Progressive Nashville

Ohio has problems with electronic voting

From today's Cleveland Plain Dealer:

A recount after next year's presidential election could mean disaster for Cuyahoga County based on problems discovered Tuesday with paper records produced by electronic voting machines.

More than 20 percent of the printouts from touch-screen voting machines were unreadable and had to be reprinted. Board of Elections workers found the damaged ballots when they conducted a recount Tuesday of two races, which involved only 17 of the county's 1,436 precincts.

The recount lasted more than 12 hours. Reprinting the damaged records and hand-counting them created an extra step that added hours.

"If it is as close as it's been for the last two presidential elections and it's that close again in 2008, God help us if we have to depend on Cuyahoga County as the deciding factor with regard to making the decision on who the next president of the United States is," said County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, a longtime opponent of the county's touch-screen voting system.

Board of Elections Director Jane Platten said recounting the entire county for the 2008 presidential election could take more than a week ...

Cuyahoga County uses touch-screen voting machines that store votes on a memory card inside each machine. On Election Day, a paper record of each ballot is printed inside each machine on long reels of paper.

The printout is the paper trail used during recounts. If it's damaged and unreadable -- usually because the paper jammed when printing -- a new copy is printed from the machine's memory card.

All of which reminds me of the words of Joseph Stalin:

Those who cast the votes, they decide nothing. Those who count the votes, they decide everything.

    - Jim Grinstead

 

Committee making sense of open meetings

A state study committee considering possible changes in the state's open meetings law has backed away from changes proposed by local government leaders to a position that makes more sense.

The proposed changes would have allowed up to a quorum of members of a public body to meet in secret. Current law restricts that to two members. The committee is considering a change that would increase the number to three members or a majority, whichever is less.

The three person standard was supported by Knoxville officials where most county districts have two representatives and one of them includes three.

The Knoxville News Sentinel says the committee also left another question unresolved.

After adopting the three-member standard, however, the panel engaged in long and inconclusive debate over adopting language to prevent officeholders from circumventing the law through phone calls, e-mail messages or small gatherings that involve deliberations toward a decision that should be made in public.

Discussion on that issue is expected to continue today during the committee's meeting.

    - Jim Grinstead

SPLC lists violent acts against Tennessee immigrants

Enclave is out this morning with a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center about violence against immigrants in Tennessee communities. The blog includes this clip:

JULY 20, 2006

Dayton, Tenn.

Gilberto Mejía, owner of the Mexican grocery store Carnicería Los Primos, is verbally assaulted by anti-immigration activist June Griffin, who barges into the store and tears down a Mexican flag. Griffin then allegedly harasses Mejía and leaves threatening phone messages, which Mejia saves for police.

"It was an act of war," says Griffin, who has unsuccessfully run for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican. Charged with civil rights intimidation, phone harassment, theft and vandalism, Griffin is released after witnesses fail to turn up at a court hearing.

"I'm not ashamed of anything I did," Griffin tells The Herald-News.

Dayton, you'll recall, was the home of the Scopes monkey trial in 1925.

    - Jim Grinstead

NC town seeks public election financing

Chapel Hill, N.C., will test "voter-owned" town elections beginning in 2009. The city would be allowed to operate the system for two cycles, then must report back to the state on its successes and failures.

According to the North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections:

Under public financing, candidates could receive a public grant to run their campaigns, but only if they first collect a certain number of small, qualifying contributions and agree to strict spending and fundraising limits.

Albuquerque, New Mexico and Portland, Oregon have similar local public financing programs.

    - Jim Grinstead

Unseen battle for influence

People are working in Washington, D.C., to influence policies that affect Tennessee, but chances are you don't know who they are or what they want.

The fact that they're lobbyists is nothing knew, but an emerging strategy could bring about lasting changes in how government operates, going beyond votes on individual bills.

Media campaigns are being waged in Washington that will affect attitudes not only among legislators, but among those who continue to work and make decisions in government agencies regardless of what party is in power.

One of the most recent campaigns saw $3 million spent in the Washington area by the Iron and Steel Institute to change how people perceive the industry. The Washington Post reports that the effort resulted in "a 14 percentage point jump in the number of 'elite' Washingtonians who had once seen the steel industry as old, dirty and outdated and now see it as modern, high-tech and clean."

The danger in this is that companies will realize they don't need to spend lots of money to build national support for their efforts, but can focus their message on a smaller, easier to reach constituency. What's more, that message will stick in the minds of those making decisions on the lower levels of government. Those decision makers are also more likely to find that the views will be shared by their friends and neighbors, leading them to believe that "America" holds the same opinions.

Lobbying has been around a long time, as has targeted marketing. What's dangerous is that those who represent are being subjected to marketing efforts about which we are unaware back in the districts and don't have the opportunity to refute. These are also efforts that may take place weeks or months before legislation is introduced.

We can't expect those who represent us to live in a vacuum, but perhaps we should require those who run public issue campaigns in the Washington area to follow the same rules as lobbyists who work the halls of Congress and register and report their activities.

    - Jim Grinstead

Bill Richardson in Nashville

The presidential campaign trail brings Gov. Bill Richardson to Nashville tonight for a $500-per-head fundraiser at a private home in Green Hills. This is the second time the Democratic fourth-runner has come to Music City to raise cash without making a public appearance or doing any actual campaigning.

Among the notable Richardson supporters co-sponsoring the local event: former Deputy Governor Dave Cooley (Bredesen’s campaign manager in 2002), former State Senator Anna Belle Clement O’Brien (Governor Frank Clement’s sister and Bob’s aunt), and country superstar Randy Travis (who has a home in Sante Fe).

Richardson has the boldest position on Iraq of any major Democratic candidate – demanding all troops out as quickly as possible.  He’s also racked up an impressive record of environmental accomplishments as governor of New Mexico.  However, he’s a Johnny-come-lately to the anti-war crowd after an election year conversion worthy of Mitt Romney.  Also, his most environmental record is filled with actions taken only after he decided to run for president.

As a governor, Richardson seems to be Bredesen’s twin.  He’s a solid Democrat, but he’s no crusader.  Progressive causes take a backseat to sound basic management.  Like Bredesen, Richardson’s pro-business/anti-tax policies regularly win him praise from sources normally hostile to Democrats (such as the Cato Institute). 

If you want quiet competence in the White House, he’s not a bad choice. He can right a ship, he just isn’t likely to steer it in a new direction.  If you want bold leadership with vision and ambition, Richardson is probably going to be a disappointment.

- Rick Lewis

Thompson Tumbles

Both Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have slipped ahead of actor/lobbyist Fred Thompson in national polling.  Thompson is now tied for fourth with Sen. John McCain.  Giuliani holds a dwindling lead overall with just 23%.

Giuliani                23

Romney               15

Huckabee            13

McCain                 12

Thompson          12

- Rick Lewis

McWherter Out!

According to the Nashville Post, Mike McWherter will NOT challenge Lamar Alexander for his U.S. Senate seat next year. The McWherter family name made this an interesting if unlikely pick-up opportunity for the Democrats, but alas – it is not to be.

Who is likely to fill Mike’s shoes as the Democratic candidate? From the Post:

Previously, former Tennessee Democratic party chairman Bob Tuke, and Nashville attorney Kevin Doherty had expressed interest in running but stated they would not challenge McWherter. There is no word if they are still considering a run.

Some Democratic insiders this morning have stated that they hope that Congressman Lincoln Davis would mount a challenge to Alexander, but he has long been identified as a possible contender for the 2010 governor's race.

A GOP poll last month had Alexander ahead of McWherter by 60 to 29. That’s enough to scare most anyone out of the race. On the other hand, Alexander doesn’t inspire more than ho-hum support even from Republicans so I suspect his numbers are soft – and he’s not likely to get any support from the RNC or NRSC during a presidential election year with GOP fundraising in the toilet.

The Democrats’ best chance to draw in a big name contender, I think, is to convince someone that even an unsuccessful run for Senate race would help that person develop the statewide infrastructure and name recognition for a 2010 gubernatorial run.

Anyone think Bill Purcell’s phone is ringing?

How about Tipper?

- Rick Lewis

PS:  Or, if the Democrats are convinced this is a losing battle, how ‘bout Bob Clement?  I don’t think there’s any Tennessee Democrat I enjoy watching lose more than Bob Clement.

Muslims aid Jews during Holocaust

From the Vail Daily:

Two Aspen men are heading up an effort to recognize Albanian Muslims who rescued, sheltered and otherwise aided Jews during World War II. Their work will be highlighted at the United Nations’ Holocaust Remembrance Day in January. ... 63 Albanians have been enrolled in the “Righteous Among The Nations” list of those who “risked their lives to save the Jews.” Established by Israeli law the list contains the names of more than 21,700 people who helped Jews escape persecution during the Holocaust.

Humans Accidently Destroying the Universe

A Vanderbilt University professor (and other scientists) warns that humanity may be accidentally hastening the end of the entire universe.  Oops.

To any and all other lifeforms out there in cosmos, sorry!  Our bad!

It all comes down to quantum mechanics and the bizarre (but apparently true) fact that subatomic thingamabobs behave differently if someone is watching them.

Imagine holding a piece of paper in front of a lamp.  You poke two tiny, tiny, subatomic holes in the piece of paper so that light (aka photons) from the lamp can get through.  Left alone, a photon that has a 50% chance of going through either hole will behave as if it’s going through both holes at the same time.  But if you’re watching to see which hole it goes through, it will behave as if it only goes through one hole.  Because unwatched, it behaves as a probability.  But watched, it behaves as a specific thing.  Isn’t that just FREAKING weird?

Okay, back in 1998, we measured “dark energy” for the first time.  Most of the universe, it turns out, is dark energy.  By measuring it, we may have forced the dark energy to stop behaving like a probability and start behaving as a specific thing. 

What “specific thing” did we come up with?  There were so many possibilities… Some were good (meaning the universe was less likely to end) and some were bad (meaning the universe is more likely to end).  But there was no way to know in advance which it would be. 

Turns out, we had a bit of bad luck. 

According to Vandy professor James Dent and others, the “specific thing” that we came up with is more likely to cause the end of the universe than if dark energy had remained an unmeasured probability.

D’oh.

For the record, the scientists measuring dark energy didn’t know they might be affecting anything, so don’t hold it against them.  Could have happened to anyone.

- Rick Lewis