If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you'll see a "Rock the Vote" Voter Registration Widget. Why did I put it at the bottom where nobody sees it? Well, mainly because you can't really register to vote. Rather, you can get somebody to send you a filled out form that still requires you to sign and return it. It's convenient, but not all that effective. But real online voter registration? That would be great.
It's not often that I praise Senator Ron Calderon, but I'll give him credit for putting forward SB 381, a bill that would create real online voter registration. The bill would use the signature from your driver's license or other DMV issued ID card as signature confirmation, if necessary, at the polling place. In addition, you'll have to enter your driver's license #, DOB, and the last four digits of your social security number. That's quite a bit of information, but the old process of voter registration remains available offline.
A few Republicans even supported the measure. It's typically not a very Republican-ish idea to welcome new voters, but in the Elections committee, Ams. Niello and Adams decided that with all the security measures they could get behind it. Not so for the Appropriations committee, where the vote went party-line style. Asm. Doug LaMalfa goes back to the voter fraud meme in order to get in on the voter suppression act:
"My main concern is that voting security is not tight enough as it is and allowing online registration won't help," said Assemblyman Doug La Malfa, R-Biggs (Butte County), who voted against the bill in committee. "We should set a high bar for people looking to vote and there are already a lot of fake IDs out there."(SF Chronicle 7/30/08)
And there's your fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans realize that the greater the voter turnout, the worse the results for them. Democrats, on the other hand, want to facilitate the process of democracy by allowing California citizens to vote. The choice is clear: build walls or escalators. I think it's clear that for the process of democracy, we should be building those escalators to the voting booth.
The only remaining question is if we can do this, why can't we do same-day voter registration? Same-day registration has worked in seven other states. And guess what, the top five states in voter turnout are among them. I understand that it would cost some money to implement, and take some time. But, who can really be against making it easier for us to vote? Oh that's right, Doug LaMalfa doesn't want to welcome new voters, he wants to build some nice gated community walls around our polling places.
Eric Bauman is going to raise $1 million dollars for 2008. The best part is how he's going to spend it.
Last night, members of the Los Angeles County Central Committee raised their hands to take an oath of office from Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, and took to electing Party officers. Among them was Chairman Eric Bauman, unanimously re-elected to a fifth term.
I'm told that's a record. From his words last night, it's easy to see why.
Bauman has been singled out here as someone who speaks his mind and knows the mechanics of electioneering, even when his opinions and techniques run against the grain of some Democratic leaders.
He showed what he's made of in thanking the Central Committee and looking ahead to 2008 - and perhaps beyond:
Now is the time to rebuild, refresh and reassemble the mosaic that comprises our Democratic Party for it is only through unity, strength and shared purpose that we can be successful this fall.
As we work to build unity however, we must take seriously our responsibility to remind those we have elected or put in positions of power of their obligation to do the right thing by our Party and our people.
Whether it is protecting those most at-risk from harsh budget cuts or standing up for our Constitution or avoiding situations and actions that have the appearance of impropriety, as leaders of our Party, we must not fear holding feet to the fire and speaking truth to power.
If we truly are leaders, we must act like it: respectfully, responsibly, but fearlessly.
Who else senses a little tough love in there?
What I find interesting about Bauman's leadership of the LACDP is not just his (sadly uncommon) willingness to speak truth to power, but how he marshalls forces and resources on the ground to help candidates up and down the ballot, even in those districts often written off as unwinnable.
After the jump I'll share what I heard last night (and from Bauman separately), and what I've seen him do to build and strengthen the Democratic Party in Los Angeles County.
DaDonGate has been receiving all of the attention this week, but Assemblyman Fabian Nunez apparently decided he wanted some of the limelight:
A campaign committee set up to boost Democratic voter registration has transferred $600,000 into a committee controlled by former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.
The payment from the Voter Registration 2008 Committee to Nunez's Committee to Protect California's Future , was dated July 2, just one day into the new filing period for political contributions.
The shift of funds marks the latest infusion of cash into a committee controlled by Nunez. After the 2005 special election, the California Democratic Party paid $4 million into a Nunez-controlled committee.
Nunez will be termed out of office in November. He has not made public any future political plans. Under state rules, he could choose to spend the money without limits on a statewide initiaitve campaign, or he could transfer portions of the money to a campaign for future office, subject to state contribution limits.
"I don't know what's going to happen with that money, but we need it today for registration," said Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Montebello. "Without knowing what the circumstances surrounding that transfer, it looks like it's no longer available for voter registration. That's a problem."
In somewhat related news, Assemblyman Nunez also scored some ink today when the LA Times editorial board wrote he was enhancing, "the suspicion that a lawmaker's real bosses are the special interests that make contributions and expect something in return, and not the constituents back home who send the lawmaker to Sacramento and whose taxes supposedly pay the salaries."
How many new Democrats do you think could be registered with $600,000?
I had a voter registration event posted on my.barackobama.com on the 4th and it was a great experience. It got a post about it on the main Obama blog, where they even used a lot of my writeup about why I'm doing voter registration. I have to say, as someone who's never used the MySpace or the Facebook, that using MyBO was super easy for setting up and managing the event.
I encourage you all to use it, particularly because there's a lot of crossover with what other folks are doing. I'm hoping to help match up people who are on MyBO with events that the local Dem club is doing (Torrance) and to help Debbie Cook in the race just next door on the Palos Verdes peninsula in CA-46.
I really wish I'd seen the picture of the awesome sign in this post before my event. It was used in Colorado, but it could be used just as easily in California. Our group were really only pushing registration/re-registering, but we could have also gone for perm. absentee registrations, volunteer recruitment, and better visibility for the campaign. Next time...
If you're in the South Bay and want to get involved in voter reg, please let me know. pdandpb AT earthlinkDOTnet.
The level of douchebaggery exhibited by the California Republican Party is astounding. The SacBee reports that a recent bill brought before the state assembly would seek to allow 16 and 17 year olds to "pre-register" to vote, making them automatically eligible to vote when they turn 18. Not a single Republican voted in favor of the bill, and many seem to have over-exerted themselves in trying to explain why it's such a bad idea:
The bill passed the Assembly and was sent to the Senate last month on a party-line vote, 45-31, with no GOP support.
Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, criticized the bill as a Democratic power play.
"For all their sweet-tongue talk about doing what's right for the country, that's baloney," Adams said.
"The truth is, when you're young you tend to think like a liberal," he said. "As you get older and wiser ... you tend to become more conservative."
Aside from the fact that the last statement is utter nonsense (pdf), how cynical, and how wrapped up in your own personal power do you need to be before you can make these statements without a little piece of your soul dying with them? I know that Republicans like to suppress the vote, but I never expected them to be so blatant about their motives. Usually they at least try to cloak it in their own "baloney" about "voter fraud" or some other fantasy menace.
One of Assemblyman Adam's GOP colleagues was more subtle:
Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, said his opposition to AB 1819 has nothing to do with partisan politics. The state should excite teenagers about voting, not play a useless numbers game by amassing forms from disinterested students who can't cast ballots for two years, he said.
"(I want) to have a citizenry that is informed, engaged and interested," Niello said. "If you have that, they'll register to vote - and they'll vote."
So the state should "excite teenagers about voting" (whatever that means), but shouldn't actually allow them to register to vote. If the state GOP really believes that youth will naturally vote Democrat (not necessarily a given; see: Ronald Reagan), in what way is this not playing the numbers game?
The state should do whatever it can to increase registration rates among all voters, including youth who participate at lower rates precisely because many lack a valid registration. Anything else is playing politics with the voting rights of the electorate.
The Secretary of State has come out with her revised registration numbers, broken down by county, Congressional district, Senate district and Assembly district. I'm sure our resident numerologists will break down the numbers more closely, but here are some quick thoughts:
• There are 16,123,787 registered voters in the state, about 70% of those eligible. Democrats have a 1.8 million-vote advantage, and by percentages that translates into 43.75%-32.53%, with 19.4% decline to state. Those are significant increases in Democrats and more significant losses in Republicans from 2004.
• The room to run for Democrats is in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. They have among the lowest registration rates in the state (only Tulare and Yuba counties have lower percentages than Riverside), and they are among the fastest-growing populations. We're actually within 5,000 votes of having a plurality of Democrats in San Bernardino County.
• CA-03 is now less than 4% difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans have a mere 15,000-vote lead. This is a huge opportunity. Republicans still hold an 8,000-vote advantage in CA-11, but that's dropping. We're within 19,000 votes in CA-45 and with a big voter registration drive I think that's reachable.
• SD-12 is Democratic by a 47%-35% count, and SD-15 is Democratic by a 40.5%-36% number. SD-19, the district Hannah-Beth Jackson is trying to flip, is within 10,000 votes.
• AD-80 looks to be in real good shape (46.5%-35.6%), though the participation there could be better. AD-78 is a 10-point advantage for Democrats, and AD-15 is now plurality Democratic by 3,000 votes. AD-10 is within less than 5,000 votes.
I expect that we would see a surge in Democratic registration due to the presidential primary, but did not think it would be quite this good. We now have reversed the trend of dropping our share due to the rise of the DTS stats and have a greater share of the electorate registered as Democrats now, compared to four years ago. It is small, but compared to the dwindling Republican numbers it is impressive.
Keep in mind that voters did not have to register as Democrats to participate in the Democratic primary.
The overall voter registration numbers have grown to 16.1 million, a growth of a million voters since the 2004 primary. The growth actually increased the percentage of eligible voters who are registered to vote from 68.96% in 2004 to 70% now.
This really would be better in a formal table, but I just grabbed it from Secretary Bowen's press release. Fixed by Brian.
In order to rise from a relative unknown who lost to Chicago legend Bobby Rush in 2000 to the cusp of a Presidential nomination today, Barack Obama did not only have to court all elements of the varied coalitions that rule over politics in Chicago, he had to build the pie of voters large enough to be someone all those coalitions wanted to rally behind. In 1992, Obama, working as a community organizer, registered 150,000 residents throughout Chicago to vote in what ended up being a landmark election, as Carol Moseley Braun became the first female African-American ever elected to the US Senate.
This weekend I attended an Obama Vote for Change rally in South LA which ended up registering 615 new voters. It was one of over 100 events all over the country; here's a report of another one in Birmingham, Alabama. Over 400 volunteers attended the Los Angeles event, heard from a few speakers, were trained in voter registration (most of them were doing it for the first time), and sent out into the surrounding area. Now, 600-some new voters in the LA area isn't going to sway much politically or ensure an already-fairly-assured Democratic victory in California. But it does build the tent, not only for the general election but beyond. I've written at length about how Obama's gamble is to build an electorate that's so big that he has a serious, almost insurmountable advantage for both his election and his agenda. A nationwide effort maximizes resources, keeps that army of volunteers excited and doing work, and builds that base to be dispatched for the general election. In addition to voter registration, the volunteers were signing up registered voters to volunteer later in the campaign. We could see a million people on the ground all across the country in November. That's special - and different.
John Kerry outsourced the field and mobilization to ACT and other outside groups and it was a stupid way to go. Obama thinks he has a better idea that will work long beyond the election, and I support that aspect of it. I worry about his shutting out the outside groups that have come out of the progressive movement since Bush's first election, but I will note that yesterday's event was at the campaign offices of Mark Ridley-Thomas, a progressive running for LA County Supervisor, and the event in Huntington Beach doubled as the kickoff event for Congressional candidate Debbie Cook. So there is a layering effect, where the local candidates are benefiting from Obama's work at the national level.
The turnout numbers for the presidential primary were absolutely insane. The official numbers from Secretary Bowen state that 74.26% of registered Democrats in California cast ballots. Now that isn't totally accurate because that includes the DTS voters who pulled Democratic ballots. The real number is expected to be closer to 65%. But even that number is striking. Tim Herdt has a great column today on how this is part of a shift to Democrats larger than just this one election.
Those numbers suggest that Republicans can no longer count on a voter-turnout advantage that in the past has helped GOP candidates overcome the party's minority status in voter registration.
"Republicans have almost always done better because they have the people who always vote," said Republican analyst Tony Quinn. "But this year you had the reverse."
To some degree, the numbers reflect the unusual excitement arising from the contentious nomination battle between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, an unsettled battle that may linger until the Democratic convention in August. That historic contest helps explain - but does not fully account for - the enormous disparity between the 5.1 million votes cast for Democratic candidates in the state Feb. 5 and 2.8 million cast for Republicans.
Quinn, co-publisher of a data book that breaks down every political district in the state, says the Democrats' February surge in turnout is the continuation of a trend.
It has been conventional wisdom in California that since Republicans outperform their voter registration, compared to Democrats that the voter registration gap is not as significant as it appears. That appears to be changing.
XPosted 2/16/2008 3:08 PM PST on MyDesert.com in the BluePalmSpringsBoyz blog
The California Secretary of State has released the most recent Report of Registration as of January 22, 2008 by State Assembly District. The picture looks bleak for local Republicans as registration figures for the Yacht and Country Club Party are decreasing while that for local proud, progressive Democrats and their supporters are increasing. This does not portend well for the presumptive Republican candidate, Gary Jeandron.
In the CA 80th Assembly District, there are now 168,497 registered voters. This includes 52,367 voters in the Imperial County portion of the district and 116,130 in the Riverside County area.
Democrats now have 28,542 registered voters in Imperial County and 48,429 in Riverside County for a total of 76,971 registered voters. Democrats now consist of 45.68% of the overall voter registration in the 80th Assembly District.
On Monday, the California Democratic Party will send its latest message to Independent (Decline to State) voters notifying them that they are eligible to vote for the Democratic candidates in Tuesday's presidential primary. Two separate emails will be sent to approximately 195,000 DTS voters.
One email will go to regular DTS voters and explain the process for obtaining a Democratic ballot at their polling place. The other email will be sent to DTS Permanent Absentee Voters, letting them know that if they have a non-partisan ballot that they haven't yet returned, they can take it to their polling place and exchange it for a Democratic ballot.
November 1, 2007 - Palm Springs Village Fest Voter Registration and Candidate Information Tabling at Palm Canyon & Arenas, Palm Springs, CA, Thursday nights from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. (Adult beverages enjoyed thereafter at the local pubs).
Hot desert nights and progressive, Support-the-Troops/Stop-the-Insanity Democrats. Milling crowds of locals, visitors, and voters. I was able to discuss my letter-to-the-editor in today's Desert Sun with the other progressive Democrats at Village Fest. The theme of my letter was the incompetence of Bush and Mary Bono R-45 and the expecancy that their promises re helping the victims of the Southern California wild fires are probably empty given nature of the promises made to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Years following Hurricane Katrina, and New Orleans, a great American city, and the Gulf Coast remain devastated.
The Democratic clubs were well represented as usual with Desert Stonewall Democrats staffing one table thanks to George Zander, President of the Club, Bob Silverman, Treasurer, Bill Gonzalez, and Randy. The Democrats of the Desert staffed another table thanks to Eleanor, and the Palm Springs Democrats staffed another table as well.
Hopefully, we will see visits from Greg Pettis, Steve Pougnet Mayor-elect of Palm Springs, John Williams, City Councilman-elect of Palm Springs, and Rick Hutcheson, City Councilman-elect of Palm Springs at the next Village Fest. Remember, Tuesday is Election Day. You must vote on Tuesday or have your Vote-by-Mail postmarked by then to make a difference in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley!
More exciting details below the flip...
October 25, 2007 - Palm Springs Village Fest Voter Registration and Candidate Information Tabling at Palm Canyon & Arenas, Palm Springs, CA, Thursday nights from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. (Adult beverages enjoyed thereafter at the local pubs).
Temperate desert nights and progressive, Support-the-Troops/End-the-War Democrats. Large crowds of locals, visitors, voters and refugees from the Southern California fire storms surrounded the tables. Many people from the mountain resorts, coastal cities, and San Diego County attended Village Fest. One family donated funds for John Edwards' campaign materials and the young daughter nabbed an Edwards button to wear! German tourists from Laguna Beach sought refuge in Palm Springs from the smell of the smoke and the haze. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families deeply affected by the Santa Anas.
Here is the flier that I distributed at Village Fest:
Question: Who provides support and protection during National crises?
Answer: The National Guard
Question: Where is 50% of the California National Guard and its supplies?
Answer: Iraq
Question: Who is responsible?
Answer: George W. Bush, the most incompetent President in U.S. history.
Question: Who refuses to accept responsibility?
Answer: George W. Bush (I guess in some respects, Bush is the answer.)
The Democratic clubs were well represented as usual with Desert Stonewall Democrats staffing one table thanks to George Z, President and Bob S. The Democrats of the Desert staffed another table thanks to Eleanor, and the Palm Springs Democrats staffed another table as well.
Greg Pettis, Mayor Pro-tem of Cathedral City and Candidate for CA 80th Assembly District, spent two fun hours at the Democratic Club tables in order to raise awareness about his plans for the campaign and the 80th AD. His visit came close on the heels of his endorsement of former-Sen. John Edwards for President 2008. April Hildner, of No on C, discussed the massive funding by the proponents of C for advertising. We wonder where that money is from.
Hopefully, we will see visits from Pettis, Steve Pougnet Candidate for Mayor of Palm Springs, John Williams, Candidate for City Council of Palm Springs, and Rick Hutcheson, Candidate for City Council of Palm Springs.
Bob Mahlowitz showed at last night's Village Fest in Palm Springs to hand out fliers to the crowd and to meet-and-greet. Bob was quite personable and responded favorably when I teased him about being a closeted Heterosexual (thanks for the laugh earlier this week, Beth!).
More below the flip including an informal Drinking Liberally meet.
So I live in the South Bay area, around San Jose. And with the election coming up, I've been trying to figure out how to get involved. I think this next election is going to be really important, and I think almost the most important part is going to be the primary-- the Democrats are in a really good position coming in this time, so it seems to me the most important thing is that the person chosen to represent the Democrats in the Presidential election is the best person for the job and the person that Democratic voters can be the most enthusiastic about.
I personally think the best way to do that is if we nominate Barack Obama-- and I've been thinking I'd like to do whatever I can to help make that happen, even if it isn't much. I'm particularly interested in volunteering to help register new and young voters for the primary-- both because I think that will tend to help Obama in the primary, and also because voter registration is something that has real positive benefit even if none of the people signing up agree with me that Obama is the best candidate. However, I'm not sure how to go about volunteering, either to help register new voters or in any other way.
So, I was wondering if I could tap the impressive organizational resources of Calitics to ask: What resources are there for a young person in the San Jose/South Bay area to volunteer for progressive causes, especially if it would involve voter registration or the Barack Obama campaign?
I signed up for some kind of "Walk for Obama" thing this weekend, and the particular sub-event I'm going to is being run by a group named "San Jose Obama Voter Registration/Tabling" that actually seems to be exactly what I was looking for, so I will probably wind up getting involved with that group. However I was wondering if there were other options in this area as well.
A new proposal from Assembyman Joe Coto (D-San Jose) would require high school students to register to vote in order to receive their diplomas. The Secretary of State says that roughly 30% of elgible voters in California aren't registered, and the article relates speculation (without numbers, natch) that this gap is larger among younger voters.
Republicans, in their kneejerk, disenfranchising way, have already begun to blast the proposal, claiming that it's politically motivated since young people tend to vote for Democrats. They've also put forth the lame objection that just getting people registered doesn't mean they'll actually vote, so why bother, fretting that "Voting is a right, not a requirement" (Anthony Adams, R-Monrovia).
(One of the ways redistricting would be good for us is to increase turnout. higher turnout=more Dem victories. - promoted by SFBrianCL)
The AP reported Monday that 2006 turnout in California was the second lowest in state history, just falling short of the record low of 2002. This is especially distressing since it comes in a year that saw some states match or exceed presidential-year turnout and since 2006 should have been a year which provided California Democrats a great reason to show up- knocking off Arnold Schwarzenegger. So I have several problems with this state of affairs on the flip, and I'm sure everyone else has their favorite gripes as well.
Think of this as a follow up post to Matt Stoller's post that touched on wasted money in CA, why we came close too losing a seat and why Arnold's landslide victory didn't come with coattails.
In the year and a half I have spent out here in California I have learned a lot of things. One of the biggest lesson is that politics is just bigger here, especially the money. $646,091,654 was hauled in by all campaigns in California this year alone. One person can give $100,000 to governors races. Anyone with $1 million can pay people to gather signatures and get an initiative on the ballot. Once it is up there they can collect unlimited sums to pass it.
Yeah, I know all of this sounds like an endorsement for Prop. 89, but it isn't. That initiative was way before its time and tried to do to much at once. The way to campaign finance reform in California is public financing of elections that does not just rely on corporate taxes to finance it. Reforming the ballot process needs to be dealt with separately. The attempt this year to do both at the same time and make corporations pay the biggest burden allowed way to many people who should be endorsing public financing to work for its defeat. It should help kick off a discussion of the next attempt at reform, but that was not the vehicle. It will take a number of years of coalition building to get it passed.
The other major thing I have learned, particularly this year is that the California Democratic Party is pretty ineffective. Here is the Courage Campaign's Rick Jacobs writing over at the insider CA Majority Report.
