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Departments Election Issues The mystic voting hall: for the love of democracy Against the wall, serenely oblivious, gold and silver and rainbow colored fish shimmer and wiggle and dart in the warm water of their tank. I recall my first time snorkeling, after running a terrible marathon in Hawaii. There I was, just a gal from Ohio, glimpsing creatures underwater so exquisitely beautiful and diverse and beyond my imagination that my eyes teared. And now, on my walks through this centuries-old New England village, I pass an old, squat, one story red brick building. It sits apart from the surrounding three-story wood structures. No filigree porch or widow’s walk. Above the door a flaking brown sign states in white: Fourth District Voting Hall. I imagine the first generations of Mystic Seaport citizens, men named Asa and Clark and Erasmus gathering in this one story room. Squared-jawed, strong smelling, hardy whalers, boat builders, proprietors, farmers, even the town ne’er do well, stomping the mud off their boots, nodding a terse hello. Perhaps it was a fine meeting or fraught with conflict. No matter what, I must imagine that in that small room, if a citizen didn’t show to vote, he was missed. Raising one’s hand or not, in agreement or not, they looked around the room for consensus to direct the future of their town and our democracy. They felt entitled to a say and damn it, they said it. A village that’s been around since the rebellion from King George has a cellular, generational memory of the struggle for self-rule. This Hall is a unyielding assertion and protection of the Mystic people’s most fundamental right in a democracy; the right to vote in mortar and brick. As part of the Los Angeles Citizens Election Protection Task Force I read the reports filed by Poll workers for Democracy and voters' calls made to the EP hot line (866 OUR VOTE) on election day, 11/07. Outrage and confusion as folks on the rolls for years are suddenly not registered to vote. Others spend hours in search of a familiar polling place that has moved without notice. Callers are worried because blase poll workers are pitching their ballots into an open box, or the machines have failed to register their votes. Conversely, others fear that the machines are working all TOO well and their votes will be glitched. The Voting Hall has vanished. But our urge to be counted, thank the heavens, still burns. We still hitch up the horse and search for the old brick voting hall. Why else do I read that a man takes half his day to relentlessly ping- pong from one purported polling place to another? Why else does a young woman tearfully argue for her right to vote on a real ballot, not a provisional one? Why else do the newly trained poll workers passionately fight for the voters to be treated fair and square and not like second class citizens? This is the amazing beauty of our species that glimmers and catches the light. For once and all, we have got to address the systemic failures and the anti-democratic thugs, or to be kind, the willful amnesiacs, who deny their fellow citizens’ fundamental right to enter the Voting Hall. It is an indignity so primal I feel generations of Americans standing with us, to shake their fists in righteous indignation. This is our shame. Not the kind of shame to tick our heads a little and sigh. This is a shame that has darkness in it. It is dead wrong. It demands we act. We the people must resurrect the Voting Hall. “I am up between what’s right and wrong.” - Nanny, Lakawanna Blues |
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Recent Election Issues Articles Nonviolent resisters put Senator Clinton on notice In-depth, post-EVEREST interview with Ohio's Secretary of State The phrase that could defeat Hillary Clinton Ohio will likely face big vote-counting problems in 2008 "Critical security failures" leads Ohio Sec. of State to recommend ban of DRE (touch-screen) voting machines Ohio Secretary of State confirms 2004 election could have been stolen Kucinich first, Edwards second in PDA straw poll Hillary and the politics of disappointment Voting can be a real battle for U.S. troops and others overseas in the 2008 primaries Wolf Blitzer loses Democratic debate Another Clinton campaign fraud We remember… Nov. 2 memorial anniversary of the 2004 Ohio election The weak slat under the bed of democracy Aurora Dairy exemption from check-off program challenged; USDA should demand retroactive payment from faux organic milk producers Kucinich tops other Dem Presidential leaders in key CA straw poll Will the GOP election theft machine do it again in 2008? Exactly how the good guys finally won Voter purging: a legal way for Republicans to swing elections? Why doesn't the GOP want Ohio's voting machines tested? The Cat in the Hat, elusive happy endings, and the [election] mess that is so big, and so deep, and so tall The Death of the DRE: gone the way of Lawn Jarts Fooled Again series: exclusive interview with Michael Collins Fooled again series: exclusive interview with "Diebold whistleblower" Steve Heller The Dan Rather voting machine special, a recipe for election disaster, and serious food for thought Resistance of one The dog ate my homework continues: inter-office Ohio Board of Elections email prompted by SAVE THE BALLOTS website gives a glimpse into the attitudes of Ohio election officials Look at who runs our boards of elections Restore health to America's elections and pull the plug on SDD virus threat Paper ballots for California: Secretary of State announces de-certification/re-certification plans for e-voting systems The dog ate my homework Welcome to jail for destruction of election records… for some of the ladies and gentlemen of the Ohio Boards of Elections! The criminal cover-up of Ohio's stolen 2004 election sinks to the fraudulent, the absurd, the pathetic Part II – Squire v. Geer: Facts the Magistrate left out are even more shocking than the ones he included Will Bush cancel the 2008 election? Ohio's 2004 presidential election records missing or destroyed Sausage making and electronic voting machines Shreds of evidence Missing records and record access in Ohio, July 2007 On-site observations of the hand-counting of paper ballots and recommendations for the general election of 2008 Sicko ? John Edwards supports "open source" for voting systems Will electronic voting reform create new ways to steal elections? US Attorney resigns following Conyers’ request for BBC documents Will Al Gore face his inconvenient truths about our stolen elections? Giving the voters "poisoned food" to "nourish" democracy In the land of the free, and the home of the brave The globalization of electronic election theft RFK: Rove and Rove's brain, 'Should be in jail,' not in office Introducing Psephos Are Rove's missing e-mails the smoking guns of the stolen 2004 election? The GOP's cyber election hit squad Another path to peace: the case for Kucinich Virtual election season Bye bye to Cleveland GOP Election Chair Bob "Ballots for Bush" Bennett Bye bye to Cleveland GOP Election Chair Bob "Ballots for Bush" Bennett Auditing the mid-term election Two big victories boost Ohio's election protection movement More potential 2004 election illegalities rock Ohio's Hocking County as Cleveland braces for a legal firestorm New Ohio evidence exposes apparently illegal 2004 recount activity by Hocking County's GOP Election Director, and a stinging complaint is filed in Cleveland Explosive new vote fraud developments continue to rock Ohio and Florida Forced resignations and stiff prison sentences intensify the escalating blowback from Ohio's 2004 stolen election Election fraud, my ass After Ohio's recount rigging convictions in Cuyahoga, is Coshocton County next? Florida setting example Sequoia Voting Systems contract with San Francisco needs added section to ensure transparency Ohio's spreading stolen 2004 election scandal claims another victim First criminal convictions from Ohio's stolen 2004 election confirm recount was rigged Election attorneys amplify importance of convictions for recount rigging in Ohio 2004 presidential race Do new Ohio recount prosecutions indicate unraveling of 2004 election theft cover-up? The mystic voting hall: for the love of democracy DREs, magic and other sleights of hand Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
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