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.
