifically the requirement that request Democratic ballots – have been a matter of public record posted on the California Secretary of State’s web site for months.

“Every California campaign has known the ground rules on this for three months,” he said. “I can’t imagine why they waited until 2 pm. on Election Day to wake up … it strikes me as strange. If you wait until the last minute to complain, they must really be worried we’re going to win.”

“We’ve certainly worked with our voters for months and months” to educate them on the process, he said. “They’re blaming other people for not having done their homework…this is nothing more than a cynical attempt to create confusion.”

This is extremely disappointing.  All the Courage Campaign has been asking for all along is that the Los Angeles County ROV finds a way to limit this from happening in the first place and then to make sure these votes are counted, if the word does not get out.  That is all the Obama campaign is doing at this point.  This is a localized problem to Los Angeles, but there are a lot of voters there who may have been effected.

This is all about determining voter intent.  It is pretty clear when someone asks for a Democratic ballot and then votes for that person that they intended to vote for a Democrat.  The second bubble is not necessary to determine intent.  The ballot was designed this way to make vote tabulation faster, but the side effect is that voters are disenfranchised.

Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Federation, a nonpartisan voter watchdog organization, said she believed that the LA County procedures represent “an unnecessary extra step” for voters.

“I understand why LA County does is, but I think there is the possibility that some voters will be unwittingly disenfranchised,” though the county has chosen the system because it is more economical and enables them to count ballots faster, Alexander said.

And she said it could have major implications.

“It is a big deal in this election because California voters finally have a say in a presidential primary and LA is the state’s largest voting district” encompassing all or parts of 12 Congressional Districts, she said. In California delegates are awarded to the candidates based on how well they do in the popular vote in a congressional district, and “if there is a big undercount, it could change the delegate count.”

They need to count all of the votes.

Today I have on my Music for America shirt that reads “Voters Make Better Lovers” and an “I Voted” sticker proudly on it.

I just got back from driving around to 5 polling locations with a friend.  Before I headed out to vote I decided to drop by the Obama office.  I picked up my precinct to go door hang when they got an urgent call.  The campaign had been getting reports across the state from Decline-to-State voters who were being told by poll workers that they could not vote for president.  They grabbed a random sample of precincts and sent volunteers out to check on them.

We were given a precinct at a church in Rancho Cordova, a short drive East on 50.  We saw another polling location within a couple blocks and stopped in there.  Then we hit up a mega church that was two polling locations in one.  At all of them, the poll workers knew the drill.  The only thing troubling was one poll worker who told us adamantly that a voter could switch party registration on the spot to pull a different ballot.

When I was waiting in line at my polling place, a church just a few blocks away from my apartment a young guy walked back up to the desk with his ballot in his hand and said “I wanted to vote for president, but it is not on here.”  The poll worker then asked if he wanted a Democratic ballot.  He said yes and they destroyed the non-partisan ballot he started to fill out.  The guy has to be one of many, who despite our best efforts, didn’t  know he had to ask first.  Good thing he didn’t just fill out the vote, turn it in and then ask and also that the poll workers knew the drill.  After he was handed the Democratic ballot one of the other poll workers lamented that they were explicitly instructed not to automatically ask DTS voters if they wanted a Democratic or American Independent ballot.  That is something that really needs to change.  I don’t understand why they don’t do that in the first place.

This is a thread for anybody who wants to talk about their voting experiences, especially folks in Sacto.

I should add that I asked the poll workers in all of the locations about turnout.  Nothing remarkable.  Turnout was neither low, nor really heavy.  About 120 people had already voted at my precinct, a Democratic neighborhood in Midtown.

(staffer training a volunteer inside the Obama office)

Dave just called from the Michelle Obama, Opera Winfrey event.  Maria Shriver just took the stage and announced that she was endorsing Barack Obama.  Evidently she made up her mind just this morning.

I am sure the Obama advance team was more than happy to make room for a Kennedy on the stage.  From the way that she has been talking recently I expected that she would endorse Clinton if anyone at all.  Good late pickup for Obama in California.  Shriver is pretty respected and often credited with helping Arnold successfully make his move back to being a moderate after the 2005 special election.

(full disclosure: I work for Courage)

For weeks now here at Calitics we have been discussing the puzzle of Decline to State voters.  They make up the only growing part of our electorate at 19.3% (about 3 million voters), but they greatly underperformed during the 2004 primaries (only 8% vote for a presidential candidate).  These voters should be ripe for the picking, but are hard to target.  They include true independents and both regular Democratic and Republican voters.  DTS voters have three choices in this election 1) just vote on the initiatives 2) vote in the American Independent party primary or 3) vote in the Democratic party primary.  Unfortunately not many of them know they have to be proactive about requesting a Democratic primary ballot or risk having a blank spot at the top of their ballot instead of candidate’s names.

The Courage Campaign has launched a campaign to help educate DTS voters and make sure they know how to participate in the Democratic primary.  We are calling and emailing 300,000 registered DTS voters with the simple message: Yes, you can vote for president, just ask for a Democratic ballot.

The NYT covered DTS voters and our “yes you can vote” campaign today. (quotes and more on the flip)

It is also true that decline-to-state voters must be quite motivated – and knowledgeable – to cast a ballot in the Democratic primary. The voters must ask for a Democratic ballot at their polling station; otherwise, they are provided with a nonpartisan ballot that has statewide measures only.

And if they vote by mail, as a great many Californians do, these voters must request a Democratic ballot in writing.

“If you do nothing, you get a nonpartisan ballot,” Mr. DiCamillo said. “That is a proactive step that is a hurdle.”

That is the hurdle we are hoping to help people cross.  If you know any friends or family members make sure they know what to do.  This FAQ is a quick link to send them to.  Remember, today is the last day you can request a mail in ballot, so head over to your registrar in person if you still need a ballot.

County registrars are supposed to inform the independent voters that they have a right to a Democratic ballot, but each does so differently, leaving many voters with no idea they can participate in the primary.

“We do get people after an election saying, ‘I wanted to vote a partisan ballot, and I got this nonpartisan ballot,’ ” said Steve Weir, the vice president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.

That is exactly what we want to prevent.  Make sure everyone knows all they have to do is ask and they shall receive.  No voter should finish voting and then contact the registrar feeling disenfranchised.

When we first started this project the LAT/CNN/Politico poll indicated that Clinton was receiving the lion share of the DTS vote 52-29 over Obama.  Yesterdays numbers showed there was a dramatic change now Obama is getting 41% to Clinton’s 28%.  Both campaigns are targeting the DTS vote.

Both Obama and Clinton campaign officials said they were doing that, but that it was a complex battle in a place where, compared with a state like New Hampshire, voters were less informed about the ins and outs of the primary process.

“It’s very hard, frankly,” said Mr. Schwartz of the Obama campaign. “In an open primary like New Hampshire, especially, people know they can vote.” He said the Democratic Party “should be doing a ton more” to reach out to the independents.

State Democratic Party officials said they did the best they could with a limited budget and competing interests. Separately from the party efforts, the Courage Campaign, a so-called 527 group, plans to call or e-mail 300,000 registered decline-to-state voters in California to remind them that they can vote Democratic.

It is hard, but worth doing.  The more people we can get used to voting Democratic, the more likely they will be to vote Democratic moving forward.  And that my friends is a very good thing.

This is truly excellent news.  For the first time in 25 years the percentage of the workforce who are union members has increased year over year.  Naturally it is a Friday news dump, but these are significant figures.  Ezra has a great write-up.

Some good news today as fresh numbers come out showing, for the first time in 25 years, union density actually increased over the previous year, inching up from 12 percent to 12.1 percent. The gains were concentrated among white women and black men, in the West (the story here is partially large gains in California outweighing declines as manufacturing continues to collapse throughout the Midwest), and in the construction, health, education, and retail sectors.

We have a strong and vibrant union movement here in California. It is no surprise to see that we are outpacing the rest of the country.

Manufacturing, amazingly, has been so decimated that your average manufacturing employee is less likely to be unionized than another American worker picked at random. Given that the manufacturing sector was once the backbone of the union economy, that’s real testament to how ruined the old order is, and how impressive even these small gains are. Now, one year does not a trend make, and the uptick is unquestionably minor. But still: Gains for the first time in 25 years. And centered around the fast-growing, immigrant-heavy economies of the West. That’s meaningful, and may suggest that Labor is finally figuring out a new model they can use to move forward. In celebration, here’s a link to Chris Hayes’ beautiful essay, “In Search of Solidarity.“

A strong labor movement is crucial to the progressive movement.  California once again is leading the way for the rest of the country.  May this year be the first of many.

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

The Senate once again is moving to take up FISA and retroactive immunity for law breaking telecom companies. The vote may come as early as tonight.  The only thing that is really effective at this point are phone calls into Senators offices.  The Courage Campaign, as did CREDO, went to our lists today and asked our members to call Senator Feinstein.

Give her a call right now:

202-224-3841 (Washington, DC)

310-914-7300 (Los Angeles)

415-393-0707 (San Francisco)

619-231-9712 (San Diego)

559-485-7430 (Fresno)

Go to the flip for more information on FISA and Feinstein’s unacceptable amendments.

Robert in Monterey wrote-up a long detailed take-down of Feinstein’s “compromise” amendments.  The first one as Robert notes is not particularly objectionable.  The second one on the other hand…

2. The “compromise” does not provide sufficient safeguards for the public’s rights and for the rule of law.

Even if the “compromise” Feinstein amendment on immunity – kicking it to the FISA court – were viable and could be signed into law, it’s not an approach that civil libertarians endorse. The ACLU has been vocal in their opposition to both the Feinstein and the Specter amendments:

“Unless Congress wholly rejects [the] executive privilege or state secrets claims, there are legal hurdles that could prevent the full hearing of the matter in federal court,” said Tim Sparapani, ACLU senior legislative counsel. “We also oppose having the FISA court making the good faith determination unless outside parties are allowed to argue in front of the secret court, which has never happened before. Otherwise, only one side is represented.”2

FISA is a secret court. Of the many thousands of requests for wiretaps that it has considered over the last 30 years, it has rejected a small handful – perhaps as few as five. This is not the same as a court of law, where the public has the right to examine evidence and file their own claims. FISA courts do not provide for the protection of basic rights. And to allow the FISA courts to determine the legitimacy of telecom actions is to take this crucial decision out of the hands of the courts, therefore undermining the rule of law. Feinstein’s proposal should be rejected on principle alone.

No on the Feinstein amendment and no immunity for law breaking telecom companies.

Senator Boxer has already stated her support for Senator Dodd’s filibuster, however it is a great idea to give her a call thanking her for her support.  Bringing up the Feinstein amendment would be useful:

(202) 224-3553

We need our Senators to know we are paying attention to this bill, as obscure as it sounds to many people.  It is a crucial privacy and constitutional issue and we cannot allow President Bush or these telecom companies to get away with breaking the law.