Election reform is one of the most important issues facing our country and our world right now, even if it doesn’t get the coverage of torture or abortion. The way that we run our elections and initiative processes determines who makes policy, the type of policy made, and the tone of our political discourse. If we ignore it or take advantage of the electoral system, we our doing ourselves and our republic a disservice.
This week: The results to last week’s poll, a lawsuit to ban electronic voting, “The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny,” online voting in Honolulu, the Progressive Party makes progress, photo ID laws, Sotomayor’s election law history, the disappearance of secretaries of state, and more.
But first, I want to say something about Prop 8 and the recent court ruling. It is outrageous that gay people in California now do not have equal rights, but the court ruling was more on how the initiative process works, and how Prop 8 fits into the state constitution than it was about gay rights. There has been a lot of oversimplification of the issues of the court ruling and the initiative process, so I’d like to dispel some of that (as much as an amateur election reform activist can…). Please follow me below the fold.
Crossposted at Dailykos.com, Opednews.com, and Congressmatters.com