I'm proud to announce that the Courage Campaign is now an official member of the Equality for All Coalition working to defeat the anti-marriage equality initiative. As they write:

Right-wing extremists have launched a multi-million-dollar campaign against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in California. Their intent is to put initiatives on the November 2008 ballot that would amend the California Constitution to prohibit marriage for gay and lesbian couples. These same groups failed in 2004 and 2006 to qualify a measure for the ballot, in part because through the Equality for All campaign, fair-minded people out-organized them. But now they're back.

What does this mean for members? Well, expect to see a few emails and blog posts from the Courage Campaign, as we work to encourage Californians to vote no on the initiative in November.

Starting June 17th same-sex couples will be able to legally marry. So many loving couples are already planning weddings and celebrations for June 17. These extremists are trying to take away the fundamental freedom, fairness and equality same-sex couples have worked so hard to achieve.

But we can stop them and we will need your help. So stay tuned.

Last night the Courage Campaign was proud to host a conference call with Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and soon-to-be Senate Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg. They took a couple dozen questions from our members on a wide range of questions, though spent much of their time talking about both short and long-term solutions to the budget crisis.

The conference call was part of the ongoing series of "Courage Campaign Conversations", where notable authors and leaders join Courage Campaign members in a lively discussion. Two weeks ago we had the pleasure of talking with Arianna Huffington and hosted Secretary of State Debra Bowen earlier this year.

We recorded the call with Steinberg and Bass so that anyone who was unable to make the call, could have a chance to hear from our new legislative leaders. Click to stream the audio. The call lasted about an hour.

You may notice a few changes around these parts. We have been hard at work revamping the website. This is very much a beta stage as we are squashing bugs, fixing a few cosmetic things and building out some content.

Poke around. If notice any bugs leave a comment or shoot me an email: julia AT couragecampaign DOT org.

The biggest change blog readers will notice is that the blog has been "forked". The main feed on the front page and when you click the blog link are posts by Courage Campaign staffers: Elliot, Lucas, Eden, Todd, Robert, Rick and myself. All community posts will appear to the right in the "All Network Posts".   Read More »

Our friend Brad Friedman has advanced a potential method to count more of the "double bubble trouble" ballots. This is a fairly complicated issue, but let me give you the overview. The ballot design was so terrible that there was an overlap between the American Independent Party candidates and the Democratic candidates on the ballot. In precincts where there were there no voters who requested an AI ballot, all of the votes can be counted. In the others, those votes cast for candidates in the 8-10 bubble slots will not be counted because there is no way to tell if a person intended to vote for an AI candidate or a Democrat.   Read More »

Great news! Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters has agreed to count every possible "double bubble trouble" vote. He will follow suggestions made by the Courage Campaign and Secretary of State Debra Bowen. This is a huge victory that would not have been possible without you. The 32,776 Courage Campaign members who signed the petition to the registrar were crucial to our ability to keep up the pressure until he agreed to Count. Every. Vote.

Rick Jacobs just got done testifying at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and issued this statement to the press.   Read More »

Rick is on his way to the Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan's office right now. The press has been invited to watch Rick deliver the stacks of 31,798 petitions and books filled with stories from 591 voters who have written into the Courage Campaign, worried that their votes are not being counted.

While we await Rick's report, here is some news. Secretary of State Debra Bowen yesterday sent a letter (pdf) to Los Angeles Registrar Dean Logan, requesting that he do an analysis of each precincts Roster of Voters to determine how many Decline-to-State voters requested which ballot. Once he does that and those results are tallied then they can reconcile that information with the ballots cast by DTS voters in each precinct. From there they can make an informed decision about the ability to determine voter intent.

This is all pretty dense, but Bowen explains the goal and how this would work in practice:   Read More »

(cross-posted on Calitics)

Dean Logan, the acting Registrar of Voters in Los Angeles issued a detailed report (pdf) yesterday evening, following a 1% sampling of the Decline-to-State vote. Unfortunately, he is still refusing to count every possible ballot. Following his report, the number of uncounted ballots is estimated at 49,500, since the sampling showed that a significant portion intended to just vote non-partisan. We do not know the hard number, since he has only done a sampling, not pulled and examined all of the ballots. AP

Registrar Dean Logan said those improperly filled out ballots are impossible to count by hand because of the county's complicated voting system, which requires crossover voters to fill in two "bubbles": one to choose a political party and one to indicate their presidential choice.

"There's no way in looking at the ballot to discern voters' intent," Logan said after releasing preliminary findings about the flawed voting system.

Wrong. Voter intent, as the Courage Campaign has argued all along is clear. These voters requested a Democratic ballot, voted for a Democrat and just because they missed an extra bubble does not mean that you can't determine voter intent.

28,000 people have signed our petition to the Registrar demanding he count every possible vote. Have you signed yet?

Check the flip for more, including excerpts from a letter our lawyers sent back to Logan that specifically discuss voter intent and his obligations under the state Constitution to count every vote.   Read More »

(cross-posted on Calitcs)

Here is the latest on the "double bubble trouble". Today the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors held a hearing. Several people testified including Rick Jacobs and the Registrar of Voters Dean Logan. The good news is that Logan sounded amenable towards counting the votes, but made no specific promises.

Any Decline-to-State voter who failed to mark the extra bubble indicating that they wanted to vote in the Democratic primary has not been counted thus far. There are no guarantees it will happen and so we are continuing to press the issue until every vote possible is counted.

The Courage Campaign is doing three things right now.

1. Requesting that the L.A. ROV conduct a count of all DTS votes, precinct by precinct.



2. Requesting that the L.A. ROV immediately take steps to fix the DTS ballot design flaw for future primary elections



3. Asking DTS voters across Los Angeles County to hold on to the receipt of their vote ("voting stub") until further notice.

As to #3 on this list. If you are a DTS voter in Los Angeles County who asked for a Democratic Party ballot on Election Day and still have your paper receipt for voting ("voting stub") please let us know so our lawyers can insist that your ballot be counted.

OR

If you are a DTS voter in Los Angeles County and you had trouble at the polls and/or believe your vote may not have been counted.

Please use this form to report your story and receipt number if you have it on the Courage Campaign website.

Courage Campaign lawyer Steven Kaufman (of Kaufman Downing LLP) sent a new letter (pdf here) today to the L.A. ROV. Excerpts on the flip:   Read More »

(cross-posted on Crooks & Liars)

The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters decided in they could save a few bucks by creating a complicated ballot design for the presidential primary. In 2008, that decision has now lead to the disenfranchisement of countless voters. What we don't know is the scope of the problem.

Here is the deal:

Almost 20% of California voters are registered as "Decline-to-State" (DTS). About 776,000 of these DTS voters live in Los Angeles County. To vote for President, like other DTS voters across the state, LA County DTS voters had to ask for a "Democratic Party ballot" on Tuesday (see funny, now prophetic video here).

However, in Los Angeles County -- and only Los Angeles County -- these DTS voters were given a special "Democratic Party" ballot that required voters not only to fill out a bubble for their favorite Democratic Party presidential candidate, but ALSO to fill in a bubble at the top that they wanted to vote "Democratic" -- a redundant requirement. According to the Los Angeles County ROV, if the DTS voter didn't fill in the redundant "Democratic" bubble, their vote would not be counted.

This is what we are calling "double bubble trouble".

The Courage Campaign, thanks to our lawyer Steven Reyes' eagle eyes, discovered that a failure to mark the "Democratic" bubble resulted in the vote not being counted. Regardless of the clear-cut intentions of voters, the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters (ROV) is refusing to do what is necessary to count these ballots.

Now, under a national spotlight, the ROV must do the right thing and count these votes correctly. Voter intent is clear. Missing the top bubble (and it's easy to miss) after you already asked specifically for a "Democratic" ballot -- and voted for a Democratic candidate -- should not mean that your vote goes uncounted.

This is not about the candidates. This is about making sure every vote is counted.

Help us fight to make sure every vote is counted and that this never happens again.

(cross-posted on Calitics)

Here is the short story, if you are just coming to it right now. Chron:

The Los Angeles system requires that decline-to-state voters not only ask specifically for a Democratic ballot - but also fill in a special bubble on the ballot specifically indicating their desire to vote on the Democratic presidential ticket. Failure to fill in the bubble voids their presidential ballot.

The Courage Campaign has contacted Los Angeles County election officials "demanding that they count the votes and that they inform voters of this 'bubble trouble,"' said Jacobs. "They finally agreed they didn't know how to count the votes."

Our lawyer Steve Reyes caught this over the weekend. This problem has existed for several cycles and was caught late. The Obama campaign held a conference call with reporters about this earlier today and one of our lawyers Steve Kauffman was on it. They are very much concerned, as we are that voter intent will not be determined. The law is pretty clear on this.

The Clinton Campaign on the other hand...

But Averell "Ace" Smith, campaign manager for California campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said he is mystified by the Election Day complaints from the Obama team, since the rules for decline to state voters - specifically the requirement that request Democratic ballots - have been a matter of public record posted on the California Secretary of State's web site for months.

"Every California campaign has known the ground rules on this for three months," he said. "I can't imagine why they waited until 2 pm. on Election Day to wake up ... it strikes me as strange. If you wait until the last minute to complain, they must really be worried we're going to win."

"We've certainly worked with our voters for months and months" to educate them on the process, he said. "They're blaming other people for not having done their homework...this is nothing more than a cynical attempt to create confusion."

   Read More »

Things did not exactly run very smoothly at our caucus. It was not a complete disaster by any means, but folks here in Carson Coty are not used to the caucus system at all. Then again it isn't exactly the most simple process.

The only dispute that happened was over signs in the caucus room. The volunteer running things said only one sign was allowed. Then an Obama volunteer discovered there was no such rule. The signs were eventually brought back in.

They did a headcount and literally had people count off themselves to determine the minimum amount of viability for each caucus. There had to be 15% for any one candidate in the room to be viable. In our room that number was 14 people. The only candidates that met that threshold were Clinton and Obama. The Kucinich and Edwards supporters had to decide if they wanted to realign with either Obamam or Clinton. Several elected to vote undecided or for Edwards despite the fact that it wouldn't count. The majority went for Obama and less for Clinton. Overall the vote was 50 Clinton and 41 Obama. We had 7 delegates up for grabs, so it split 4-3 for Clinton. I just heard that they called it for Clinton overall, which fits with the polling.

As for me, I ended up helping run the caucus, collect and tabulate votes. Quite a few people registered for the first time, which was great to see. There was an Obama volunteer helping translate the process. Things worked out in the end but it was a bit hairy for a while. Now it is time to drive back to CA.

Apologies right off the bat, I am typing this on my phone.

The day has been action packed complete with bad directions, fast food, and dogs chasing me down the street.

All over the state today the staffers have been training the hordes of volunteers who have flowed through their office doors. Some people are handed call sheets to call lists of voters and ensure they are planning to caucus tomorrow. Others are handed a stack of door hangers, a map, directions and a list of voters.

There were only 8,000 voters who made it to the caucuses in 2004, while the primary winners were already determined, that turnout is really low. They are only expecting about 50,000 caucus goers tomorrow so the campaigns have a fairly small universe to target. That means they are not wasting much time on peruading truly undecided voters to swing their way. The name of the game is to make sure your supporters know where the caucus locations are and that they make it to the caucus location.

Given the close proximity of California to Nevada there are a fair number of Californians.

Fellow Courage blogger Todd Beaton called a couple of times earlier relaying the goings on in Las Vegas. They have all of the candidates there holding big rallies. Up here in Reno it's more about the grunt work.

I've got to run. Hopefully I will get a chance to blog inside a caucus tomorrow. I believe the plan for Lucas, Brian and myself is to check out a caucus in Carson City, which is about 30 miles away. Fitting for me to be in the Capitol city, given I am coming from Sacramento.

The Courage Campaign in coalition with five other progressive state groups have launched PickYourPresident.org, as the name suggests it is an open primary poll. Yes, you can vote for both Democrats and Republicans, though the response rate as one would imagine is exponentially higher for the Democrats.

Edwards had been leading in almost all of the states, but Obama overtook him this afternoon in many states. He just captured the lead in California. Will Edwards catch back up?

Here is the current order:

1. Sen. Barack Obama
2. Sen. John Edwards
3. Rep. Dennis Kucinich
4. Sen. Hillary Clinton
5. Gov. Bill Richardson
6. Sen. Mike Gravel

Only one vote per person please, though do pass it on to your friends and family members. This is a great opportunity to do some person-to-person outreach on behalf of your favorite candidate. It's a good icebreaker to start the conversation.

And here is the national order:

1. Sen. Barack Obama
2. Sen. John Edwards
3. Rep. Dennis Kucinich
4. Sen. Hillary Clinton
5. Gov. Bill Richardson
6. Sen. Mike Gravel

Have some fun with the poll, but start some serious conversations with it.

(cross-posted on Calitics)

Ok, so the attempt to censure Senator Feinstein failed, but the attempt sure changed the conversation. Everyone from the New York Times editorial board to Fox News chimed in. Over 35,000 people and over 40 grassroots groups, clubs and organizations joined in. It really hit a nerve and catalyzed a new discussion about what it means to be a Democrat.

Now it is time to do something positive and continue the conversation.

Next week the Senate will again take up the re-authorization of FISA. Immunity for telecom companies will be a major battle within the larger re-authorization bill. Senator Dodd has promised to put a hold and filibuster the bill to prevent the attempt to let the telecommunications companies off the hook for following Bush's orders to break the law and spy on Americans without a warrant. Heck, the bill as written would not even let us even look into what exactly they did and who they spied on. Senator Feinstein has indicated that he will join this effort. CDP Chair Art Torres said that this issue was "very important" to him and one that he discussed with Senator Feinstein. Two Senators does not a filibuster make. They need some friends. We must hold the line together.

So today the Courage Campaign sent out an email to our members (available below the fold) asking people to sign on to a letter to Chairman Torres requesting that he convey the message to Senator Feinstein to stand strong in opposing retroactive immunity for telecom companies. Will you join us?   Read More »

(cross-posted on Calitics)

They are getting closer to having enough money to pay for all of the signature gatherers. The $600k they announced earlier would not get it done. They have raised a total of $1.2 million. They will need at least $2 million to pay for the signatures to be collected. Politico is the only one with the story thus far, so regretfully I link:

Backers of a California ballot initiative that would drastically increase Republican chances of retaining the White House in 2008 have raised $1.2 million, including $316,000 in eight days this month - and supporters say they're on pace to qualify for the vote in June.

The group, California Counts - Make Your Vote Count!, reported Tuesday it had raked in $855,000, mostly from a handful of huge contributions, according to a filing with the California Secretary of State's office.

That doesn't include $350,000 in contributions which are either below the reporting threshold of $5,000 or which arrived in the past week, campaign manager Dave Gilliard said.

Contributions above $5k have to be reported to the Secretary of State's office within 10 days.

They are expected to turn in the signatures by the 29th. Then the SoS will do a random test of the signatures to estimate how many are valid. If they pass that test then it goes to the ballot. If it fails, then they will do a manual count.

(cross-posted from Crooks & Liars)

Let's start with the good news first, even though there is plenty of bad to come later, given the disgraceful behavior of California Democratic Party staffer Bob Mullholland, caught on video.

In just five days, over 34,000 Americans, 90% or more Californians, joined the Courage Campaign call for the California Democratic Party (CDP) to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein for her pivotal votes to approve Judge Michael Mukasey as U.S. Attorney General and Judge Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals. These Americans were joined by the Courage Campaign, MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, and over 40 Democratic Clubs and progressive organizations from across California.

With a week of non-stop organizing, this movement changed the conversation of the entire meeting of the CDP Executive Board. Party Chair Art Torres spent about half of his speech on Saturday praising Senator Dianne Feinstein, acknowledging that people within the Democratic Party are upset with a few of her crucial votes. Of course, these weren't just any votes. They were votes contrary to core Democratic (and democratic) values like opposing torture, racism and homophobia.   Read More »

(also available at Calitics)

Secretary of State Debra Bowen is taking it to unscrupulous voting machine vendors, after having completed her investigation into the illegal sale of thousands of machines that were not certified for use in California. ES&S would be on the hook for millions if this suit is successful. Chron:

"ES&S ignored the law over and over and over again, and it got caught," Bowen said in a statement after filing suit against the company. "I am not going to stand on the sidelines and watch a voting system vendor come into the state, ignore the laws and make millions of dollars from California's taxpayers in the process."

Bowen's decision could be a windfall for the affected counties. In the suit, the secretary of state is seeking a $10,000 penalty for each of the uncertified machines sold in the state, with half that fine intended to go to the counties that bought them.

ES&S also would have to reimburse the counties for the full cost of the machines, but the counties would be able to keep the AutoMARKs, which are now slated to receive full state certification in early December.

The reimbursement rule was added to the state election code in 2004 in an effort to boost the penalties against companies that ignore the state's certification rules, Bowen said.

Bowen is simply enforcing existing laws. I am sure the counties would not mind a few extra million dollars.   Read More »

The Executive Board of the California Democratic Party meeting just adjourned without the resolution to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein being heard. A move from the floor today to allow a discussion of the topic was denied.

More to come later. While we did not get the resolution addressed there is no doubt that your voices were heard. From the Women's Caucus endorsement to Art Torres's address you changed the converation.

I am on my phone so I have not been able to check the latest numbers but we were just under 32,000 at 8 am today.

We are on a 10 minute break. The meeting has been going for 4 hours. They still have several on-time resolutions to hear before they get to the late ones, including ours.

The total number of signers are 31,396! Keep it going. We keep updating the board.

Things took a pretty nasty turn, unfortunately.

I entered the California Democratic Party Resolutions Committee meeting room with Eden James, Courage Campaign's Managing Director, bearing our sign and easel. We found a free space at the front of the room and set up the sign.

Almost immediately, Resolutions Chair John Hanna approached us, demanding that we remove the sign. Eden politely asked if there "was a rule" against signs in the meeting rooms. Hanna replied "yes."

Kathy Bowler, CDP Executive Director, then calmly approached me, stating that the sign should be removed because the room was getting full and she had staff she needed to get into the room.

John then grabbed ahold of one side of the sign, attempting to remove it from Eden's hands. Eden, maintaining his hold on to the other side, repeated the question to John about whether a rule existed against signs inside the meeting room. John said "yes"again and Eden asked to see the rule, saying that if there was an actual rule against signs inside the room -- he would respect it.

Increasingly angry, John threatened to call security. Eden, surprised, calmly responded that John "should go ahead if that's what you want to do."

Suddenly, Hanna then shoved his side of the sign and Eden at the same time, forcibly pushing Eden backwards. Eden held on. John shoved again, then pushed Eden's shoulder back with the palm of his hand.

Stunned, Eden let go of the sign as John ripped it from his hands and threw it to the floor. An unknown person then picked up the sign and sprinted it out of the room, taking it to the staff room (according to Kathy Bowler).

More below.   Read More »