The Hot Sheet

New polling place camera ban is bad for election protection

No cell phones, no cameras, a new ban in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties is keeping all cameras out because they will “distract” first-time voters.

This will make election protection efforts, like VideoYourVote, a lot more difficult.

Terry Griffin, Western PA Field Organizer, and Liz Rincon, Executive State Director for the PA League spoke on the drawbacks of this ban…see the news story here

The PA League and the PAVoice Election Protection coalition will still be participating in VideoYourVote, by going to polls to ask voters about their voting experiences. And don’t forget to call 866-OUR-VOTE if you see a problem at the polls to report it right away!

Tags: 2008, allegheny, camera ban, election coverage, election protection, pbs, poll problems, presidential election, videoyourvote, voter rights, westmoreland

Reasons to Vote 4

We’ve been knocking on doors asking people if they’re registered to vote and getting people to sign pledge cards that get mailed back to the address listed. Here are a few of the reasons people have given us as to why cast a ballot this fall:

“We need a change! Go vote, Mom!” — Gracie, Greensburg, PA

“The wife will shoot me if I don’t!” — D., Greensburg, PA

“My kids can’t vote yet, and there is no jobs, and minimum wage needs to go up some!” — DeMikea, Pittsburgh, PA

“Mom– Register online!” — Carol, Carnegie, PA

“I’m cool and I’m your best friend. Love, Vickie” — Cassie, Washington, PA

“The economy is dying!!!” — Jowett, Beaver, PA

“As a black female, it’s my constitutional right that so many fought for me to vote.” — Sheila

“Hi man, It may be in your interest to vote this year! Joe.” — Ellen, Allison Park, PA

“I can! I’m angry! I’m broke!” — Raymond, Pittsburgh, PA

“A closed mouth can not speak, my vote is my voice.” — Rashida, Pittsburgh, PA

Opinions expressed belong solely to the individuals mentioned and are not necessarily those of the PA League.

Tags: canvassing, civil liberties, door-knocking, election, PLYV, protection, reasons to vote, right to vote, vote

It’s an E-Day GOTV Swarm

Our office was completely packed for E-Day orientation this week, as dozens of eager volunteers came in to get trained and scheduled to get out the vote on Tuesday.

They ranged in age from 17 years old to over 50. We gave them all a t-shirt and the list of canvasser rules and rights, and got them scheduled for either a whole-day or half-day shift.

IF YOU MISSED THE ORIENTATION… Saturday, Nov. 1st at 1pm in our office you can still get trained and scheduled to push those voters out the door! Call 412-362-7927 with questions.

Tags: election day, orientation, training, volunteers

“Unlock the Vote” Poster Contest Winner announced!

Tags: allegheny county, download, election, Pennsylvania, poster contest, unlock the vote, vote for the future of PA, voter rights, Youth

Election Day TRAINING

You want to help get out the vote.  Come to one of our super-duper election day orientations:  get prepped, scheduled, and the day’s agenda in an hour.  Plus, we’ll feed you punch and pie!

TUESDAY, Oct 28th, 7pm-8pm
League Office, 6101 Penn Avenue Suite 302, East Liberty

WEDNESDAY, Oct 29th, 7pm-8pm
United Steelworkers Office, 1945 Lincoln Highway, North Versailles

(We’re serious!  Punch & Pie!)

Tags: election training, get out the vote, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Youth Vote

I pledge to vote because…

Dylan Lampe, headed to the post office.

1,150 people pledged to vote, for whatever reason was most important to them.

Today, we mailed all of those voter pledges back to the voters, so they will have a reminder arrive in their hands just days before election day.

Tags: election reminder, postcards, vote, voter pledge, young voters

Election Results Party-time!

On a historic day like this one, don’t you want to be with your friends and countrymen?

Tags: e-day, election results, non-partisan, non-profit, Party, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, presidential election, progressive movement, Shadow Lounge, young voters, Youth Vote

Training future organizers

Tags: community, election, GOTV, Larimer, new voters, organizer, pa league of young voters education fund, Pennsylvania, pittsburgh, training, tunnel builder institute, voter turnout, young, Youth

Voting Machines: The Story’s (not) Over

Well, it’s official: The Allegheny County Elections Board has conducted a small random-sample audit of voting machine software. Apparently, they did it last weekend, with no need for a three-month bidding process, nor any guidance from the state of PA with regards to an audit protocol. (Well that wasn’t so hard, now was it?)

This would not have happened were it not for the incredible pressure we all put on the BoE within the last week. Jamming the phones on Thursday must have left an impression, forcing the Board to take action.

Even so, there’s still much more to be done. For starters, the process needs to be far more open and transparent than it was. In this day and age, there’s no reason to only talk about something after the fact, even if it takes place on a weekend — people will disseminate the relevant information virally via electronic communication. We could have known that the audit would take place when it did.

Also, the county needs to go through and check more than 18 out of the 4,700 machines — yes, that’s right, they checked fewer than 0.3% of the machines — that we will be voting on in just one week.

Why is this all so important? The software that our voting machines use was updated a few months ago, but we had no way of knowing that the updated software still complied with state and federal regulations. After a massive public outcry at a County Council meeting in September (see Success!), the Council passed a resolution calling on the Elections Board to audit the software.  The Elections Division, in turn, started stonewalling, claiming that the process would take too long — requiring a three-month bidding process before the audit could even start — and that there was no state-established protocol for an audit.

The moral of this story is that, public pressure prompts elected officials to act and do the work. Even though the method that the County decided to use in “verifying” the voting machine software is questionable and insufficient, at best the County Executive and the Board of Elections demonstrated that decisions could have been made in a more timely fashion, and that now the public has the upper hand in demanding a thorough inspection and testing of the voting machines before THEY are up for election in 2009.

If we can’t be confident that our voting machines will count our votes accurately, what’s the point in voting in the first place?

Tags: allegheny county, election protection, elections, voter rights, voting machines

It happened in West Virginia

Tags: election, protection, voter, voter fraud, voting machines, West Virginia