I've just read
lapin's wonderful diary about a Constitutional amendment for voter reform, and I, of course, thought it was an excellent idea. How amazing would it be to join the other 100+ countries in the world with a Constitutionally guaranteed right to vote?
Amendment XXVIII
Section 1. Every citizen of the United States, over the age of 18, and regardless of race, creed, sex, criminal status, and political affiliation, shall have the right to vote for the candidate of her choice, the right to have that vote accurately counted and recounted, and the right be free from intimidation while casting that vote. No act by the Congress or action by the States may abridge this right.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Or something like that. Read
builderman's version of an Amendment here. It's a great idea, but like I've mentioned before, while lapin is correct that we need to start drafting and introducing this now, it will be many years before it is ratified by the states.
In the meantime, How about introducing a "Right To Vote Act"?
The purpose of the Act shall be to reaffirm the principle that every citizen has a state-recognized right to vote, and that that right is a paramount right which must be protected.
The Act will deal with voter verified paper trails (HR 2239 can be incorporated), but it will also deal with the following:
1. The day of the General Election shall be made a Nation Holiday. No citizen should have to choose between going to work or exercising his right to vote.
2. There shall be a universal standard for the issuance and acceptance of provisional ballots. In recognition of the fundamental importance of the right to vote, that standard shall be a liberal one.
3. It shall be prohibited for a State's Chief Election Official (Secretary of State) to serve on the political campaign of any candidate, except on his or her own campaign.
4. [Insert the rest of the great ideas I've seen on dKos here]
So, we have some great ideas. We need to put them in action for us and against the Republican Party.
Let's try and flex our framing skills. What yesterday's Congressional Debate proved is that Republicans do not want to talk about the right to vote. Watching the debate was like a glimpse back to the Civil Rights Era, where there were some who were passionate about serving our citizens, while others just didn't care or just didn't get it. They're labeling us the sour grape party, the Michael Moore party....they're already campaigning for 2008. they gave us a heads up, a warning that if you talk about the suppression/intimidation/fraud again, "you'll look like idiots." They're framing their debate in the terms of "if you think something is wrong with our elections, you're an idiot or a conspiracy theorist."
We need to reframe the debate: "If you don't think something is wrong with our election, you're either ignoring reality or condoning the disenfranchisement of the American voter. Which is it, Mr. Delay?"
Pelosi did a fantastic job yesterday, as did many other members who spoke, that this is an equal protection issue. We need to adopt the language and passion of the Civil Rights Movemnet and run with it. Kucinich was a great example of this. By making our movement on this one of a reaffirmation of civil rights, one which echoes the 14th, 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments, they automatically will be painted as anti-citizen's rights.
We've seen Delay's hatred for paper trails (he's the one that tied up HR 2239 in the first place.) So call him on it:
"Mr. Delay, why have you voted against the "Right To Vote" Act? You don't think Americans have a right to vote, and that that vote should be protected?"
"President Bush, why haven't you pressured your party members in Congress to pass the Right To Vote Act? It's been two years already. Don't you think passing such an act is critically important before the next election, or do you disagree with the principles the Act expresses?
"Senator Santorum, how have you explained to your constituents in Pennsylvania, who reported thousands of problems to Election Protection on Nov. 2, that you have voted against a bill recognizing their Right To Vote, and the right to be free from intimidation and suppression?"
"2008: My opponent, [insert GOP candidate here], voted against the Right To Vote Act. I ask the American people, does that even make sense? Is that the type of person you want as your President? Someone who will not even recognize your right to vote, someone who won't protect your vote, someone who doesn't care if you wait 10 hours in line to cast your ballot or that your right to vote is frivolously challenged? America, you deserve a President better than that. You deserve a Democratic President, one who stands for the value that there are citizens' rights which must not only be recognized, but actively protected."
Lapin and the other members who have said the time is NOW are right. Now is the time to act on this and to capture America's attention to our advantage.
Use their quotes from the Debate. Launch TV ads with Delay's voice saying "there was no intimidation or suppression" while the video of those long lines in Ohio roll. Paint them as the party that refuses to help America. Paint them as the party that turns a blind eye to voter disenfranchisement. Paint them as the party that won't see the elephant in the room. You can talk about the "integrity of our electoral process and the Electoral College" all you want, Mr. Delay, but unless you get voters to the polls, and get their votes accurately counted, the electoral process doesn't mean shit.
The GOP is willfully ignoring the plight of thousands upon thousands of voters, primarily minority voters. Paint them as the party that is fine protecting a White, Evangelical Christian's right to vote, but when it comes to protecting an African-American or a Muslim or a Hispanic or an Asian's right to vote, they go running.
We should keep hitting that point home. The GOP is the regressive party. They want to take America back, back to a time in the 1950s where white men controlled the vote. They want to take America back to a time where there was separate and unequal. They want to take us back to a time were there was a poll tax, a literacy test. Today's GOP is acting in the same obstructionist fashion it did over half a century ago.
The Democratic Party is a progressive party. We will not cater to one particular demographic, we will not praise election officials who hinder our citizens' right to vote, and we will not be so self-deluded as to think that there is not rampant suppression and intimation....we will be the Party of Progress, the party that examines reality with a critical eye, and the one that solves the problems of the American people rather than ignoring them.
We will be the party that introduces the Right To Vote Act.
We will be the party of the American Voter.