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.


 
Bruce Hendrickson Makes Run for Kentucky Secretary of State
Published September 5th 2007 in eworldwire.com
PINEVILLE, Ky./EWORLDWIRE/Sep. 5, 2007 --- "Monday's discovery by the Attorney General's Office that voting machines in Jefferson County were not certified by the state is another indication that the present Republican Secretary of State, Trey Grayson, is not up to performing his job as Kentucky's Chief Election Officer and needs to be replaced by the voters in the November election," said Bruce Hendrickson, the former mayor of Pineville who is the Democratic nominee for Kentucky Secretary of State.

Hendrickson further said, "It seems to me that the current Secretary of State is too dependent upon the office of Attorney General in performing his job as the Chief Election Officer."

According to Hendrickson, the Secretary of State as Chief Election Officer should have a program of working with the County Clerks to make sure every voting machine in the Commonwealth is state certified. If he does not have the personnel to do the job, then the Secretary of State needs to let the General Assembly know that he has a problem. To date, Mr. Grayson has not contacted or testified before the General Assembly about having a problem addressing his ability to certify all the voting machines in Kentucky.

As Secretary of State, Hendrickson plans to begin a comprehensive review how the Secretary of State can improve his work as Kentucky's Chief Election Officer. This includes formation of a County Clerks' Advisory Committee to assist the Secretary of State in administering elections and preventing fraud.

As Secretary of State, Hendrickson believes that he (the Secretary of State) should testify before the General Assembly to help it understand the challenges faced by local clerks in assisting the Secretary of State in holding elections. One of the major challenges is the lack of adequate funding for personnel and operations in the offices of the offices of the 120 county clerks.

"Fair elections are essential to American Democracy," stated Hendrickson. "Operation of elections should be a priority in any state budget. This has not always been the case as in the example of the possibility of a primary run-off had some counties looking at financial bankruptcy.

"As Secretary of State, I will work with Steve Beshear and Dan Mongiardo to make sure that all legislation regarding the operation of elections is funded so that counties will not be facing even the possibility of bankruptcy in the future."