( – promoted by SFBrianCL)
(cross-posted on dailykos)
Why is that every big primary day we hear about massive problems with electronic voting machine? The easy answer is that the machines are crap and our electoral system is a mess. This quote from President Jimmy Carter says it all:
Terry GROSS: One of the things you do with your Carter Center is to monitor elections around the world, and you’ve monitored over 50 elections around the world. We are facing a US presidential election here and I’m wondering if America was a foreign country and it had asked you to monitor the election, would it meet your criteria. Could you monitor the American elections if you were asked?
Mr. CARTER: No. We wouldn’t think of it. The American political system wouldn’t measure up to any sort of international standard for several reasons.
Luckily, here in California we have a real champion for election protection/reform in Debra Bowen. She has a long history of fighting the good fight, going back to her freshman year in the Assembly, where she authored bills pushing for permanent absentee voting and campaign contribution limits. This year she has authored 10 separate pieces of legislation, six of which are waiting Schwarzenegger’s signature.
The difference between Bowen and her oppenent McPherson could not be more stark. Take for example Bowen’s bill SB 1062, which would expand the “Safe At Home” program to include sexual assault victims. The program, as it currently stands, only allows domestic violence and stalking victims to enroll in this confidential address program, which allows people to receive mail at confidential address set up and maintained by the Secretary of State. The program costs the state a couple hundred thousand dollars a year to maintain.
What was McPherson’s response to this expansion proposal? How about demanding an additional $9.8 million to administrate the program. Absolutely ridiculous. This bill is sitting on the governor’s desk and Bowen is hopeful he will sign it.
Sen. Debra Bowen is one of those rare creatures in California Democratic politics, a person who inspires us. I can’t tell you how many activists I have met who positively light up when her name is mentioned. During the primary between her and Deborah Ortiz no pollster seemed to be able to grasp the base of support that Bowen had. I didn’t quite get it myself until I saw the two of them speak at the CA Democratic Convention this spring. I have never seen so much cheering for a voter verified paper trail in my life. Bowen of course thrashed Ortiz 60-40 in the primary. Now she needs our help in the general.
Last night I had the pleasure of being on a blogger conference call with Debra. She and the staff assured us that they plan on coming back to the kos and diaring again soon. You can read her past diaries here.
Right now, what they could really use are a few good parties. The campaign is hosting house parties on Thursday. Click the graphic for more information. Anyone hosting a party will have the opportunity to join Bowen on a conference call. If you can’t make a party, you can always contribute on ActBlue. I just chipped in another donation today on the Calitics ActBlue page. The CRaP may well be pushng some cash into this race, given the wingnuttery of the majority of the Republican ticket.
Debra said last night she reads dkos and other blogs on a regular basis. I can’t guarantee it, but am pretty damn certain she will read this post, so feel free to leave her messages in the comments section. This will be a netroots fueled campaign. Do what you can to help. Pass the word on Debra to your social networks. Signup for her email list. Find out more about Sen. Bowen at her campaign site.