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Posted at 01:28 PM in Black Voters, Civic Apps, Civic Engagement, Civic Innovation, Civil Rights, Cost of Freedom App, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Foot Soldiers for Democracy, Help America Vote Act, March on Washington, Power of the Sister Vote, Race, Voter ID, Voting Rights, Yo! Philly Votes | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Tuesday is the 49th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
From Texas to Florida, there is an organized effort to suppress the vote. We must organize to protect the vote. As a Facebook friend commented:
A little bit done and accomplished is better than a whole lot planned.
Melanie Campbell, President and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, is doing more than a little bit. To commemorate the March on Washington and the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, she is co-hosting the NCBCP Unity ’12 Campaign organizing meeting.
Melanie has issued a call to action:
We need all hands on deck! Black history has taught us that when we work together in UNITY, we have the collective power to win our fights against injustice and ignite new movements for economic, political and social justice for all people.
Stand your ground. Join the Unity ’12 Campaign.
Posted at 12:54 PM in 2012 Presidential Election, Black Voters, Civic Engagement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Election '12, Foot Soldiers for Democracy, Power of the Sister Vote, Race, Voter ID, Voting Rights | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Tags: Cost of Freedom App, Cost of Freedom Project, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Melanie Campbell, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Unity '12, Voter ID, Voting Rights
Posted at 11:37 AM in Civic Engagement, Power of the Sister Vote, Voting Rights, Women Voters | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Tags: 19th Amendment, Power of the Sister Vote, Unity '12, Women Voters, Women's Equality Day
In a letter to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Pennsylvania General Counsel James Schultz wrote:
Upon my initial review of your letter, I was optimistic that surely your inquiry marked the long overdue renewal of the Department of Justice’s previously abandoned review of the 2008 voter intimidation case in Philly, a review that would be particularly well-timed in this presidential election year, as I trust Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice share the Commonwealth’s commitment to ensuring that no violation of the voting rights of Pennsylvanians be tolerated. Unfortunately, my optimism proved unwarranted as I read your letter and learned that you are requesting information “concerning Pennsylvania’s compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.”
The minor incident involving three knuckleheads was captured on video on Election Day 2008, It has since been played in an endless loop by Fox News. Unfortunately, there’s no countervailing data to rebut the Big Lie of voter intimidation.
But this time, we’ll be ready for them. I am developing an app, Yo! Philly Votes, that will aggregate and visualize multiple sources of real-time Election Day incident reports. Using software developed by Jon Gosier, we’ll be able to contextualize the sources of reports.
If Yo! Philly Votes had been around in 2008, we would have real-time data that the eyewitness to the incident, Chris Hill,a Republican activist, was at the polling place for an hour and did not see any voters turned away. There were no other reports of voter intimidation. If the source of the incident report had been considered, the bogus story would have remained just that – bogus. Instead, made-for-Fox-News story became a justification for election law changes that have been enacted across the country, including Pennsylvania's restrictive voter ID law.
For more information, visit Facebook.com/PhillyVotes or follow us on Twitter: @215votes.
Posted at 08:45 AM in 2008 Presidential Election, 2012 Presidential Election, Civic Apps, Civic Engagement, Civic Innovation, Cost of Freedom App, Election '08, Election '12, Election Day 2008, Election Day 2012, Social Media, Voter ID, Yo! Philly Votes | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Tags: Cost of Freedom App, Cost of Freedom Project, metaLayer, New Black Panthers, Tom Corbett, Ushahidi, Voter ID, Voting Rights Act, Yo! Philly Votes
The headline is a mouthful but that’s the bottom line. While the endless chatter is about “voter ID,” the real issue is whether one has an acceptable form of photo ID.
The Inter-Denominational Ministers Conference of Greater Harrisburg has placed a clickable ad on PennLive.com, which serves Central Pennsylvania. Users are directed to the Cost of Freedom App.
Election Day is 76 days away. What are you doing to help voters get ready?
Posted at 09:12 AM in 2012 Presidential Election, Black Voters, Civic Apps, Civic Engagement, Civic Innovation, Cost of Freedom App, Election '12, Foot Soldiers for Democracy, Social Media, Voter ID, Voting Rights | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Tags: Black Youth Vote, Civic Engagement, Cost of Freedom App, Cost of Freedom Project, Foot Soldiers for Democracy, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Unity '12, Voter ID, Voting Rights
On March 15, 1965, President Johnson stood before Congress and declared, “And we shall overcome”:
Every device of which human ingenuity is capable, has been used to deny this right. The Negro citizen may go to register only to be told that the day is wrong, or the hour is late, or the official in charge is absent. And if he persists and, if he manages to present himself to the registrar, he may be disqualified because he did not spell out his middle name, or because he abbreviated a word on the application. And if he manages to fill out an application, he is given a test. The registrar is the sole judge of whether he passes this test. He may be asked to recite the entire Constitution, or explain the most complex provisions of state law.
Well, it’s back to the future where there are no uniform standards. Faceless clerks and election officials are making up the rules on who is eligible to vote. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
State officials said PennDOT clerks could now take age and other factors into consideration and grant exceptions to document requirements on a case-by-case basis.Another source of confusion, for people trying to figure out if they already have the ID they need to vote: seemingly minor differences between names on photo ID cards and names on voter registration lists.
The new law addresses this issue, saying the name on a voter’s photo ID must “substantially conform” to the name on the roll of registered voters, which is duplicated in poll books distributed to every polling place on Election Day.
But the law does not offer any further explanation of what “substantially conform” means - leaving that to election officials at various levels to figure out on their own.
And as reported, election officials’ level of understanding of the new photo ID requirements varies from county-to-county:
Renee Cohen, a Democratic committeewoman in Blue Bell, Montgomery County, wanted to identify Democrats in her precinct who might need help.She called Montgomery County voter services about two of them: a woman who had used the name “Judy” on her voter registration form, but “Judith” on her driver’s license, and a man who used the initials “C.J.” on his registration, but “Charles J.” on his driver’s license.
Amanda Witman, a spokeswoman for the Department of State, said both situations described by Cohen “would be ‘substantially conforming,’ in our opinion. That’s what we would recommend to the county election directors. But at the end of the day, it is their decision to make.. . . As we interpret the law, the county election directors do make the final decisions on those issues for their respective counties.”
Cohen got a different answer, however, when she called Montgomery County voter services.
I have monitored elections in Ethiopia and Angola, and conducted democracy training in Central Asia. The arbitrary way in which Pennsylvania’s voter ID law is being implemented would never pass the “free and fair” standard to which emerging democracies are held.
With a sustained public awareness campaign, we shall overcome voter ID. But freedom isn’t free. Please make a donation to the Cost of Freedom Project.
Posted at 08:45 AM in 2012 Presidential Election, Black Voters, Civic Apps, Civic Engagement, Civic Innovation, Cost of Freedom App, Foot Soldiers for Democracy, Race, Social Media, Voter ID, Voting Rights, Yo! Philly Votes | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Tags: Civic Engagement, Cost of Freedom App, Cost of Freedom Project, Election Protection, Voter Protection, Voting Rights, Voting Rights Act
The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's voter ID law, Vivian Applewhite, has been issued a PennDOT photo ID.
Ms. Applewhite still does not have the documents voters must produce in order to get a "free" photo ID. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
Nothing has changed since Viviette Applewhite, 93, testified in July. The law stands. She still doesn't have a driver's license or Social Security card. The name on her birth certificate is still different from the name on her other documents - all of which, under the law, should have barred her from getting her photo ID.
Ron Ruman, a Department of State spokesman, said:
PennDot has said all along that they would work with folks on a case-by-case basis.
It's the Applewhite rule:
You just have to keep trying. Don't give up.
Posted at 05:31 PM in 2012 Presidential Election, Black Voters, Black Women Voters, Civic Apps, Civic Engagement, Civic Innovation, Cost of Freedom App, Election '12, Race, Voter ID, Voting Rights, Yo! Philly Votes | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Tags: Civic App, Civic Innovation, Cost of Freedom App, Cost of Freedom Protect, Vivian Applewhite, Voter ID, Voting Rights