Free Press Election Reporting

Our Jam-packed GREEGREE #126 starts with NY’s JULIE WIENER reporting from the NY legislature on hackable voting machines.

Ohio’s RACHEL COYLE tells us about the astounding trial in Columbus about the $61 million a nuclear utility slipped to the speaker of the Ohio House to get a $1 billion bailout for two atomic reactors.

The question, says Rachel, is whether in the world of Citizen’s United, it is perfectly legal to buy (or rent) a state legislature. 

“You couldn’t write a movie better than this,” she says.  It’s a trial to legalize bribery, with major national repercussions. 

PACO FABIAN then tells us about the successful and impactful progressive campaigning of OUR REVOLUTION.

We merge in the possibility of using referenda to help get out the grassroots vote, particularly on the issues of Choice, Gerrymandering, Marijuana and Expanding Medicaid. 

Our Revolution also focuses on raising the minimum wage, as was tried in California, demanding clearer messaging.

LORENZO CANIZARES gives us the news from Peru, where a Revolution is definitely not being televised.

In Green Grassroots Election Protection zoom #122 we pay tribute to pioneer election protection mainstay CLIFF ARNEBECK, who has just passed.

This heroic Ohio attorney joined with BOB FITRAKIS, CLINT CURTIS, JULIE WIENER & others who demanded an end to the 2004 electoral fraud that wrongly gave GEORGE W. BUSH a 2d term.

Clint gives us a tour of the paper ballot issue and questions the use of computerized ballot images to count the vote.

We then hear from DEEPA DRIVER and VINCENT DeSTEFANO about the situation with JULIAN ASSANGE.

Deepa delivers a brilliant talk on the absolute need for protected journalism and a public funnel for critical documents.

She is briefly joined by TATANKA BRICCA who promises to tell us in a later session about LEONARD PELTIER.

We’re further joined by Vince DeStefano, who explains the possibility that Australia’s change of government may open a door for Julian’s release.

We hope it comes next week, as we adjourn for MLK DAY, returning January 23.  No Nukes!! 

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Our elections need to be protected and our progressive campaigns need grassroots support, exclusive of the party system.

In this GREEGREE zoom #121 we lay out a template for our work through November, 2024 (and maybe beyond).

We look first at a list of 20+ core issues dealing with election protection that will be in varying degrees the upcoming focus of our work.  They are listed below.

We are then joined by RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP, who explains the nitty-gritty importance of grassroots “relational” campaigning with “democracy centers” for progressive candidates everywhere.

Ray focusses in particular on Georgia, where the recent GEORGIA MIRACLE has helped swing control of the United States Senate, among much more.

Dec. 18, 2022, Tucson, AZ - A hearing has been set for Monday December 19, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. for thirty (30) minutes in Division 18 Pima County Superior Court. The court will hear the DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFF'S COMPLAINT against John Brakey & AUDIT Elections USA. 

Monday’s hearing should be interesting according to attorney Bill Risner and could have a chilling effect on Arizona citizens. Santa Cruz County filed a lawsuit against AUDIT USA and its Director and co-founder, John Brakey, simply because Mr. Brakey requested a public record from the county’s election department. 

AUDIT USA, founded in 2004, is a well-respected 501(c)3 nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to working towards elections that are transparent, trackable, and publicly verified: www.AUDITelectionsUSA.org 

Meanwhile within the last 10 days the Santa Cruz County recorder who made false allegations against Mr. Brakey has resigned her elected post. 

We are joined on GreeGree #120 by ANDREA MILLER of the Center for Common Ground and RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP.
They are chief architects of the astounding grassroots victories in Georgia 2020-2 for the US Senate seat now held by RAPHAEL WARNOCK.
These electoral landmarks turned on turnouts organized without help from the Democratic Party, which spent some $50 million on media advertising.
Much of that money lines the pockets of party consultants who are highly paid and often make kick-backs on the ads they place.
Yet as we hear from SUE DORFMAN, on-the-ground campaigns were forced to beg even for simple yard signs and door hangers.
We further hear from reporter STEVE ROSENFELD with various reports from around the US on the complexities of our tortured democracy.

Next week we’ll get a full report on our two-year plan to protect American democracy in the lead-up to 2024. 

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Part 2:
 

Part 1: ELECTION MADNESS IN GA AND ARIZONA, & THE SANITY OF SCANNED PAPER BALLOTS

On GREEGREE zoom #118 we begin with a “How To” session from ANDREA MILLER of the Center for Common Ground and RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP.

Ray and Andrea explain how citizens from inside Georgia and around the US can plug into help turn out the vote in the upcoming December 6 US Senate runoff in Georgia.

This historic election will determine whether the US Senate will be 50-50 or 51-49, and will have enormous impacts on the fate of the nation.

JOHN BRAKEY of Audit USA then updates us on the “Lake Effect” in Arizona, in which a MAGA gubernatorial candidate is finally forced to concede defeat.

We also discuss major electoral studies confirming that the fairest and most reliable way to conduct a vote is with hand marked paper ballots that are then scanned.

The scanners provide the initial—very fast—results, which can then be checked with risk limiting audits and, if necessary, actual hand counting.

The election protection movement has fought for this outcome since Ohio 2004. 

Our GREEGREE zoom #117 welcomes RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP, JOHN BRAKEY of Arizona’s election protection “scanned ballot image” movement, and democracy journalist STEVE ROSENFELD.

Together they outline the hard realities of the struggle—in many ways successful—to protect our democracy as seen in the outcome of the 2021 “Georgia Miracle” and the 2022 mid-terms.  

As a pillar of grassroots/relational campaigning, McClendon has played a key role in promoting the Get Out the Vote movements that made the difference in twin Senate victories in 2021, and that may hold the key to the “Manchin Runoff” in 2022.

Working with Andrea Miller of the Center for Common Ground, McClendon has been at the core of shifting progressive campaign donations away from mainstream Democratic Party media buys and into the machinery of on-the-ground organizing.

Based in Arizona, Brakey has pioneered the use of digital scanning in tandem with mailed-out hand-marked paper ballots.  Making a mockery of the 2020 Cyber-Ninja recount fiasco, Brakey has made Arizona into a living laboratory for reliable vote casting and counting.

We devote the first hour of the GREE-GREE zoom gathering #116 with the great DAVID HOGG and a deep dive into two issues at the core of American politics: gun violence and youth turnout.

Now a senior at Harvard University, Hogg has become a national icon in the movement to lower the death toll from guns and motivate the youth vote.

David’s work, in tandem with JOHN ROSENTHAL, has significantly changed views of gun registration and control in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

Hogg and Rosenthal have helped pioneer the AMERICA CALLING organization which aims to vastly expand the turnout among young voters.

Rosenthal’s efforts, in conjunction with Hogg, have tangibly lowered the gun violence death rate in Massachusetts, and could do the same nationwide, saving more than 26,000 lives.

These two grea activists are already legends in making real change in American politics.  

Rooted in the younger generations now taking control of the electorate, while simultaneously working to end gun violence, they are not to be missed.
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DELAND, FL – (Nov. 1) An eye-opening new report by the well-respected, longtime election organization, Florida Fair Elections Coalition (FFEC), predicts that thousands of voters are about to accidentally lose their votes in the 2022 Governor’s race, just as tens of thousands of voters have lost their votes in that race since 2010. These votes are lost because some voters mistakenly vote for more than one candidate in the Governor’s race, something that typically happens only in the Governor’s race and the Presidential race.

We first pose to him the hope to remove the statue of General George McClellan from the streets of DC, and for official recognition of Sally Hemings as the third First Lady of the United States.

We hear from MIKE HERSH about the details of Rep. Raskin’s great career.

Rep. Raskin then lays out the case for federal criminal prosecution against Donald Trump.

Our own JOEL SEGAL tells of his long-standing friendship with Rep. Raskin, and then asks critical legal questions on prosecuting Trump and on preserving our democracy.

RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP gives us a critical presentation of the desperate need to shift the Democratic Party to becoming an actual democracy organization with a shift to grassroots organizing.  

McClendon underscores the need to stop pouring millions of donor dollars into media advertising and switch to establishing the kind of GOTV / person-to-person campaigning that won the “Georgia Miracle” in 2021, shifting control of the US Senate.

BRYNN TANNEHILL informs the Rep. on the plight of trans citizens under Republican regimes.