Democrats in Congress, Shame on you.
You have had the past two years to pursue legistation to overhaul the Voting Processes of this country. Sure voting is done mostly at the State Level, but fair methods for the betterment of the country are a National issue. Shame on you for not pursuing this.
A National Law that each state provide fair and accountable voting is something worth fighting for. Something simple, that allows the states to have some detemination of their particular method. Each person would have access, be able to check that their vote was counted correctly, and that any person responsible for attempting to deny those basic rights would be held accountable. This would include state officials who do not put in place fair plans to insure that these basic rights are kept.
Oh sure, Republicans would complain about states rights or some other bullshit. But they would only be complaining to provide lip service to their "masters" (Corporate hacks, etc). The Federal Government can and should be looking out for the rights of all citizens, in all states. And the general public would agree. Not the Limbaugh's and Beck's, not the Teabaggers, not the Chamber of Commerce and American Enterprise Institue, but the general citizens of this country agree fully with allowing all it's citizens the right to vote. The arcane methods of our having to go to "the polls" to "pull the lever", or "hanging chads", should be a thing of the past. And what about "purging voter rolls in Democratic areas. The "challenging" of voters at the polls in only minority areas. And now our opportunity for such a thing will again have to wait till another Democratic Congress comes along and takes up the cause.
Each election day as I read the dairies that flash by on Daily Kos I am reminded of what is needed. To hear about people being challenged at the voting booth, provisional ballots, etc, what a complete Republican thing of beauty. The more they can suppress the vote, the better their chances. Not everyone out there knows that this is a proven Republican tactic, and that is why the Democrats deserve some "shame" for not rectifying the situation.
Every citizen should be allowed to vote. If your a CEO of a major corporation, you get 1 vote. If you are a Vietnam homeless vet, you get 1 vote. How come this is not the way it is.
Oregon's by mail voting should be the blueprint. California's "Absentee Voting" is okay. As a Calfornia voter I would love to have the ability to vote via the internet. Could "opt in" to have my election materials send via email saving the state millions of dollars. I am sure other states have some good ideas that I would love to hear about all of them.
But shame on our Democratic representatives for not previously pursuing this idea. We on Daily Kos have heard the horry stories for years, know that this is the way Republicans play the game, and know absolutely nothing has been done to rectify the situation.