Tennessee Photo ID Law Prevents 96-Year-Old from Voting at the Polls

Posted on by October 5, 2011
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The Tennessee legislature passed a law this year, requiring voters at the polls to show a government photo-ID. This newspaper story says that Hamilton County officials won’t give 96-year-old Dorothy Cooper a state photo ID. This, despite the fact that she visited the office that is responsible for handing out state ID cards. She had a rent receipt, a copy of her lease, a voter registration card, a birth certificate, and a photo ID issued by the Chattanooga police, but none of that was good enough.

County elections officials are telling her to just vote by absentee ballot, but she says she will miss voting at the polls.

West Virginia Secretary of State Web Page Has Election Returns

Posted on by October 4, 2011
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The West Virginia Secretary of State’s web page carries the unofficial votes for Governor in the October 4 special election. Here is the link.

So far, the percentages are: Democratic 50.23%, Republican 46.40%, Mountain 1.90%, independent .97%, American Third Position .35%, write-ins .14%. UPDATE: at 11:15 pm, the newer percentages are Democratic 49.37%, Republican 47.17%, Mountain 2.01%, independent .94%, American Third Position .37%, write-in .14%.

The 2011 special election is the fourth gubernatorial election at which the Mountain Party (West Virginia’s Green Party affilate) has participated. The party’s earlier gubernatorial totals have been: 2000 1.61%; 2004 2.48%; 2008 4.44%.

Working Families Party Helps Increase Size of Wall Street Protest

Posted on by October 4, 2011
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The Washington Post of October 4 has this story about the Wall Street Protest. If one reads down to the paragraph headed “Working Together”, one finds that Dan Cantor, head of the New York Working Families Party, says that labor and other groups associated with the Working Families Party will participate in the protest on Wednesday, October 5.

Daniel Gross Interviews Tom Friedman on Why a New Party is Needed

Posted on by October 4, 2011
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Daniel Gross, a former Newsweek Senior Editor and now a journalist and commentator for Yahoo!Finance interviews Tom Friedman at this 6 minute 21 second video. In the interview, Friedman explains why he feels that the U.S. needs a new party. The video clip is accompanied by commentary by Daniel Gross on why he disagrees with Friedman.

Gross says an independent or new-party president would be just as much a politician as any Democrat or Republican. He says such a third party presidential candidate would want to be re-elected also. But he does not mention that most of the independent or third party Governors elected in the last twenty-one years in Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Alaska did not seek re-election; only Angus King in Maine did seek re-election; also we don’t know if Lincoln Chafee will seek re-election in 2014. The others accomplished much of what they wanted to do in their first term. Also, Gross does not focus on the extent to which the election of a president who was not a major party nominee would have huge symbolic consequences, which would spread to all areas of governance. Thanks to Sam Harley for the link.