voting Archives - Page 9 of 13 - Ramblin' with Roger

Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton?

I’ve signed Bernie Sanders’ petition to get on the ballot in New York State in April.

A couple of days ago, Doug Muder at the Weekly Sift said he was undecided who he’d vote for in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary next week, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. He provided a fair assessment of both candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.

What I have tired of in this campaign has been the major liberal pundits’ case against Bernie Sanders, “urging citizens to ignore their conscience.” The idea of supporting Sanders is neither stupid nor unrealistic.

I think Robert Reich said it best: “Clinton would make the president for the country we have now. Sanders would make the best president for the country we want to have.” And he’s been at it for a long time. Check out this Doonesbury comic from 1981.

Someone on Facebook – sorry, I’ve forgotten who wrote:

I’m getting tired of all these “thoughtful” pundits who claim that Sanders just can’t win and that he’ll never get anything done that he wants to do, etc. If they are trying to get folks to switch to Hillary, they’re doing it all wrong. All they are doing is pissing Sanders supporters (and those who are not totally decided) off. It’s a stupid strategy, unless it’s right wing trolls who want Sanders supporters to stay home if he loses. You want people to get behind Hillary? Fine. Convince me. Don’t bash Sanders.

I like the America ad – what can I say?

Yes, there is some Hillary-bashing from some Bernie people, but it’s a different argument, and in any case, not one I’ve ever made. If the Republican candidate is Ted Cruz, winner of the Iowa caucus, or Donald Trump, likely winner of the New Hampshire primary, or Marco Rubio, waiting for those two to collapse, or actually all the remaining GOP candidates, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is the Democratic nominee, know that I will surely vote for her.

But the primary, I think, means voting with one’s heart. I’ve signed Bernie’s petition to get on the ballot in New York State in April. Barring some unforeseen circumstances, that’s who I’ll be voting for this spring.

U.S. Election Day is November 3, and you probably won’t vote

THE competitive race in Albany is the city school board, eight candidates for three slots.

I always vote. ALWAYS. There was a Democratic primary between two guys, both named Dan, for the county executive race in September, and that was the only race on my ballot. It was on a Thursday, which meant squeezing it in after coming home – the bus was a half-hour late – and then having to go back out to sing in the choir. But I voted, along with only 20% of the eligible voters on that day, because people have literally died trying to vote in this country.

And the struggle continues: “Alabama just closed 31 drivers license bureaus in counties with the highest percentage of Black voters. Every county with over 75% of registered voters that are African American will have their DMV office closed.” And when the feds come in to investigate – and they should – some will scream federal government overreach.

This November, there’s a dearth of interesting races in my town. One of the Dans won the county exec race and is unopposed, except by a Green Party person who has zero chance. Three of the four judges’ races have no opposition.

There’s a County Comptroller, County Sheriff, and two County Coroner positions up. As a lifelong Democrat, I nevertheless ALWAYS vote for the Republicans in the Albany coroner races. And since Albany is mostly a one-party town, the Democrats ALWAYS win, but it’s my little protest.

There are county legislator races up, but the incumbent in my district – I had to look up his name, he’s so impactful – will get reelected easily; if he has a competitor, I know nothing about him or her.

THE competitive race in Albany is the city school board, eight candidates for three slots, who will be debating on October 20. This is interesting that while I know only one of them personally, FOUR of them (not the guy I know) have invited me to “like” their Facebook campaigns. I met one of the other candidates at a public event recently, and she seemed quite pleasant; at that same event, TWO of my long-time friends told me she’s a crazy person.

Frankly, the school board is NOT a position that I would want. We had a terrible state commissioner of education, who got kicked upstairs to the federal level. Now that Arne Duncan is leaving as U.S. Secretary of Education, John King will be the interim Secretary. Arrgh!

I♥NY: to vote in 2016 Presidential primaries, register in a party NOW

In New York State, one must be registered and affiliated in a party by OCTOBER 9, 2015 in order to BE ABLE TO VOTE for that major party’s candidate for President in April 2016. .

I came across this website via Facebook, VoteForBernie.org. It does not appear to be authorized by the Bernie Sanders for President campaign. But it had some useful information.

Among other things, it notes whether one had to be a registered Democrat in one’s state in order to vote for Sanders (or Hillary Clinton, or whomever) in next year’s primary/caucus season. And it would likewise apply to Republicans’ ability to vote for their candidates.

Some states allow for Open Primaries. One could vote for, say, Bernie Sanders, regardless of party registration. In Iowa, caucus voters are able to change party affiliation easily.

Others have Semi-Closed Primaries or Caucuses. These states allow people NOT enrolled in a party to participate in either the Democratic OR Republican primary/caucus, but not both.

The rest, such as New York, are Closed Primary or Closed Caucus states, which means only Democrats can vote for Democratic candidates, and only Republicans for the GOP roster.

The VoteForBernie site also indicates when one must register in order to be eligible to vote in the primaries or caucuses. For most states, it is 30 days or less before the balloting, though, e.g.., it’s two months beforehand in Colorado, and three months in Connecticut. (As of this date, there is one obvious error, which I requested be rectified.)

What is it in New York State, I wondered? The primary is tentatively scheduled for April 19, 2016; when I called the state Board of Elections this week, the person couldn’t say definitely, because of some state action that had not yet happened. But REGARDLESS of the voting date, in order to vote in either the Republican or Democratic Presidential primary in 2016, one must be REGISTERED in THAT party by 25 days before the 2015 general election.

In other words, one must be registered and affiliated with a party by OCTOBER 9, 2015, six full months before the primary. This is, by far, the earliest cutoff date in the country. New Yorkers, you have a little more than a month to register for a party. If you miss the deadline, you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO VOTE for the major party’s candidate for President.

Restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965

“It would be transformative if everybody voted. That would counteract money more than anything.”

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson because “Congress [had] determined that the existing federal anti-discrimination laws were not sufficient to overcome the resistance by state officials to enforcement of the 15th Amendment,” which had been ratified on February 3, 1870.

“Through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, and other means, Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans.”

The Act has been chipped away by the Supreme Court, resulting in a recent surge in voter ID laws, cuts to early voting and gerrymandering. One of the heroes of the Selma march of March 1965, John Lewis says voter ID laws are ‘poll taxes by another name’.

The 2014 midterm election turnout was the lowest in 70 years, when World War II was an understandable reason for failure to exercise the franchise. President Obama, who did NOT “suggest requiring everyone to vote”, did recognize that “it would be transformative if everybody voted. That would counteract money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country…” As my friend Steve Bissette put it, “It’s discouraging how many folks I know (especially younger voters) rationalize and justify opting out. ‘It’s rigged’ is easy when your refusal to vote cinches the rigging.”

At least, in June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to uphold the right of states to set up independent, non-partisan committees to draw the district maps that determine seats in Congress.

The trend for most of this country’s history was to expand the right to cast the ballot, from requiring direct elections of US Senators, to allowing women and 18-year-olds to vote. This retrenchment in recent years is discouraging for my sense of what democracy should look like. See A Dream Undone: Inside the 50-year campaign to roll back the Voting Rights Act from the New York Times magazine.

One last thing: from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, learn about the disenfranchisement of Americans living in U.S. territories.

Since Americans can’t be bothered to vote, don’t they deserve the government they get?

“We are their victims. We are weak and pathetic. But only by choice.”

Arthur asked the question above, and I’m compelled to respond to it.

My answer is “NO.”

Interestingly, I subsequently found, on Arthur’s Facebook, a link to this Inequality Tower, with his note, “Yep, this is pretty much New Zealand today—and most other Western democracies. Do you care? Do you vote as IF you care?”

A lot of people have been trained NOT to care, to believe “they” are all scoundrels, and it doesn’t make a difference. Gary Kroeger, former cast member of Saturday Night Live, and now running for Congress as a Democrat made an interesting observation:

“The disenfranchised non-intellectuals who now have a voice and are actually moving the needle. The uninformed now have a much bigger voice. They’re louder. By non-intellectuals I don’t mean stupid, I just mean those who just don’t want to engage in the minutia, pull up their sleeves, and do the math. They are from-the-hip voters.”

It’s not just many of the Republican candidates for President, it can even be CEOs of companies. So I could let THEM determine my fate, but I choose to at least try to fight back.

Voting matters. Why else would Ann Coulter and others suggest bringing back ‘literacy tests’ so voting is ‘a little more difficult’, even though it’s unconstitutional? You could be from Harvard and fail the 1964 Louisiana literacy test.

The state of Oregon has a new automatic voter registration. As someone said, in a comment about the new law: “Let’s start swinging the voting pendulum the OTHER way, instead of the recent years of ‘What? Brown people are actually VOTING? WE MUST STOP THIS!!!’ shenanigans like voter ID laws.”

Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to effect change. In Ferguson, MO, where they tripled the minority representation, “29% of eligible voters [were] casting more than 3,700 ballots. That’s more than double the 12% of eligible voters that came out for last April’s mayoral election.” Think about that for a minute: 29% was a GOOD turnout.

If people mobilize and actually vote in their self-interest, and arithmetically, there are far more on the bottom of the economic pyramid than the top, change CAN be made.

And if not, I’m becoming more convinced of a bad outcome for our country, and possibly other countries where contracts with zero hours of work guaranteed are not uncommon, and the vast number of poor are shamed. I came across As the Country Falls Apart, It’s Time for Our Revolution; a call to arms from Ted Rall’s “Anti-American Manifesto”:

Government exists to serve economic power. In the U.S. and globally, economic power is concentrated in business, namely the large corporations whose profits account for more than ten percent of the nation’s gross domestic product…. Corporations… ae parasites, vampires, hideous monsters that underpay and overcharge us and get fat on the spread. Who are we then?

We are their victims. We are weak and pathetic. But only by choice.

We can wait for the system to collapse of its own accord, for the rage of the downtrodden and dispossessed to build, for chaos of some sort to expose and destroy it. But implosion might take a long time. And when it happens, we may find ourselves even more powerless than we are now.

[It gets drearier.]

Not necessarily accepting the scenario fully, but Rall certainly has many valid points. So yes, I try to stay engaged in the political process, as exhausting and irritating as it is. And it’s because NONE of us deserve the government we have that gives more rights to corporations than people.