posted on November 9, 2006 08:59:25 AM
From a friend in Florida who has an online newsletter, this idea may not be new--but it's worth spreading as far and wide as we can. Our son in the Bay Area just heard from someone who did this for 13 new voters. ~Adele
"The election is nearly over and the Democrats did well, but across the country there were likely as many as five million voters -- and their votes -- suppressed by Republican intimidation and fraud. That likely includes a fair share from Florida. Those suppressed are almost all Democratic voters whom we should have had this year and may need a lot more in 2008.
"Democrats could respond with our own dirty tricks, trying to intimidate likely Republican voters, but that is not our style and, let's face it, not likely to succeed with a Republican constituency far from the poor, the uneducated, and the minority.
"So, how do we make sure all Democrats who want to vote can vote. I propose a BUDDY SYSTEM.
"It would work this way: First, the Party in each state/county identifies voters who are most likely to be targets of Republican intimidation and fraud: deregistration/reregistration, voter ID confrontations, "spoilage," and uncounted provisional ballots. We know who they are; the Republicans have already identified them: the poor, the uneducated, and especially older African American and other minority voters -- who are many times also poor and uneducated. We can find them by neighborhood, among people who were once but are no longer registered, and among those who are not listed as having voted in recent elections.
"Then, the Party assigns no more than five people to a "buddy" whose job is to make and keep contact with these voters over at least a two-year period, assuring that they are registered where they live; have proper identification; understand how to use the voting process; and get to the polls for early voting, absentee, or day of the election voting. Often the buddy might drive his and her voters to the polls and see them through the process. Ideally, the buddy would live fairly near, even in the same neighborhood. Some heroic buddies might take more than five but the idea would be to develop a connection and spread the work among as many as possible.
"This plan is workable on the ground, could be a lot of fun, and would surely lead to a good deal of cross-cultural knowledge for buddies and voters who are significantly divergent in backgrounds!"
Ron Woodbury
[email protected]
[ edited by roadsmith on Nov 9, 2006 09:00 AM ]
