A group called "Washington Citizens for Fair Elections" is hosting a forum in Seattle next Tuesday evening, Jan. 24, on vote-by-mail (and specifically the King County mail-only voting proposal).
WCFE is a non-partisan group, founded mostly but not exclusively by Greens and progressive Democrats. It includes some Republicans too. Although we don't all agree on all political issues, the people I know who are involved with this group have common goals on election reform and are committed to a genuinely fair and honest election system. This group has the potential to become a broad-based coalition of people working together for honest and fair elections. I plan to attend this meeting. Details follow --
Washington Citizens for Fair Elections invites you to our upcoming meeting. The topic will be Vote By Mail: How it works, the mechanics, the benefits, and the risks. It will be very relevant given the proposal to shift King County and the entire state to vote- by-mail. There will be a presentation followed by question and answer discussion.
If you have questions or issues you'd like addressed in the presentation, please submit them to fairelections@julieg.net.
Washington Citizens for Fair Elections is a new, multi-partisan group forming to educate people on issues around elections, and to work for free, fair, transparent, verifiable elections.
Tuesday Jan 24th, 2006 6:00pm - 9:00pm in Room 209
University Heights Center for the Community Center
5031 University Way NE
Seattle, Washington 98105
http://uhcca.org/
Agenda
6:00 Doors Open (Food and drink is potlatch, if you wish to join in.)
6:30 Meet and Greet (Introductions)
7:00 Group Business
7:15 Vote By Mail Presentation
8:00 Q & A
8:30 Wrap up
Is the press and local media, including radio, being strongly urged to attend?
Has Ron Sims been personally invited, so he can be criticized later for refusing to listen to bipartisan concerns?
Has Sam Reed been personally invited to attend?
I'm convinced that the only thing that will prevent an all-mail-fraud system from being imposed in King County is going to be to embarrass and shame Sims and Reed to change their tunes.
An all mail election in King County is not about right and wrong, or what's best for the people of King County, or the fairest and most transparent way to hold an election. This is 100% in support of the Democrats job security strategy.
Posted by: MJC on January 18, 2006 02:29 PMThank you for posting this announcement. I look forward to meeting you.
FYI: Our mailing list is hosted at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wa-fairelections.
I've been trying to learn more about vote by mail. The best resource I've found to date is the Oregon SOS vote by mail site:
http://www.sos.state.or.us/executive/policy-initiatives/vbm/execvbm.htm
There's a bunch of background info, studies, procedures, etc.
I'm still looking for equivalent information about our own state and county.
Cheers, Jason
Posted by: Zappini on January 18, 2006 04:34 PMI thought about inviting King Co council members. I wouldn't object if someone else did. For my part, I'm not ready for the fireworks. I definitely don't feel like I have good enough grasp of the issues and technicalities to start any debates. This elections and voting stuff is like an onion.
Thus far, our grassroots group is firmly in the initial phases of activism: education.
(Last month's meeting about the complexities of elections in King Co was a real eye opener. The combinatorial problem of juridictions, ballots styles, precincts, ballot forms, counting, etc. Our heads were ready to explode.)
Cheers, Jason
It would be nice if Messengers Reed, Sims, and Logan were personally invited to attend this meeting; however, I think the invitation is the responsibility of the WA-Fairelections board.
Posted by: Green Lake Mark on January 18, 2006 07:28 PMThey will present the topic "All Mail voting" in a forum style atmosphere - as an "airing out" of ideas, information and concerns...(which they attempt to marginalize will neutralize..by the way..)
I see this happen in corporations, community councils, etc...when there is opposition to a change that they (in this case - the liberal Dems)are going to implement anyway.
Consensus building is a favorite of the liberal's, progressive's and Karl Marx.....
They will log and analyze your concerns so they will be ready to squash them at the next forum..They will have supporters planted around the forum that will give the false impression that "many" attending the forum are actually "for" the All Mail voting system....
There are some great articles on the strategies of consensus building...I'll have to find some links... It's a completely communist tactic!
Posted by: Deborah on January 19, 2006 12:12 AM
Concensus? What's that?
We plan on taking a straw poll before and after. See if people's opinions change. I doubt the group will reach a joint position. For now, these sessions are primarily educational.
The primary speaker is opposed to 100% vote by mail. I'm trying to make sure someone from the pro camp is on hand.
Right now, I oppose electronic voting (DREs) more than I oppose 100% vote by mail. Not a pleasant choice. I hope to understand the ins and outs better, so that if we're getting vote by mail (regardless), then we can work to mitigate the problems.
Cheers, Jason
Why on earth would you do make this measure if not trying to build a consensus?
"I doubt the group will reach a joint position."
So you admit that you are trying to achieve a "joint position"? As in "Consensus"?
"For now, these sessions are primarily educational."
Which is exactly what you do when you want to gather information from the opposition so you can neutralize it later in your effort to build a false consensus!
When I posted above - I really had doubts about the upcoming forum but wasn't quite sure if I was on the right track.....Your post just confirmed my suspicion.
Classic consensus building! Consensus = communism.