Tag Archives: republicans

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Problems At The Polls


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State Laws And Election Administration Errors Causing Problems On Election Day

***The polls are set to close in a few hours. If you have yet to vote, what are you waiting for? Vote! Click here to get all the information you need when you go to the polls. A number of state laws have changed and may have altered the required documents you need to cast a ballot.***

Throughout the course of Election Day, ThinkProgress has been reporting on the ground from seven states across the country. They have gone beyond the horserace to uncover how the election process is going for voters. And they are finding numerous problems, whether the result of new state voter suppression laws, election administration issues, or something else. Here are a few (and check out the liveblog for more):

  • North Carolina’s New Election Restrictions Are Turning Away Voters: At two polling places south of the city center, voters are turning up in steady numbers throughout the morning. But many of them aren’t casting ballots: they are being turned away because they aren’t at their correct precinct.
  • Georgia Voter Redirected To Polling Place 35 Miles Away: Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office failed to process tens of thousands of voter registration cards — mostly in heavily African-American counties — before the election, and it’s causing confusion at the polls. Karl Ragland and his wife moved to Atlanta from Covington, Ga., earlier in the year and submitted a change of address form to the Board of Elections. But when they showed up at their new polling place in Atlanta, they learned that the form had never been processed. Karl now has to drive 35 miles to Covington to vote, causing him to miss up to two hours of work. “I am going to vote today,” Karl said.
  • Texas Voting Restrictions Sow Confusion At The Polls: At a polling site in Third Ward, a historically African American neighborhood in Houston, two voters have been turned away for lacking a photo ID. One had simply left it at home, and would have to make an additional trip to the polls. The other had to cast a provisional ballot, which has a much lower chance of being counted.
  • More Than 21,000 Kansans Could Be Blocked From Voting On Election Day: Tens of thousands of Kansans who registered to vote may find themselves ineligible on Tuesday as a result of a new law that “requires people registering to vote for the first time to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport,” the Wichita Eagle reported on Friday. As of Oct. 31, 21,473 registered voters had not sent in documentation showing that they are American citizens.
  • Atlanta Voters Are Being Required To Pay To Park: In one of Atlanta’s largest voting precincts, voters are complaining about being required to pay as they leave the parking lot next to Georgia Tech’s student center polling site, even though signs advertised free parking on Election Day. Advocates say that requiring people to pay extra fees during the process of voting essentially amounts to a poll tax.
  • Miami Man Waited More Than 4 Hours To Vote After Poll Workers Refused To Allow Address Change: Florida law allows voters to change their address at the polls on Election Day. But because poll workers have not been adequately trained on Florida’s Electronic Voter Identification System (EVID), some voters who have recently moved are having problems casting ballots in their new precincts. Opa-Locka resident Eugene Gonzalez arrived at his polling location at 8:30 this morning, but did not cast his ballot until 1 pm because poll workers mistakenly told him that he needed to vote in Broward County, where he lived previously and was still registered.
  • Alabama Voters With Public Housing, Shelter IDs Are Being Turned Away: At least three Alabama citizens apparently have been denied their right to vote thanks to the state’s voter ID law, a last-minute decision by the state that public housing and shelter ID’s are not valid proof of identity.
  • Longtime Voter Removed From Voter Rolls In Ohio: Jamil Smith, a producer for MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry show, reported on Twitter this morning that his father encountered a serious problem attempting to vote: “My father, who has voted in every election as long as he can remember, tells me his name wasn’t on the rolls this morning. He lives in Ohio.” It’s unclear how Smith’s father’s name was removed from the voter rolls, but Ohio was one of several states that signed onto a voter purge scheme devised by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) that developed a lost of voters under consideration for purging by simply finding people who share the same first and last name as a voter in another state.

BOTTOM LINE: These problems at the polls are just a few extremely concerning examples that should be immediately corrected — and could be illegal or unconstitutional. In response to this and other anecdotal evidence of barriers to voting, the Center for American Progress has issued letters to Secretaries of State in Kansas, North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia, urging them to take “immediate action” to rectify these concerns. Voting is a fundamental deomcratic right, and it should be free, fair, and accessible to all citizens.

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What’s life got to do with it?
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The key to the survival of our species is found in the Amazon rainforest. Yet this magnificent, biodiverse environment, holding half of the remaining tropical rainforest on our planet, depends upon your commitment and action in order to survive.

Indigenous communities, rainforest stewards for uncounted generations, speak for and defend the Amazon. One out of every ten animal species lives in this region, and a full third of all plant species on the planet. We must never forget that the Amazon’s fate parallels that of the global climate, for if left intact it will stem climate chaos, helping us to avoid the tipping point of catastrophe.

For almost two decades Amazon Watch has worked tirelessly to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples. For almost two decades Amazon Watch has worked tirelessly to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples. Our work, like our supporters, grows stronger each year and together we’ve already protected millions of acres of pristine rainforest. These efforts are effective because we leverage our strengths and partnerships to strategically focus on the the most crucial areas. We can’t be everywhere and we can’t do it alone, but with your support we’ll have the resources necessary to win more important victories.

Let us show you how. Heading into the final weeks of 2014, we will bring you closer to our work and the elements of the Amazon so precious for our survival. Please make a gift today and demonstrate your commitment to the Amazon and its peoples, and to all life.

With gratitude,


Branden Barber
Engagement Director
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Nov. 17: UCS teams up with White House to talk climate


Join a special briefing on newly proposed limits to global warming emissions.

UCS and White House Talk Climate

Join the UCS president and staff from the White House and the EPA for a special national briefing on efforts to tackle climate change and increase our country’s use of clean, renewable energy like wind and solar.

EVENT INVITATION
November 17: Briefing from the White House and EPA on Tackling Climate Change

 

The Union of Concerned Scientists is teaming with the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a special national briefing for UCS supporters about efforts to tackle climate change and increase our country’s use of clean, renewable energy like wind and solar.

Briefing from the White House and EPA on Efforts to Address Climate Change
Date: Monday, November 17
Time: 5:15 p.m. EST

button register today

UCS President Ken Kimmell and senior White House and EPA officials will discuss the EPA’s plan to limit global warming emissions from power plants, the single largest source of these emissions in the United States, and other administrative actions to address climate change.

Featured speakers include:

  • Ken Kimmell, president, UCS
  • Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, EPA
  • Rohan Patel, special assistant to the president and deputy director of intergovernmental affairs, White House

Please join us for this unique opportunity to hear directly from top officials about important efforts to address climate change!

Sincerely,
Angela Anderson signature
Angela Anderson
Director, Climate & Energy Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
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Veterans running for Congress in 2014


VoteVets.org

We’ve sent you a lot of email lately about our campaign to make Mitch McConnell pay for his efforts to block $21 billion to improve veterans’ health care.

And you’re gonna get a few more messages over the next couple of weeks.

But it’s important to note that VoteVets was started in large part as an effort to elect progressive veterans, and that remains a core focus of our work. We have a chance to do just that this November, and we hope you’ll help us send a few of them to Washington, D.C.

They all have a shared FEC deadline tomorrow night – their last of the campaign – and I hope we can we count on you to split a small contribution to the full VoteVets slate to show your support.

Here are the list we’re supporting for federal office in 2014.


The four candidates in the picture that I’ve highlighted in yellow all won Democratic primaries for U.S. House seats this year. Which means we’ll hopefully have four new, progressive Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in Congress next year.

In addition to those, we’re backing statewide candidates like Lt. Governor Anthony Brown’s race for Governor of Maryland, and State Rep. Connie Pillich campaign for Treasurer in Ohio.

And our emerging leader program supports 20 veteran candidates running for County Council to State Senate seats and everything in between.

But today – please consider a small contribution to our federal candidates as a show of support ahead of tomorrow’s final quarterly FEC Deadline of the 2014 campaign.

Your commitment and support of VoteVets allows us to continually expand our electoral work.

Thank you,

Rick Hegdahl
Iraq War Veteran
VoteVets.org

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Meet Alison Grimes


running against Sen mitch McConnell whose in-law just got caught with 40kg of Cocaine and stated …

 His only job was to make sure PBO had only one term …ignoring Working Families, Seniors, Students, Vets, Minorities, GUNS, Health Care, UI benefits, Unemployment, Immigration Reform, Climate Change, Regulations for wall street etc. to make sure our financial system doesn’t collapse again ~~ Nativegrl77

Alison Grimes is an Advocate for Women and their Families

Just as she has throughout her life, Alison Lundergan Grimes will continue fighting for women as Kentucky’s first female United States Senator.  Alison learned the value of public service at an early age, and her passion has always been increasing opportunity for every citizen of the Commonwealth.  She entered public service to give a voice to the voiceless – experience she gained as an attorney for victims of domestic violence.

As Secretary of State, Alison championed the first-ever address confidentiality program for victims of domestic violence to ensure their safety and security are not compromised when they exercise their right to vote.  Alison has also ushered in new laws that maintain the integrity of the democratic process and protect the voting rights of our men and women in uniform and absentee voters.  She is committed to guaranteeing that every eligible Kentuckian has access to the ballot box.

ALISON’S VISION
When elected to the U.S. Senate, Alison will work to create good-paying jobs, fight to close the gender wage gap and raise the minimum wage to ensure middle class security for women and their families.  She is committed to:

  • MAKING CHILDCARE MORE AFFORDABLE: Affordable childcare is out of reach for many Kentucky families.  Over 140,000 working Kentucky mothers have a child under 6[1], positioning them as increasingly likely to need childcare services.  Alison strongly believes that we must begin addressing this problem by providing additional tax breaks to Kentucky businesses that create on-site child care centers or help their employees find child care services.  We must also develop federal and state partnerships to improve access to quality childcare for rural areas, where working parents often face unique challenges.Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell has actually repeatedly voted to slash funding for childcare services in Kentucky.  Under a proposal supported by McConnell, approximately 1,700 fewer Kentucky children would have child care through the Child Care and Development Block Grant[2].
  • EXPANDING ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION: Alison will also work with families, educators and schools to ensure our children have access to quality education and are equipped with the tools and resources necessary to succeed.  Education is the passport out of poverty, and every child has the right to a quality education.  A good education is an economic necessity and should not be a luxury.  Education is the gateway to good-paying jobs, economic growth and a strong middle class.Mitch McConnell negotiated a Washington budget deal that caused 1,100 Kentucky children to lose access to early childhood education[3] and cut an estimated $31.8 million from Kentucky schools[4]. He also opposed legislation to hire and preserve jobs for teachers[5] and blocked legislation to preserve low interest rates for students[6].
  • PROTECTING VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: As Secretary of State, Alison championed the first-ever address confidentiality program for victims of domestic violence to ensure their safety and security are not compromised when they vote.  In the Senate, Alison will continue to be a voice for victims of domestic violence.  According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, “a woman is assaulted every 15 seconds”[7] and one in six women in the U.S. will be victims of domestic violence over the course of her lifetime[8] – troubling statistics that must be addressed.    

Despite political attempts to disguise his real record, Mitch McConnell has repeatedly opposed the Violence Against Women Act[9] and even blocked an effort to vote on the bill to protect women[10].

  • KEEPING PROMISES TO KENTUCKY SENIORS: An estimated 600,000 Kentuckians rely on Social Security[11] and nearly 800,000 Kentuckians depend on Medicare[12]. Alison will protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare as Kentucky’s next U.S. Senator.  Protecting these programs is critical to the economic well-being for the Commonwealth’s women and families.  Women rely more heavily on income from Social Security than men do, and the majority of Medicare recipients are women.

Women have more health care needs, live with chronic conditions and have higher life expectancies than men. Therefore, women are especially reliant on the health care services provided by Medicare. The promise of a secure retirement is one we must keep for our nation’s seniors and make sure these programs are still intact for our children and grandchildren.  Alison is focused on spending smarter, reducing waste in the Medicare system, and improving coordination of care.

Instead of strengthening and preserving these critical programs, Mitch McConnell wants to privatize Social Security and end Medicare as we know it, increasing seniors’ out-of-pocket costs by nearly $6,000 per year[13].

  • ACHIEVING PAY EQUITY: Women are half of the labor force in this country yet still make 77 cents for every dollar – 23 percent less than their male counterparts[14].  In Kentucky, women lose nearly five billion dollars in wages each year[15] – a statistic that is staggering and unacceptable.  With that money a working woman in Kentucky could purchase 78 more weeks of groceries, pay 14 more months of rent, make 8 more months of mortgage and utilities payments or buy 2,477 additional gallons of gas[16].In contrast, Mitch McConnell has called equal pay for equal work just another “special interest vote”[17] and voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act[18] and the Paycheck Fairness Act – not once, but twice[19][20].
  • INCREASING MINIMUM WAGE: In order to grow our middle class, we must raise the minimum wage to help hardworking Americans achieve a basic standard of living.  An overwhelming majority – two thirds – of minimum wage workers in the United States are women.  Consider a single working mother of two who makes the current federal minimum wage who brings home just $14,500 annually – nearly $4,000 below the poverty line[21].

Rather than forcing our own neighbors to choose between putting food on the table, getting to work and paying the rent, all Americans deserve a living wage that is consistent with our values.  Raising the minimum wage would increase incomes for more than 30 million workers in the U.S.[22], and is an important step to ensure workers see the benefits of a growing economy.

Earlier this year, the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy pointed to a report detailing the impact a minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour would have in Kentucky.  According to this report, doing so would:

  • Lift the wages of over one in four Kentucky workers.[23]
  • Increase annual earnings for the nearly 30 percent of Kentuckians who make minimum wage or just above by $2,369 on average and $863 million in total.[24]
  • Grow Kentucky’s GDP by $546 million by 2015 and create 2,200 jobs.[25]

Mitch McConnell has voted against raising the minimum wage at least 16 times[26], while voting in favor of raising his own government salary[27].

As Kentucky’s first woman Senator, Alison Lundergan Grimes will continue being a staunch advocate for women and their families.  She will seek common ground and work across the aisle for solutions that put Kentucky and our country back on the right track.  The contrast with Mitch McConnell could not be starker.

Energy

Developing Kentucky’s energy will provide financial security to families across the state. Kentucky is leading the way in domestic energy development and the industry holds tremendous potential to grow our economy, create middle-class jobs and lower energy costs for families across the state. But Washington’s regulatory barriers and burdensome taxes threaten this critical development in Kentucky.

I strongly oppose President Obama’s attack on Kentucky’s energy industry. This Administration has taken direct aim at Kentucky’s coal industry, crippling our state’s largest source of domestic energy and threatening thousands of jobs. Washington Democrats and Republicans need to be realistic about what powers our nation and recognize that developing Kentucky’s supplies of coal is crucial.

We must secure America’s energy independence and reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Our nation’s energy approach should rely heavily on coal, oil and natural gas, along with alternative sources of energy.  Kentucky will lead this effort through continued coal production and exploration and development of natural gas. While our nation is running a $45 billion trade deficit, Kentucky’s natural resources remain underdeveloped.[28] In 2011, Kentucky contributed 7 percent of the nation’s total coal exports, but we can do more to develop these and other resources and reduce our trade deficit.[29]

Protecting Social Security and Medicare

I am running to protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security. I believe in keeping our promises to our nation’s seniors while preserving these programs for our children and grandchildren. But rather than pushing for privatization, vouchers, or simply shifting costs to seniors, we should be looking for ways to spend smarter. We should focus on reducing waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare system, improve coordination of care between doctors, hospitals and patients, and allow Medicare to better negotiate prescription drug prices.

Instead of strengthening and preserving these critical programs, Mitch McConnell plans to end Medicare as we know it. Under a proposal backed by Mitch McConnell, insurance company bureaucrats would be put in charge of making seniors’ health care decisions, and seniors would see their out of pocket costs increase by nearly $6,000 per year. Thousands of current seniors across Kentucky would be forced back into the prescription drug “donut hole,” costing them approximately $13,000 more between 2014 and 2022 than under current law.[30] I believe we’ve got to balance the budget, but we’ve got to do it the right way, and that means protecting the benefits and programs seniors have paid into over a lifetime of hard work.

Jobs

As a Senator, my number one priority will be putting Kentuckians back to work in good-paying jobs. Kentuckians lost more than 118,000 jobs at the worst part of the recession[31] and they are still struggling to provide for their families. Mitch McConnell failed to put Kentuckians back to work. To increase family incomes, I will work to ensure that all Kentuckians and all Americans can earn a living wage for their work, and make sure that women get equal pay for the same work as men.

We must cut red tape and allow businesses to grow and create new jobs. As Secretary of State, I worked with both parties to create a one-stop shop for Kentucky businesses to interact with multiple state agencies through one point of contact, reducing tape and making it easier for business to grow and create more jobs. There are currently 854 federal regulations affecting small businesses.[32] We must reduce this regulatory burden. Our federal government shouldn’t prevent small businesses from succeeding and creating jobs in Kentucky.

We must target burdensome federal regulation of Kentucky’s energy sector, allowing our state to create new middle-class jobs across the state. Kentucky is leading the way in domestic energy development and the industry holds tremendous potential to grow Kentucky’s economy, creating middle-class jobs across the state, but the federal government stands in the way. I will fight to reduce this regulatory burden on Kentucky’s energy industry.

We must encourage manufacturing to return to Kentucky. I’m encouraged that companies like General Electric are opening manufacturing plants across Kentucky, but we must do more to create these new investments in our state. We should end tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas and expand tax credits for companies to invest in research and development and in new machinery and equipment here at home. We should also invest to develop an advanced manufacturing workforce in Kentucky.

Cutting Spending

The Federal deficit is out of control and it threatens the long-term strength of our nation. In 2001, the budget was in balance and the nation was projected to be debt-free by 2011.  Now – after a decade of unpaid-for spending and the worst downturn since the Great Depression – this country owes $16.7 trillion.[33]  The debt impacts our ability to make investments critical to growing our economy, including education, infrastructure and workforce training.

Mitch McConnell has failed to address our nation’s out-of-control spending. With him in Washington, Kentucky has repeatedly witnessed threats of government shut downs, gone to the brink of default and listened to overheated rhetoric that has done nothing to improve the lives of Kentuckians. We can’t afford for Washington and Mitch McConnell to continue to play the same old political games with the budget.

I believe that there is a responsible path to balancing the budget. We need to start by going line-by-line through the budget to cut waste, fraud and abuse and we must ensure that tax dollars are being used smartly and efficiently.  Nearly 680 renewable energy initiatives across 23 federal agencies and their 130 sub-agencies costing taxpayers $15 billion is certainly not an efficient use of taxpayer dollars. [34] I also believe that we can make our Medicare and Medicaid programs more efficient without slashing coverage. Medicare spending is unsustainable.  But rather than pushing for privatization, or vouchers, or shifting costs to seniors – supported by Mitch McConnell – we should be looking for ways to spend smarter on our entire health care system.  And to ensure our country never goes into debt again, I will fight in the U.S. Senate to pass a balanced budget amendment.

Veterans

Our veterans have made the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them the care they were promised and the benefits they have earned. As Secretary of State, I have worked to ensure that members of the military never have to ask, “Does my vote actually count?” I traveled to the Middle East to meet with deployed soldiers to learn how to improve voting procedures for military personnel stationed overseas.  My recommendations formed the basis of a bipartisan bill that was signed into law that will allow military members and their families to register to vote and update their registration online, ensure that military voters have sufficient time to vote in special elections and extend existing protections to state and local elections and National Guard members.

Washington has fallen short of honoring our commitment to our veterans. Our veterans should not struggle to find jobs or access care. Kentucky is the home of over 350,000[35] veterans, the fourth largest in the nation.  It is a disgrace that so many veterans across Kentucky have compensation claims pending, more than 6,000 in the Louisville VA backlog alone.[36]  I’m shocked that Mitch McConnell opposed plans to reduce this backlog and voted against veterans jobs legislation.[37] This is wrong.

I’m committed to serving Kentucky’s 350,000 veterans and I will fight for the quality health care, benefits and treatment they have earned. We must expand education and training opportunities for service members and veterans, facilitating public/private partnerships that help them translate their military skills for the civilian workforce. We must improve access to health care services, including mental health, prosthetic care and wound regeneration. And we must improve collaboration between the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs, ensuring that veterans receive the benefits and medical care they deserve in a timely manner.

Resource: Alison’s website