(Yay! The Chronicle is right on track here. Bowen will be a SoS with vision. – promoted by SFBrianCL)
Democratic candidate and voting rights advocate Senator Debra Bowen was officially endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle this morning after an extensive public debate before their editorial board last Wednesday.
The Chronicle advocates:
“In Bowen, California would have a secretary of state who is asking the right questions and has the grounding to know when she is getting straight answers. She recognizes that a conversion to electronic voting systems must be accompanied by appropriate safeguards — such as paper trails and open source software — that maintain public confidence in the electoral process.”
Several mainstream newspapers in California have broken for McPherson this election year – with editorial boards claiming that in these times of uncertainty and electoral discrepancies “Stay the Course” is the way to go and electing someone like Senator Bowen will result in more upheaval.
We’ve heard this argument before. We heard it when Nixon was running for reelection, we heard it a few years ago when the President was running for reelection. We hear it a lot from incumbents when they are in challenged races – particularly from those faced with the ineptitude of their own records as evidence that their reelection should in fact NOT be cemented a 2nd time…
It is unclear to what extent other editorial boards made their decisions based on detailed recounting of the last 4 years of electronic voting nightmares across California and indeed the United States. It remains to be seen how many of them considered both the past and the future of technology in this important arena of security and accuracy. And further I speculate that few editorial board were quite as thorough as the SFC and as public about their questions for the candidates and the discussion that occurred between all parties.
One could say that the SFC clearly understands first hand the need for transparency – because they exhibited such in their process for their decision.
To view the SFC Debate and Q&A by the Editorial Board please visit here.
Bowen’s difficulty in this election has not in any way been a fault of her own but the sins of those who came before her as previous CA SoS Kevin Shelly resigned the office amid scandal – McPherson has used this extensively – lowering the expectations to prove that his work has meant something because the office was in such disarray when he arrived. This implies that had Shelly not been a factor McPherson could have done much more but he was preoccupied with “fixing” the office first before he could actually develop proactive solutions.
But if that argument doesn’t work for ya – don’t worry your pretty little head, because McPherson still claims that everything is fine.
Playing the expectations game is an excellent strategic move on his part – because McPherson, like many others, knows that he could never measure up to Debra Bowen’s leadership in that office.
“While McPherson has handled the job with professionalism and a nonpartisan sensibility, one of our concerns is his contentment with the efficacy and impregnability of modern voting systems. He derisively accuses Bowen of running on the problems in “Ohio and Florida,” as if the lingering questions about the past two presidential elections could be easily dismissed.
“There is a tendency in mainstream politics to dismiss skeptics of electronic voting as kooks or conspiracy theorists — the “black helicopter crowd” is the vogue term of marginalization for them. In truth, however, there are highly qualified scientists on both sides of the question of whether modern voting machines are vulnerable to hacking or manipulation. ”
Bowen and Bowen sympathizers have faced mounting criticism for our finger pointing to voting discrepancies. Cookey, crazy, tin foil hat wearing, nutty, conspiracy theorists – we’ve gotten it all – in attempts to make us the joke of the voting block. As a longtime nerd – this is nothing new for me. But in the end – with our pages of data – gigs of programming – and possibly even tape on our glasses – we’re always right.
The SFC clearly understands that this has gone way beyond a wedgies at the lockers – votes are in danger – and in a democracy the one right we all may exorcise is to change horses in midstream as the horse is drowning.
“Bowen’s 14 years in the California Legislature demonstrated her commitment to the issues and values desired in a secretary of state. She has been an effective advocate for open government — pioneering the use of the Internet to make campaign finance and legislative records readily available to the public, and authoring an array of bills to make the initiative process more transparent.
“Beyond that, Bowen has proved to be one of the most focused and effective representatives in the 120-member Legislature, especially on consumer and privacy protection. She takes on tough issues, stays with them and gets results. Her work in Sacramento, for example, has produced laws that have reduced the risk of identity theft in California.”
Please join me in my appreciation for the SFC openness in their process and their endorsement of the right candidate for Secretary of State for California.
But more – please join me in supporting Debra Bowen for Secretary of State
And join me in volunteering for her campaign
