Sunday, October 9, 2011

2012 election falls on an exact Mercury station retrograde

Mercury @04 Sagittarius SRX - November 6th, 2012

Given that some states are in the midst of changing their electoral vote count rules, the question of how the new rules are applied for the 2012 Presidential election will become central for the campaign strategies of both the DNC & RNC.  

There will be updated links to news articles as new laws are proposed, passed and enacted.  Link 1, Link 2, Link 3,

Pennsylvania and Nebraska Republicans want electoral vote changes. - Link 

The National Popular Vote plan is an alternative competing initiative being offered to the  proposed changes for 'winner-takes-all'  PA rules and the 'by each district' NE rules. (Only two states, Nebraska and Maine, apportion electoral votes partly by congressional district.)

An alternative, and preferable, reform was signed into California law this summer by Gov. Jerry Brown. It commits California to awarding its electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote. The provision, however, takes effect only when states with a total of 270 votes or more (the winning margin) in the electoral college sign on to the system. It's an ingenious approach that would turn the presidential election into a popular vote without a constitutional amendment. In addition to making the presidential election more democratic, it would also encourage candidates to campaign in formerly "safe" states.

Of course, neither of these arrangements is a substitute for the abolition of the electoral college through a constitutional amendment. The system is a vestige of a time when states' rights were considered more important than individual rights. If voters can directly elect senators, as they have done since ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, they should be able to vote directly for president.

http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/07/9280257-mcconnell-warns-of-popular-vote-catastrophic-outcome?google_editors_picks=true

GOP - National Popular Vote

Link - National Popular Vote
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire United States. The bill preserves the Electoral College, while ensuring that every vote in every state will matter in every presidential election. The National Popular Vote law has been enacted by states possessing 132 electoral votes — 49% of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate it.


GOP WAR ON DEMOCRACY http://bradblog.com/

Disinfranchising Voters

States with majority GOP legislatures or GOP governors are creating new rules to make it harder for people to register to vote.

http://blogcritics.org/...
 
SPECIAL REPORT:  For Left, Overcoming New Voting Restrictions Are Matter Of Principle, Equality — And Survival
In Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker and a GOP-dominated state legislature enacted a strict law in which voters must show certain forms of ID in order to vote, just 78 percent of young African-Americans aged 18 to 24 have the proper ID to vote. 
“That’s sort of deep if you consider that in 2004, [Democratic presidential candidate] John Kerry won Wisconsin by [only] 14,000 votes.”
There is no doubt that if young African American and other voters are denied access to voting next year, Democrats will lose, Baker says.
“You can look at the numbers, we can cut the numbers, and we can take the young people of color for granted. But if young people of color do not vote in 2012, we will lose the White House,” he says.
In Wisconsin, student IDs technically are allowed, but its law “was drawn so carefully that all of the current IDs issued by the universities in Wisconsin don’t actually meet the requirement,” she says.
“Now there’s some work going on to try to make sure student IDs can conform with the new rules,” she adds.
“The road to the Senate and the White House runs right through the affected states –- Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, Virginia –- even California,” says Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the arm of the Democratic Party tasked with electing Democrats to the U.S. Senate.
“The GOP strategy is simple: Suppress the vote, win the election,” he adds. “The loss of these votes would be more than enough to lose the Senate –- and the White House. If Republicans succeed, they will get just what they’re seeking –- complete and total control of Washington.”

NYC Broadcast Media - Mercury SRX Election Day   - Chart Link

voting hands

The New York Times' editorial board reacts to the new study from the Brennan Center for justice on voter suppression. It's critical that the news that 5 million and counting have been disenfranchised gets out, and that people recognize when this is happening in their communities so they can organize against it.

In the News


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