Claim Democracy
Claim Democracy encourages networking and collaboration among national, state and local democracy groups in order to build support for and strengthen a national infrastructure for a pro-democracy movement within the United States.  Its most significant accomplishment thus far has been our November 2003 and 2007 Claim Democracy conferences, which brought together representatives of more than 100 organizations and more than 500 people for intensive private meetings and public dialogue inWashington, D.C. In light of recent election administration problems and high-profile obstacles to fair elections in the public interest, its major goal for 2008 is the Democracy SoS (Secretary of State) project, designed to develop a comprehensive agenda for action by Secretaries of State and other elected officials who influence election policy.

The vision for Claim Democracy is to help create and support a network of state-based organizations that work to secure, enhance and exercise the right vote through a range of reforms and activities. Rather than exclusively focus on one particular reform or another, these organizations would be able to coordinate and pool resources to advocate one of a number of reforms that meet clear pro-democracy goals. Examples include: expanding the electorate, increasing citizen participation, providing fair representation, promoting better political debate, freeing voters to support their candidate of choice and supporting equality in the political process. Potential activities include plans to:
  • Establish a new website with a range of information about pro-democracy issues, blogs from several leading pro-democracy advocates and easy means to find pro-democracy advocates in one’s state or locality. An internal invitation-only set of pages would facilitate communication among leaders of pro-democracy groups.

  • Promote creation of and support for a network of state and local groups working to promote participation and reform in their state – ideally seeking to integrate efforts to boost citizen participation with reform efforts and seeking to establish lasting relationships with elected officials able to enact change.

  • Coordinate regular meetings of a pro-democracy roundtable of national and local groups, designed to promote strategic thinking, greater communication and coordination in the pro-democracy movement and support for state/local efforts.

  • Develop a “war-room” communications ability able to spotlight deficits in our democracy and work being done to address those efforts.

  • Develop and work with caucuses of pro-democracy elected officials, at local, state and federal levels – coordinating strategic initiatives that can be carried out at different levels.

  • Develop curriculum about the history of expansion of democracy in the United States as a whole and individual states to be used in K-12 schools.


 
Everybody's Talkin': Testing the voting machines

By Mike Lewis
Published April 6th 2008 in Times and Mail
Elections are full of rituals, from stump speeches to political conventions to endorsements.

A behind-the-scenes, but critical, ritual will take place next week.

The required test of the ballot card system and voting machines is set for 1 p.m. April 15.

Myron Rainey, Lawrence County clerk, said the test will be in the lower level of the Lawrence County Courthouse (where the museum used to be).

The idea, of course, is to make sure the ballots are proper and that the machines accurately count the votes for all candidates in the May 6 primary.


Real voting

The primary is still a month away, but voting for real starts Monday.

That’s the first day people can cast absentee ballots at the Lawrence County Voter Registration Office, which is in Room 20 on the first floor of the courthouse.

Monday is also the final day to register for the May 6 primary.

“It could be an exciting day come Monday,” Rainey told me Friday.

Real attention

It’s an exciting time for Indiana, period.

Suddenly, because of the tight race between Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, Hoosier primary voters matter on a national level — at least in the Democratic race. That means the candidates, and their supporters, have to pay some real attention to Hoosiers.

So Bill Clinton speaks in Bedford, urging people to turn out for Hillary Clinton. And musician Dave Matthews plans a concert in Bloomington, sponsored by Barack Obama.

But the real action, so far, seems to be in Fort Wayne.

Obama was in Fort Wayne Friday. And both Bill and Hillary Clinton have stopped in the city during the past few weeks.

It must seem like New Hampshire up there.

Really close

One of our sister newspapers — the South Bend Tribune — helped sponsor a poll to see just how close the Clinton-Obama race is in Indiana.

It’s close. Really close.

As we reported Friday, the poll showed 49 percent for Clinton and 46 for Obama.

The poll has a margin of error of 5 percent ­— which means it’s simply too close to call.

(Schurz Communications Inc. is the parent company of both the Tribune and the Times-Mail.)

Times-Mail Managing Editor Mike Lewis welcomes comments at 277-7258 or by e-mail at [email protected].