Saturday, November 01, 2014

MoveOn member,

We're down to the final stretch, the ninth inning, the fourth quarter--there's no more time to waste.

From my perch over at Daily Kos, a vibrant, online community of liberal-minded bloggers, I see A LOT of polls. 

I read A LOT of news and analysis. 

And frankly, I've been around long enough to have witnessed A LOT of close elections.

Let me be clear: This isn't a wave election—for either party. It's a 50-50 race and the victor will be the team that works the hardest to win.

That's why when my campaigns team said we needed to join a high-impact get-out-the-vote effort like MoveOn's Voters Rising campaign, I didn't need any convincing—and neither did the thousands of Daily Kos community members who've been calling voters this month.

Now we're down to the final stretch, the ninth inning, the fourth quarter—and every other sports metaphor you can think of. My point: there's no more time to waste. 
 
If you've been waiting till the last minute—it's here. And I'm asking you not to let it go by without signing up right now to call voters and help save the Senate.

Yes, there have been highs and lows, but this election is a total toss-up. That's why I've been saying for months that any liberal or progressive whose main message to you is that we're "doomed" is off their rocker. 

Not only are they wrong—but they're probably making it less likely that good people like you will sign up to volunteer. Because really, who wants to join a team that's already lost?

Well the good news is that we aren't doomed—and we won't be if we leave everything on the table between now and Election Day.

Democratic candidates in Michigan and Oregon looked vulnerable once upon a time—now they're pulling ahead. Races in South Dakota and Kentucky had looked unwinnable for us—but today they're well within reach.

Our ability to get out the vote will make all the difference this election, plain and simple. 

That's why I'm asking you today to volunteer for the Voters Rising campaign.

Sign up to call the voters who we need to show up on Election Day, and get them to make a pledge to vote for our candidates.

Remember: A Republican takeover of the Senate would be devastating. It would empower Speaker John Boehner and his Tea Party majority to act even crazier, and it would grind President Obama's executive and judicial nominations to a halt.

We can't let this happen!

Keep fighting, 
 
Markos Moulitsas
Founder and Publisher, Daily Kos

14 Signs a Country is Veering Into Fascism

#12. Elections Stolen  

Fraudulent elections--In the disordered time as fascists are rising to power, the electoral arena becomes increasingly confusing, corrupted, and manipulated.

There is rising public cynicism and distrust over what are widely believed to be phony elections manipulated by moneyed influence, obvious media bias, smear campaigns, ballot tampering, judicial interference, intimidation, or outright assassination of potential opposition. Fascists in power have been known to use this disorder as the rationale to delay elections indefinitely.

WE ARE NOT THE 1%!
******
WE ARE THE MIDDLE CLASS!
NOV. 4th
VOTE YOUR
BEST INTEREST!
******
VOTE
DEMOCRATIC!

Will the Dems Prevail?
With only 4 days to go, a number of Senate races are extremely tight. The latest polling shows that things are way too close to call for Bruce Braley in Iowa and Sen. Mark Begich in Alaska--which means we still have time to save the Senate.

In fact, all across the country, our (Howard) Dean Dozen candidates are gaining ground in the homestretch: Polls show Mark Schauer moving into a statistical tie with Tea Party Governor Rick Snyder. Gov. Pat Quinn is holding on to a small but solid lead in Illinois. And others, like Mary Burke in Wisconsin, are still within striking distance.

It is going to take all of the people power we can muster to put these great Democrats over the top. Right now, Democracy for America members are doing amazing grassroots GOTV work with each and every campaign we've endorsed. They're making tens of thousands of calls through DFA Dialer every day to turn out voters in these tight races.

The pundits on FOX (Fiction) News say Democrats are DOOMED this year. They're taking victory laps before most people have even had the chance to vote.

For the final four days of this election, DFA is ramping up its GOTV program around the clock. We're keeping DFA Dialer open all day, every day, so that volunteers from across the nation can call into all of the hottest, most important races in the country from now until the second the polls close.

Turnout operations as big as the one DFA wants to run can have massive effects on close races--a strong GOTV program can increase Democratic turnout by as much as 3%. That kind of movement puts a lot of races into play.

We've always known that the most powerful thing in politics isn't money, it's the work that volunteers like you do to connect with voters. Now, with DFA Dialer, our volunteers can unleash that power around the clock in states from Maine to Alaska, giving our Dean Dozen the edge they need to WIN.



Dr. Francys Johnson with the NAACP leads an occupation of the Georgia State Capitol to protest voter suppression.
Dr. Francys Johnson with the NAACP leads an occupation of the Georgia State Capitol to protest voter suppression.

October 28, 2014, Atlanta, Georgia—On Tuesday, Judge Christopher Brasher of the Fulton County Superior Court denied a petition from civil rights advocates to force Georgia’s Secretary of State to process an estimated 40,000 voter registrations that have gone missing from the public database.

Though early voting is well underway in the state, Judge Brasher called the lawsuit “premature,” and said it was based on “merely set out suspicions and fears that the [state officials] will fail to carry out their mandatory duties.”

Angela Aldridge, an organizer with the group 9 to 5 Atlanta Working Women who has been working to register voters for several months, told ThinkProgress she was “furious” when she learned of the outcome.

 “That impedes people’s rights,” she said.

“People need information before they go out to vote and they don’t even know if they’re registered or not.

They were discouraged, upset, kind of frazzled, not really knowing what was going on.

What can you even say to people who want to vote but possibly can’t?

They might get disengaged and say, ‘Why vote?

It doesn’t matter.’

It’s really disheartening.”


The New Georgia Project, who spearheaded the voter registration drive and brought the lawsuit against the state, vowed Tuesday to “continue to pursue all legal avenues available.”

But with the election mere days away, there may be little remedy for the tens of thousands of people who submitted all necessary documents, but have still not received a registration card.

Four of those impacted voters were present at the court hearing, but were denied the opportunity to testify.

Dr. Francys Johnson, President of the Georgia NAACP, who represented the 40 thousand voters in the court, called the ruling “outrageous.”

“All in all–a Republican appointed judge has backed the republican Secretary of State to deny the right to vote to a largely African American and Latino population,” Johnson wrote in a press release.

On Monday, dozens of Georgians occupied the Secretary of State's office to demand he meet with them and explain what happened to the tens of thousands of missing registrations.

At that protest, in which eight activists were arrested, former American Government teacher and civil rights lawyer Marsha Burrofsky told ThinkProgress she suspects foul play.

“When we started registering people this spring, people were saying, ‘You know, I registered six months ago, but I haven’t gotten anything yet!’

We thought that was strange,” she said.

So we sat down with our list of registrations and checked, and about 20 to 20 percent were not showing up.

We truly don’t know where things stand with them.”

Burrofsky said the people she registered in Dunwoody, Georgia, a more affluent and conservative community, did show up in the system, while those in more diverse and low-income communities in DeKalb County mysteriously disappeared.

“It just hadn’t occurred to me that this would be a tactic that the Secretary of State could use.

I was very naive, I guess.

I feel absolutely sick that this election is being stolen,” she said.

With the races for the state’s governor’s mansion and Senate seat too close to call, the missing voters could not only sway the political control of the state, but the political control of Congress’ upper chamber.

Aldridge, who has spent several months registering voters in Fulton and Cobb County, told ThinkProgress that it is imperative to increase participation in marginalized communities so that elected officials better represent the constituents.

“I don’t believe that the government represents the whole state yet,” she said.

“The politicians always say, ‘These are our values.’

But it has nothing to do with my personal values!

That’s why we have to get out to vote, to make sure our state represents our values.”

Longtime Atlanta resident Atuarra McCaslin with Moral Monday Georgia, who organized Monday’s action, summed up his feelings on the situation.

“It’s an unjust thing going on, he said.

“Those 40,000 now can’t participate in the voting process, even though it’s their right as citizens. The Secretary of State doesn’t really care about those 40,000 people, who are primarily people of color and youth.

Those kids have been waking up politically, and now their voices are going unheard. It’s just not right.”