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Voting Issues

 

began by telling stories about past elections, in Ohio and Indiana

 

former mayor, spoke about voter suppression

  • defining it to include request for ID
  • excludes those who don't drive, old/young/poor/transportation problems,
  • BOMV is now waaaaay out of town, difficult to get proper ID for a generic photo ID
  • makes system difficult for young voters - heard those kind of complaints from
  • all of this is just to prevent people from voting twice. Has that happened? No, but it does reduce

 

people being challenged were those who registered by mail, and had not shown an ID with address ... "I don't think that's true."

 

Recommendation: go straight to college presidents, talk to state administrators about these issues, service to others

 

Both parties are pretty vigilant here, but ID issue is a targeted suppression.

 

Jim Allison, ret. professor of psychology at IU - unclear about how the ID is the issue, arguments were heard on 18th of October in Chicago (including the judge who was involved in the Microsoft case), decision is coming soon, if it finds the Indidana's ID roles are illegal, then that could take care of it.

 

Is there a prohibition that disallows colleges from being a precinct? ... Precincts by population size. ... suggestion is to allow active students to vote on campus, a "virtual precinct" ... this is what they should be lobbying for.

 

Who should they lobby? state government? ... election law set by state and interpreted by local board of election ... Depends on how you take it. As a legal issue, take it to atty. general. If you think of it as a voter encouragement issue, its a different.

 

(Sophia) How did the early voting go in Terre Haute? Many locations, nice convenience. If colleges are trying to encourage a habit of voting, ... how you form that habit early in life is a good predictor on how you will do it. ... College students won't galvanize over voter suppression. I think they were the only precinct that did this.

 

In Germany, I was allowed to vote, as an American citizen. German citizens very dutifully voting. People here need to be told why they need to vote. ... I would like to see more stress on educating, getting involved ... attitude is that younger people won't be able to sit through all those hours, but they can

 

(Steve) I want to second that. Local Democrats aren't interested in having anyone under the age of 65 working. We had information we could have acted on and done, but it was absolutely forbidden to use young people.

 

(Geoff) We know a lot about people who vote, we know very little about people who don't vote.

 

(Steve) Check the Terre Haute model, but Bloomington is not going to be typical. I don't think the problem is voter suppression

 

If provisional votes are not being counted, then why not? ... It is not our job to make sure to get the ID, but I don't believe in coddling them. They should take responsibility. ... If students don't know what to do, then they much learn it.

 

People move around a lot (particularly young and older voters). We are making it difficult for a person to do what we want them to do. When we want them to do something in other cases, we make it convenient and easy. But in this case, we are making it difficult. ... For someone who has lived in the same place, we know how to do it. It is easy. For someone who does not know where or how, use the machine.

 

How do we know that students are dumb and don't know?

 

Doesn't matter who they are, we should encourage them to vote. As a society, we'll have a better result.

 

In our town, it is students. It is an easy group to target. In other places, it may be blacks or the poor. Suppression seems to be a national plan to drop the vote by 10%, just enough to win.

 

Will they get the Republicans out of the election polls? ...

 

solution: all mail ballot voting, as Oregon does. Send in with signature. You don't have all the precincts set up. Paying people to save there. Start three weeks ahead of election day. discussion with neighbors, collection points ... it finesses so many of the ... Oregon has been doing this for 25 years. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. ... We need to change the law, change Title 3. ... Lean on the state legislature.

 

How do we protect privacy? ... telephone and fax system. ... when you are done, you press a button to verify that your choices are accurate. You get the ballot by fax, and can mail it in.

 

How long do you think it would take us to get this legislation passed? ... No-excuse early ballot really is no-excuse mail-in ballot. ... Early voting is popular. Previous high was 18%. In an off-year election, 23%. ... convenient, can be done on weekends ... some people can go to polls

 

(Geoff) I ran for a non-partisan office ... there is a very small window ... in a partisan election, fewer votes are in play. It is very hard for a non-partisan candidate to get a message out before early voting begins.

 

(Steve) It's better now in Bloomington than 40 years ago. ... You should be able to file much much earlier. ... Don't focus on the disadvantage to the candidate

 

Ask for no-excuse, mail-ballot ... Right now, you have to have an excuse for a mail ballot. The no-excuse system (already in place in many states), you just ask for a ballot and you get it. People will find the convenience, and abandon the polls.

 

College age may be a little too late. Try to do things with younger children. ... Many people brought their young children.

 

Very costly to run an office ... a non-centralized Democratic party fits this community

 

Summary:

  • ID requirement is a form of voter suppression, because it lessens the convenience for a specific group
  • Is this about legality, or about voter encouragement?
  • Oregon mail-ballot system is a good model
  • Research into Terre Haute returns, pointing to Oregon results, about the people who don't vote
  • Any system that relies on technology is going to exclude someone
  • Work at this problem as an educational issue


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