I'm an activist newbie -- Is Common Cause a forceful group to put

[KaliTracy]

money behind / become a member of? This from a request to fill out a Nationwide Voter Opinion Survey (and a call for donations) I received today:

***
...Some voters waited in lines for up to 10 hours to cast a ballot.
...Thousands more were turned away from the polls.
...Voting machines reported more votes than were actually cast.
..."Official" fliers directed voters to the wrong polling places.
Is this the kind of election you should expect from America? No!
Is America really ready to run a fair election? Not yet!
Can you help? Yes, by taking action now!


Dear Fellow Citizen:

Who loses in American elections today? The American voters do!

On November 3, the American public was relieved that the presidential election was not tied up in recounts and lawsuits, and that the Supreme Court would not have to step in and appoint the next president.

Many Americans believed -- and the press reported -- that the election had been orderly and fair. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

The election of 2004 was at least as marred as the disastrous election of 2000!

From Columbus, Ohio, where an electronic voting system reported that George Bush had received 4,258 votes, but only 638 votes were cast -- to North Carolina where thousands of ballots were lost when a computer ran out of disk space -- all across the country the electoral process was riddled with problems.

Combine the voting irregularities with the astronomical sums of money spent on th presidential campaign -- a staggering $2.2 billion -- and what you get is an unsettling time for democracy in America today.

Representative government stands or falls with the integrity of its elections, and quite frankly our electoral process is in urgent need of repair.

<snip>
(Since this was a unsolicited mailing, and not a published piece, I posted a few extra paragraphs).

edit: typo

[skids]

1. CommonCause does some good work.

And so do many, many other organizations.

My best advice is to take a half hour, think about the sorts of things you'd be into doing (GOTV, voter protection, lobbying, etc) and then once you've decided what your cup of tea is, work with organizations that do that sort of thing. Then decide those things that you really think are important, but you do not really think would be your cup of tea. Give money to those organizations.

[KaliTracy]

3. I was intrigued because of this survey, I looked at their website tonight

I'm not sure how I missed them before. I just see that this is a great way to get opinion of people (albeit, probably left-leaning?) about the flawed, full of fraud, election of 2004.

Their survey:

1. Do you believe the election of 2004 was fair and that all of the votes were counted? yes/mostly/no/don't know

2. Dozens of different voting machines and ballots are used across the country. Should the federal government take action to make voting more uniform? yes/no/don't know

3. Some new touch screen voting machines print a paper ballot so that the voter can verify that his or her vote has been recorded accurately. Do you think this feature should be required on all electronic voting machines? yes/no/don't know

4. Most states award all their electoral votes to the winning presidential candidate. Should states divide their electoral votes in proportion to the popular vote for each candidate? yes/no/don't know

5. The president is officially elected by the Electoral College, whose members are unknown to most voters, and who could ignore the wishes of the voters. Should the Electoral College be reformed? yes/no/don't know

6. The cost of campaigns is skyrocketing. Check each solution you believe should be considered.
_Limits on candidate's spending.
_Free or discounted air-time for campaigns
_Public financing for all political campaigns

7. What problem with campaigns and elections should be Common Cause's top priority?
_Achieving uniform or more accurate voting technology.
_Direct election of the President by popular vote.
_Enforcing campaign finance reform laws.
_Other

8. Did you personally experience any of the following irregularities in the 2004 election? (Check all that apply)
_Turned away because of registration issues.
_Faulty or confusing voting machines.
_Long lines resulting in waiting periods of more than one hour.
_Intimidating actions by election officials at your polling place.
_Provisional ballots not being available.
_Partisan election officials.
_Other

[StephanieMarie]

2. I gave them some money

they've been around a long, long time. My 88 year old grandfather is a member and sends me their newsletter!

[Stephanie]

4. My mother was on the National Board of Common Cause in the 70's

They are a progressive organization and they do good work, and they are well established.

They were slow to come out on the voting machines, but they joined in on Ohio. I give them total creds, despite the tardiness.

[KaliTracy]

9. look at post #3, I was surprised they were doing such a pointed

National Survey about the Elections, and that Verified Paper Ballots were mentioned (not "paper trail"). Thanks for your thoughts.

[garybeck]

5. it depends where you want your money to go

if you really want to pinpoint your money at people doing election work exclusively, consider these:

US Count Votes
Voters Unite!
National Ballot Integrity Project
Black Box Voting
Verified Voting
Coalition for Visible Ballots

There's also a list of volunteer opportunities at such organizations here:

http://www.solarbus.org/election/action-tasks.shtml

(all the orgs on that page need money)

[emlev]

6. Did you say volunteer opportunities?

Cool.

[garybeck]

7. :)

you're funny

[KaliTracy]

8. well, $20 doesn't go far... it's where it would be best utilized... since

DH is starting his own business $$ is tight, but there are a few things I've given to in the last year in order to help curb the * Administration and its policies. Thanks for the suggestions!

[emlev]

11. $20 goes a lot farther in one of those small orgs. n/t

[KaliTracy]

15. thanks emlev. n/t

[mod mom]

10. May I add CASEOhio, for those in the state of Ohio

<caseohio.org>

[crispini]

12. Common Cause Texas

has been instrumental in getting feedback to our reps on the VVPB bill that is currently in our Legislature. In fact, they have been key.

[garybeck]

13. just wondering, is it really a VVPB bill in Texas

I have not seen the bill you refer to. I'm wondering if it's really a VVPB bill or if it's a VVPAT bill like all the federal ones.

[KaliTracy]

14. That's a good point -- the survey (see post #3) calls out a verified

paper ballot. Not that it's the bill -- but does point to the language they (Common Cause) are using -- doesn't mean that the people proposing the bill are, though I would hope so.

[crispini]

16. I haven't seen it yet either.

The original version of the bill was NOT. However, they're working on revisions right now. The folks who are working directly with the legislator's offices continue to use the phrase VVPB, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They seem to know what they are doing. I'm kind of new to this group so I'm not entirely spun up yet on what exactly's going on. I'll certainly post it here once I hear more from them...