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Claim Democracy:
National Conference Boosts Pro-Democracy Movement
By
Rob Richie
On November 21-23,
more than 500 participants representing 31 states and more than 90
organizations gathered for a potentially historic pro-democracy
conference in Washington, D.C. The Claim Democracy conference
cast a spotlight on the many ways in which our democracy must
improve and on the many individuals from across the nation who are
making advances in their efforts to secure, enhance and exercise the
right to vote. It also featured Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.’s
clarion call for a right to vote in the Constitution. Given our
severe democratic deficit outlined in the conference call-to-action,
claiming democracy is no simple exercise. But a conference termed by
Ballot Access News editor Richard Winger the most remarkable
he had ever attended showed that each one of us can join in that
essential enterprise.
The years since the
2000 presidential chaos in Florida have only served to underscore
just how antiquated our electoral rules and practices have become.
Despite obvious shortcomings– one cringes at attitudes toward women,
people of color and the poor, nearly all of whom were denied the
franchise -- the United States of two centuries ago was at the
cutting edge of democratic thought and action. But rather than a
democratic model, we now have become a democratic museum. We have
little in our elections to show the rest of the world with pride.
Our level of democracy relies far more on our traditions, our
federal structure of multiple checks and balance and our people than
the electoral rules and institutions that too often undercut
participation, exacerbate division, under-represent diversity and
fail to maintain that critical link between what voters intend and
what the receive.
It was inspiring to
see the range of actions underway for claiming democracy. All of the
75 sponsoring organizations – and many more besides – are pursuing
laudable goals. Their representatives didn’t all agree on every
particular of each other’s approaches and typically focus on
signature reforms rather than the great pro-democracy mosaic, but
generally support much of what other reformers and voter turnout
groups do. A rising democratic tide lifts all boats, and reforms and
participation can generate hunger for more reforms and greater
participation – providing a glimpse of a more meaningful politics
can lead to wanting more rather than being satisfied.
Saturday’s breakout
sessions were organized so that state reformers, young activists and
the general public could consider reforms to secure, enhance and
exercise the vote through their particular interest. Speakers showed
the range of practical steps that can be taken immediately, no
matter where you live. For example, our Center for Voting and
Democracy’s focus is opening up electoral choices and representation
through instant runoff voting and full representation rather than
traditional winner-take-all elections where 51% of power can silence
everyone else and third parties are too easily “spoilers.” CVD
representatives like former presidential candidate John Anderson and
national field director Rashad Robinson urged attendees to take
immediately achievable steps like adopting a fairer voting system in
a local school or organization, measuring levels of participation
and representation in one’s city or county and evaluating how that
might change with a fairer voting system and promoting the idea that
to earn electoral votes a presidential candidate in your state
should have to win a majority through instant runoff voting.
On Sunday,
participants had a chance to go deeper into issues and debates in
more than 40 workshops and panels about the full range of reforms,
including campaign finance reform, fair election methods like
instant runoff voting and full representation, redistricting, easier
voter registration and expanding the franchise for younger
Americans, non-citizens, former felons and those in the territories.
Featured debates included the case for a multi-party system in the
United States (with 2000 Green Party presidential candidate Ralph
Nader), the controversy over touchscreen voting equipment and the
merits of initiative and referendum.
The conference also
had several stirring plenary speeches, including ones from the
Center for Constitutional Rights’ Ron Daniels, Common Cause’s
Chellie Pingree, Public Campaign’s Mark Clack, the National
Organization for Women’s Kim Gandy, our Center’s Steven Hill,
Overruling Democracy author Jamin Raskin, Marie Wilson of the
White House Project, Stephanie Moore of the Fannie Lou Hamer
Project, Miles Rapoport of Demos and Texas state legislator Garnet
Coleman.
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. brought down the
house with his stirring speech (hear his speech on mp3 technology
)
announcing a lifelong commitment to amend the Constitution to
provide an affirmative right to vote – correcting a lack of federal
commitment to and authority for elections that allows for
degradation of the electoral process across the nation. Indeed
there, right in the shadow of the Capitol and the White House, we
met in a city where its citizens are denied a voting representative
in Congress even as Congress imposes its will on the city. Millions
of adult Americans are denied the right to vote for one reason or
another, tens of millions don’t vote because we as a nation lack a
federal commitment to that fundamental right and millions more are
“orphaned” in states and gerrymandered congressional districts where
they have no chance of joining with others to win representation.
Congressman Jackson’s
solution is a daring one: to join the overwhelming number of
democratic nations and affirm a clear and powerful right to vote in
the U.S. Constitution. Most amendments to the United States
Constitution have advanced our democracy, with many directly
expanding suffrage. As we go deeper into the meaning and power of
the right to vote in the wake of the conference, Claim
Democracy may be seen in retrospect as the opening salvo in what
could be a new campaign: one to make it clear that the right-to-vote
must be fully protected, enhanced and exercised. That right needs to
be clearly stated in the Constitution. If not, why not? If not now,
when?
(Rob Richie is
executive director of the Center for Voting and Democracy, the lead
organizer of the Claim Democracy conference. The Center has
established a "Claim Democracy" national listserv on the themes of
the conference; join the listserv at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/claim_democracy.
Contact the Center at www.fairvote.org or (301) 270-4616 for more
information.)
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