Obama Launches Vote For Change, A Massive 50-State Registration Drive

Hey fam, sorry for such a late post. I've been traveling and am in San Fran for the weekend. If you want to meetup, I'm holding "office hours" Sunday afternoon in The Mission. Details here. Would be nice to put a face to some of your names.

Now, on to business.

I am relieved to begin the shift from primary to general election mode. With the Wrath Of The Math having been determined by voters in March and accepted by the media this week, with Rasmussen concluding there's no point (or money) in polling Clinton vs. Obama, with Hillary somehow one-upping her race-baiting beyond even my wildest dreams, let's move on.

One of the things I've appreciated most about Obama is his first-hand experience with and respect for grassroots organizing. I've been a part of it firsthand in VA, TX and PA, and this weekend, his campaign takes it up another notch with an unprecedented, massive, 50-state voter registration drive: Vote For Change

For those who didn't know, Obama ran ProjectVote in Illinois many years ago. Check this video for some background.

Here's the campaign's description of Vote For Change

On May 10th, Barack Obama is launching Vote for Change, an unprecedented 50-state voter registration and mobilization drive. More than 100 events will be held across the country that day. Obama volunteers will register new voters as the start of a six-month voter registration drive.

We can change Washington if more Americans get involved, get registered and show up to vote on November 4th. If millions of new voters get involved, a powerful message will be sent to the special interests that dominate the old politics. This is an important time to find more people in your community to register to vote. To attend a May 10th Vote for Change launch event in your area, click on your state above.

Recent voter registration drives have registered more than 200,000 new Democrats in Pennsylvania, more than 165,000 new Democrats in North Carolina, and more than 150,000 new Democrats in Indiana. Those numbers just scratch the surface of what's possible.

If you're a Democrat living abroad, you're included too!

Obama will run circles around John McCain. He's putting his effort where his mouth is and has already proven an ability to engage new people in the political process. What's starting tomorrow has the potential to be huge. Wherever you are, consider being a part of it.

There are millions of us who want more from our government and our politicians and more from ourselves. Help take that step and get involved. At a minimum, you'll meet some neighbors. That's how some revolutions got started. :)

Head to the Vote For Change site, and see what's up in your area tomorrow and beyond.

Register To Vote Directly From Facebook

Go here and Digg it. This country needs many new people in the process.

Prairie View A&M Students March for Voting Rights

Hat tip: Roland S. Martin (WVON-AM, 1690)

From The Houston Chronicle:

Thousands march in Prairie View for voting rights
By HELEN ERIKSEN
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

PRAIRIE VIEW — More than 1,000 Prairie View A&M students turned out today to march in support of their voting rights.

The marchers said Prairie View student voting rights have been suppressed for decades in Waller County.

The protesters carried "Register to Vote" signs and wore black shirts with the slogan, "It is 2008 and we will vote".

"I was angry after registering to vote in the 2006 election only to be turned away at the voting booth," said sophomore Dee Dee Williams.

The march began at 9 a.m. as the protesters left the campus on the seven-mile journey to the Waller County Courthouse in Hempstead.

Students, local leaders, civil rights activists and elected officials took part in the march. Police estimated the total crowd at about 2,000 people..

"These are wonderful kids. They are making a statement, until they spoke up there was only one early voting place in the entire county. They spoke up but everyone is benefiting from what they are doing,'' said Prairie View Mayor Frank Johnson.

Last week, under pressure from the federal government, Waller County officials added three temporary polling places for early voting, ditching plans to open only one voting site in advance of the March 4 primary.

The Justice Department questioned the county's January decision to cut early-voting sites from a half dozen throughout the county to just one in Hempstead. The county's about-face came on the same day that critics announced a mass march to the polls next week.

Early voting begins today.

Waller County has faced numerous lawsuits involving voting rights in the past 30 years and remains under investigation by the Texas Attorney General's Office based on complaints by local black leaders. Those allegations, concerning the November 2006 general election, related to voting machine failures, inadequate staffing and long delays for voting results.

Good for them. I heard one of the young women organizing this on the radio this morning, and it was obvious that they had been targeted many times, but they were standing up TOGETHER this time as a community.

There's something about that picture that makes you mad and smile at the same time.

John Conyers Moves To Block Vote Caging

John Conyers (D-MI) is attempting to neutralize the GOP vote supression tactic known as "vote caging," where Republicans target vulnerable voters using mailings an individual has to sign for to determine if an address is valid, and then challenging the registrations of voters who don't respond. Republicans have attempted to disenfranchise thousands of black voters using the tactic. TPM has provided the text of the bill, but hopefully they won't mind if I use their bullet points.

Via TPM:

* Provides that the right to register to vote or vote shall not be denied by election officials if the denial is based on voter caging and other questionable challenges not corroborated by independent evidence.

* Prohibits persons other than election officials from challenging a voter’s eligibility based on voter caging and other questionable challenges.

* Requires that any voter challenge by persons other than election officials be based on personal, first-hand knowledge.

* Designates voter-caging and other questionable challenges intended to disqualify eligible voters as felonies, crimes eligible for fines up to $250,000, five years imprisonment, or both.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both signed on to a similar version of the bill in the Senate. It's worth noting however, that Obama stood up to block career vote suppressor von Spakovsky from being named to the Federal Election Commission, a decision he is now getting considerable flak for because it's holding up the ethics reforms he was pushing.

I'm glad Barack Obama prevented the appointment of someone who has spent his entire career trying to keep black people from voting to a government body that is in charge of regulating election law. I think Obama has his priorities right; no one who has worked to deny American citizens their right to vote should be given more authority to regulate that right, in the name of "efficiency".

Ohio, Florida -- Race, Voting and the 2008 Elections

Barack Obama's victory in Iowa yesterday is heartening and historic. Can't say that a tear didn't spark in even this bitter, cynical old eye of mine listening to his speech. Still, my other eye is turned to the future while reveling in the exciting present.

I've been wondering to myself the past few weeks, now if I was an unemployed Karl Rove twiddling my thumbs at home, what would I be doing? Well, I'd probably be taking a look at the electoral voting map of the U.S. and wondering where I can sow the seeds of another surprise GOP victory in 2008.

Now the numbers appear very much stacked against a Republican victory in 2008 and Democrats would appear to be poised to scoop up many races including president, house, senate and governor. Still it's at least still possible yet that we may end up with another close race where votes counted on a razor's edge can tip the balance of electoral votes and the race for president in one jackpot key state alone.

Rove and the RNC masterminded dirty tricks to make voting difficult for African-Americans and/or make sure their votes wouldn't be counted in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in 2004. This strategy has been successful -- why wouldn't the Republicans try it again in 2008 to game the odds a little more in their favor?

Here's what those 2 purple states have in common -- they have large African-American populations (12% or higher) that have little political power or capital in their home states and they each carried 20 or more electoral votes. Ohio has 20 votes and Florida, 27.

Let's take a look at the jackpot states with 20 or more electoral votes at stake:

CA: 55
TX: 34
NY: 31
FL: 27
PA: 21
IL: 21
OH: 20

Texas is a reliably red state and a Bush stronghold. Yet it is also just over 12% African-American according to the 2005 Census and Obama has just proven that even in the one of the whitest of states, he can generate new voters and create crossover voters from Republican to Democrat. If I was a GOP leader, I'd start getting concerned about what a truly energized black vote in TX might look like combined with the crossover and new voter effects. Could a red state be at risk of turning blue?

The minority political power in TX is focused more on the latino community (which is multiracial). Hispanics of any race make up 35% of the population in TX. The GOP seems less likely to mess with them.

The African-Americans, as in FL and OH, are conveniently segregated in East Texas where the cotton plantations used to be along with strong numbers in