Low turnout in Iraq's election reflects a disillusioned nation

By GottaLaff

Let's check in on how that Bush-democracy-spreading, er, -imposing, thing is going:

BAGHDAD — Voter turnout in Iraq's provincial elections Saturday was the lowest in the nation's short history as a new democracy despite a relative calm across the nation. Only about 7.5 million of more than 14 million registered voters went to the polls.

Interviews suggest that the low voter turnout also is an indication of Iraqi disenchantment with a democracy that, so far, has brought them very little. [...]

Many blame the U.S. presence in Iraq for sowing the seeds of sectarianism by bringing back exiles to rule them.

Beyond the disillusionment, thousands of potential voters were unable to cast ballots Saturday because official voter lists did not contain their names. Street protests resulted.

"I didn't participate in this election because I don't trust any list," Yasir Baqir, 28, said on Saturday in Fallujah. "Like any election, we read and see many promises but nothing real (happens) and there is still a crisis, a security crisis, an economic and a services crisis." [...]

"There was a mood of apathy before the elections," said Ali al Adeeb a Shiite legislator from Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's party. "Many asked themselves what is the good? Why should we vote and for what? The enthusiasm came as the elections got closer."

The commission was happy with the turn out, but...

Despite that assessment, it seems that tens of thousands of mostly displaced people didn't get to vote. The commission said this was a mistake on the voter's part. Many didn't check where they were supposed to vote before Election Day.

Most of the confusion seemed to be concentrated in Sunni Arab and Kurdish areas.

Anyone heard about this "disenchantment" from the corporate media? So far, all I've seen reported is how violence was down, and how much progress there's been. Not one word about disillusionment or disenfranchised voters.

MUST READ: I Didn't Vote For Obama Today

By GottaLaff

Get ready to cry:

I have a confession to make.

I did not vote for Barack Obama today.

I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.

I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. [...]

But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.

I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. [...]

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross.

I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. [...]

But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.

I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. [...]

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.

I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.

In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself.

So who did I vote for?

No one.

I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway.

Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along.

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President.

Please read the parts I didn't include. I want to give TPM the "hits" they deserved for posting that.

H/t: Bucky

9,300 miles, 22 hours and $5,000 for one vote: “Apathy doesn’t work in a democracy.”

By GottaLaff

Tears:

For nearly a month, she and her husband had been waiting for their New York State absentee ballots to arrive in India, where she has been working since the summer. A week ago, they realized that even if the ballots arrived before the election — a proposition that was growing more dubious by the minute — they had almost no chance of getting them back in time to be counted.

They had already called the American Consulate, to no avail, and had looked into hiring a round-trip courier service.

“We had a long talk about it,” Ms. Scott-Ker said. “We could go on holiday to a beach somewhere. Or we could come back here and vote. It was a long talk. We decided it was important to stand up and be counted.

“We bought the tickets that Friday, the 24th.”

On Tuesday evening, she and her husband caught a flight from Bangalore to New Delhi, about 1,100 miles. The next leg of the journey, 7,500 miles, took them to Chicago. By 5:30 on Wednesday morning, they had cleared immigration and customs at O’Hare International Airport, and flew the last 700 miles to La Guardia. Their journey of 9,300 miles had taken 22 hours.

It is possible for a traveler to go farther in one direction on earth — but not much. When all their expenses are counted, their trip will have cost them about $5,000, Ms. Scott-Ker said.

My hero.

Her determination is clear. Even so, was it really necessary to go to all that trouble to cast votes in New York State, where most polls give the Democratic ticket a lead of 30 percent or more?

“Then you’re relying on other people to do your job,” she said. “Apathy doesn’t work in a democracy.”

Three more days.

109 y/o daughter of slave votes for Obama

Larry Kolvoord/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Sniff. Much nicer than the earlier stories.

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.

Voter witnesses electioneering, propaganda at South Carolina polling place

By GottaLaff

Commenter Ady received the following e-mail from a voter in South Carolina. Get ready:

I went to go vote absentee today in Greenville and I saw something that really concerned me. There was a lady in line in front of me and she said, "Would you like some reading material while you wait? It has the candidates' positions on the issues." I took the printout out of curiosity and it was an email about how Barack Obama was a muslim and McCain was right on the issues. I didn't read the whole thing but one line did say that he wanted the same level of health care as those in 3rd world countries. I was mad so I just gave it back to her and said I considered myself to be well informed. I should have taken it as proof but it all happened so fast I didn't think about it.

After we got inside I overheard her say to the lady in front of her that if Obama was president there would be no more national elections. This was right in front of the poll worker. She looked uncomfortable but she didn't say anything. I didn't know what to do but when I got back to the house I told my sister Angela. She said I should call the Obama office and send out this email immediately.

The lady I talked to on the phone at the Obama office called the supervisor at the polling location and told him about it. He talked to all the poll workers and no one admitted to hearing the conversation. They never had to put up a sign about how it was illegal but they may do it now.

Please let people know about this. Hopefully it wont happen again, but if it does we will be more prepared.

We're letting people know. Every time something like this happens, it's important to hang on to any proof you can, take photos (cell phones come in handy for this), and report it.

John Sidney McCain: M.I.A.

By GottaLaff

In case you hadn't heard, J Sid's been ignoring his day job:

How often has John McCain been away from the Senate? Well, let's put it this way: At this point, he has missed more votes than even South Dakota Democrat Tim Johnson, who couldn't work for almost a year after suffering a brain hemorrhage in late 2006.

I guess J Sid doesn't embarrass easily.

CQ Politics says he hasn't voted since April 8.

He's the absentest Senator in all of Senateland.

According to the Washington Post, McCain has missed 367 votes during the 110th Congress, 61.4 percent of those held. Johnson has missed 311 votes, 52 percent of the total.

To be fair, the presidential candidates had the worst records because of all the requisite and very time-consuming campaigning and cat fighting and such. But from what I heard on one of the talk shows today, J Sid wasn't busy with any of that on many of the days he missed. He just didn't show.

The Very Honorable Military Guy was M.I.A.

House of Representatives: Ayes and Nays

By GottaLaff

Two House votes. First:

In response to record oil and gasoline prices, the House of Representatives on Thursday approved 402 to 19 legislation directing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use its authority, including the agency's emergency powers, to "curb immediately" the role of excessive speculation in energy futures markets. [...]

"The American people should not be punished at the pump for the actions of oil speculators," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Next:

The House of Representatives on Thursday rejected legislation that would have required energy companies to develop oil and natural gas supplies on federal leases they have held for years or be denied future drilling access on government acres.

The legislation was an effort by the Democrats, who control the House, to show voters they were trying to do something to tackle record gasoline prices. Lawmakers will be on their Fourth of July holiday recess next week and will face angry constituents upset about pump costs.

Our government at work.

Nelson bill would abolish Electoral College

By Paddy


It's about time someone got smart about this. What part of "One person, One Vote" don't they understand? Oh and the Tuesday as election day has to go too- the farmers head in to market pretty much any day now.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College on Friday, less than a week after the Democrats settled on how to handle delegates from Florida at their national convention.

“It’s time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one-person, one-vote, instead of the political machinery selecting candidates and electing our president,” Nelson said in a release announcing the amendment.

Nelson had announced he would offer the legislation in an address to his state’s senate in March.

Nelson said his principal argument for making the change is that the Electoral College permits a candidate with fewer votes nationally to win the presidency by capturing narrow victories in big states. In 2000, then-Vice President Al Gore won the popular votes but George W. Bush won the Electoral College.