[Voterescue] 94, 500 Voters in L.A. Disenfranchised by Confusing Ballot

[Karen Renick]

/VoteRescuers,

Some of you may have already received the "Count Every Vote" petition 
from the Courage Campaign (not related to John Courage here in Texas) as 
I did the other day, but I received another request for additional 
petition signers, so I am passing this along to all of you to consider 
signing.

VoteRescue is _not_ endorsing either Democratic candidate by helping 
with the petition, but rather trying to get the L.A. Registrar of 
Voters, Dean Logan, to do the right thing and hand count the 94,000+ 
paper ballots that were disqualified because the voter did not fill in a 
second, redundant, bubble on the ballot. This is a case of a VERY poorly 
designed ballot layout that confused not only the voters, but the 
election judges. This story is also being covered at www.bradblog.com.

Thanks,

Karen/

<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/Dl9vPL/VEsH/>

     
    Along with 22,000 other concerned Californians, you signed our
    petition to Registrar Dean Logan about the "double bubble trouble"
    in Los Angeles County on Super Tuesday. Now, to build this campaign
    to "Count Every Vote" before time runs out, we need you to forward
    this email and link to your friends to make sure this never happens
    again:

    **http://www.couragecampaign.org/CountEveryVote *
    <http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsE/>*
     

Dear Karen,

*We warned Los Angeles County about the **impending trouble with the 
"double bubble."** Now, the Sacramento Bee editorial board is calling it 
"a major voting disaster." And there is speculation that the outcome 
could change how many delegates Hillary Clinton and **Barack Obama 
**receive in California.
*

* *

94,500. That's roughly how many people in Los Angeles County voted for 
Obama and Clinton on Super Tuesday, only to see their votes go uncounted 
by the now infamous -- and fatally flawed -- "double bubble" ballot.

*Here's the bad news:* Despite a record-breaking turnout of 189,000 
voters registered as "Decline-to-State" (DTS), Dean Logan, L.A.'s 
Registrar of Voters, is still refusing to physically hand-count these 
ballots, effectively *disenfranchising 94,500 -- at least HALF -- of DTS 
voters *because they didn't fill in an extra, redundant bubble before 
voting for President.

*Time is running out to change Dean Logan's mind. Over 22,000 people 
like you have signed our "Count Every Vote" petition in just a matter of 
days. To help the Courage Campaign * 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsC/>**deliver 
as many signatures as possible directly to Dean Logan, * 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsD/>**please 
forward this link to your friends immediately:* 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsA/>* *

**http://www.couragecampaign.org/CountEveryVote* 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsB/>*

Calling it "a major voting disaster" and a "raw deal" for 
Decline-to-State voters, the Sacramento Bee's editorial board puts 
"94,500" in perspective:

    /"The scale of disenfranchisement is huge - 94,500 of 189,000
    decline-to-state votes. That's half of the nonpartisan ballots. By
    comparison, in the infamous Florida "butterfly ballot" debacle in
    the 2000 presidential election, *19,120 Palm Beach County ballots*
    went uncounted because of the bad ballot design."/

That's right. *Five times as many voters are now being disenfranchised 
than in Palm Beach County's "hanging chad" catastrophe of 2000. *The 
only difference is that Dean Logan, the L.A. County registrar, knew this 
would happen ahead of time -- because a lawyer for the Courage Campaign 
warned him in a detailed letter prior to the primary. 

*22,225 (and growing). That's the astounding number of people who have 
signed the "Count Every Vote" petition so far, building a movement for 
election integrity that could become our largest signature-gathering 
campaign ever. Please tell your friends, family and fellow activists 
about our campaign to demand that Dean Logan count every vote today: * 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsO/>

**http://www.couragecampaign.org/CountEveryVote* 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsP/>* 

Excited by the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, an 
unprecedented number of Decline-to-State voters rushed to the polls last 
Tuesday to vote in the Democratic Party primary. But at least HALF of 
these voters in Los Angeles County -- *20% of the electorate in the 
largest election jurisdiction in America *-- are now finding out that 
their vote was rejected because they "failed" to fill out a meaningless 
bubble on a confusing ballot.

We don't know if -- as the Los Angeles Daily News speculated -- the 
"double bubble" debacle "could affect the number of delegates each 
candidate gets -- potentially determining the Democratic nominee for 
president." *We do know that, no matter the speculation, we can't take 
one vote for granted. *

*Spread the word. Count every vote:* 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsHBQ==/>

**http://www.couragecampaign.org/CountEveryVote* 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/OroJRX/VEsHBA==/>*   


The stakes are high. And, with a deadline looming to certify the vote, 
time is short.

Your support will help make sure the "double bubble" disaster does not 
disenfranchise independent voters inspired by Barack Obama and Hillary 
Clinton. *Please forward this email today so that we can deliver the 
largest number of signatures possible to Dean Logan *and remind him that 
the integrity of our elections  -- and the faith of people in the 
process -- depends on counting every vote.

Thank you for taking a few minutes of your time to defend our democracy 
today.

Rick Jacobs
Chair 

*P.S. On Thursday, we told you about Julian H., a young man who told us 
his first vote "amounted to nothing" because he didn't fill in an 
irrelevant bubble.* Julian wasn't alone in his disgust and 
disappointment. Hundreds of frustrated voters have contacted the Courage 
Campaign. Charles C., another first-time primary voter, just wrote the 
following to us about his Election Day experience:

    /"When I walked into the polling place, I was asked what party I was
    with. I told them I was an Independent. They asked me which party I
    was going to vote for, and I stated Democratic. They handed me a
    ballot and pointed me to a particular booth. *Because this is the
    first time I have voted in a primary, I was really excited.* When I
    saw my candidates name, I marked it and then moved on to the
    remainder of the ballot. I didn't know I had to mark Democratic
    again. *I felt proud to cast my vote, but now feel like a fool
    knowing my vote will not be counted."*/

If you know of any "Decline-to-State" voters in Los Angeles like Charles 
or Julian, please send them to a special web page we have set up 
specifically for disenfranchised DTS voters:

*http://www.couragecampaign.org/LosAngelesVotes* 
<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/6fdf0890ce3cad26/PxD5NZ/VEsHBw==/>

 

/*Courage Campaign* is an independent political committee and online 
organizing network empowering grassroots and netroots activists to build 
a progressive California. In 2008, the Courage Campaign will catalyze 
action to increase California's importance in the race for the White 
House, hold our elected officials accountable, and block Blackwater from 
building a base on our border./


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