Senator calls for sweeping election overhaul

[Abacus]

(CNN) – Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, on Thursday proposed an overhaul of America's presidential election laws, saying the current dispute over delegates in Florida and Michigan has exposed a flawed nominating system in need of reform.

In a speech on the floor of the Florida State Senate Thursday morning, Nelson said he will formally introduce legislation that will attempt to fix many of the problems exposed by this cycle's round of presidential primaries, adding the "time for reform is now.”

"This country cannot afford to wait that long, before we fix the flaws we still see in our election system," Nelson said. "The blessings of liberty cannot wait."

Specifically, Nelson said he will propose *six rotating interregional primaries that "will give large and small states a fair say in the nomination process." The regional primaries would be conducted on dates ranging from March to June, Nelson also said, taking the place of the current early-voting states Iowa and New Hampshire — states which critics have long argued are not representative of the American electorate. The dates would initially be set by a lottery system for the 2012 election and would rotate positions in successive elections.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/27/nelson.voting/index.html
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/27/nelson-calls-for-banning-electoral-college-instituting-regional-primaries/

* I said the same thing verbatim here about a month ago, minus the dates. What does everyone think? (He goes on to advocate the elimination of the electoral college, but I'm more interested in the primary configuration at the moment.)

[lisa58]

1. great idea

[DJ13]

2. I dont trust Nelson after all the BS he tried to pull over moving Florida's primary

Maybe if he gets some other Congress members to join him with this I might give it more credence, but not until then.

[Abacus]

3. Nor do I really,

but I still would like to see a primary system something like that.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Oh, heck! I thought he was going to say: 'THROW DIEBOLD, ES&S AND SEQUOIA

ELECTION THEFT MACHINES INTO 'BOSTON HARBOR' NOW!'

I must've been dreaming. The only democratic with a small 'd' voting mechanism left in the country--the caucuses, which Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia have no part in--is going to be deep-sixed, in favor of more Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia "trade secret" vote counting. I can see that now. It's not where people vote, or when--it's who counts the votes, and how. That is the problem, not this other crap. We can overcome this other crap--the Electoral College, the filthy billions of dollars for campaigning, the fascist 'news' media, the screwy primary schedules. Anything--we can overcome anything these fascist global corporate predators and war profiteers have thrown at us, to destroy our democracy. What we cannot overcome is voting machines run on "trade secret," proprietary programming code, owned and controlled by Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls. It is the coup de grace--the final blow--to our democracy. And it's clear that one of the functions of asshats like Bill Nelson--himself (s)elected by non-transparent voting machines--is to distract us from this overriding reality.

[Abacus]

6. It is stated in the article that he wants a paper trail /nt

[Peace Patriot]

7. A paper trail is useless unless you count the votes. Many states have zero auditing

(--automatic handcount), some because they have no paper TO count, others because of heavy election theft corporation lobbying against it. Even the best states do only a 1% audit--miserably inadequate in a "trade secret" code system. Given the expense of electronic voting, the heavy corporate lobbying against transparency, the infestation of our voting system with the corporate culture of secrecy, and the evidence of stolen elections, it is time to...

THROW DIEBOLD, ES&S AND SEQUOIA ELECTION THEFT CORPORATIONS THE FUCK OUT OF OUR ELECTION SYSTEM...NOW!

Paper trails are not enough. You have to restore the culture of PUBLIC SERVICE and PUBLIC VOTE COUNTING in our election system. Paper trails are a sop. Paper trails are a lie. Paper trails are a way to give more billions of our tax dollars to these bad actor corporations--for optiscans, for printers, for 'maintenance,' for their goddamn secret code, for the paper itself. We need to get these corporate vendors OUT of the system, or we will never again have an election we can trust, and our democracy will be over.

If they had begun by recommending a paper ballot and a 100% handcount for the first few national elections, while their systems were tested out--as should have been done--then we might have some reason to believe that they mean well now. As it is, we have NO reason to believe they mean us and our democracy well, and every reason to believe that they do not. Hell, the other day Sequoia threatened a lawsuit against a Princeton computer expert who had been asked by election officials to review their code! In the Florida-13 case, ES&S argued that their "right" to profit from our elections (and steal our elections--they didn't add) trumps the right of the voters to know how their votes were counted, even in a stinko election like FLA-13! Their arrogance knows no limits. They're manufacturing their election theft machines in miserable sweatshops in the Philippines! When are we going to be rid of these jerks? When? After Great Depression II, when there is nothing left here to steal?

A "paper trail," my ass. That is the global corporate predators' fallback position. Now they think we need a "paper trail." Now! Three major national elections later. And what are we to think of all those non-transparent, secretly coded, so-called elections that have already occurred? Well, we can plainly see the result of that. Our country's going down, for lack of representation of the majority on the war (56% opposed, Feb. 03, NYT poll; other polls 54-55%--now grown to a whopping 70%!) and everything else--most of which Bill Nelson has been collusive on. And what are we to think of these Vichy Democrats who permitted the rightwing corporate takeover of our election system? Their blathering about the Electoral College and the primaries is intended to do one thing--get rid of the caucuses, where the people actually have a say, untallied by Diebold & brethren, just as all their blathering about "hanging chads" resulted in vote counting that nobody can watch, because it's now all done with "trade secret" code. It's shuckin jive.

[LiberalAndProud]

5. I like the idea of regional primaries.

Early states hold too much sway as it stands now. But I would agree that Bill Nelson is highly suspect.