Common Cause Blog

DC Board of Elections AWOL?

I moved two months ago and one month ago I sent in a new voter registration form to update my address in Washington, DC.

For the past month, on the DC Board of Elections web site, when I searched for my "voter registration status" I got the following message:

Registered Voter
PENDING APPROVAL PER RECEIPT OF SIGNED APPLICATION

Of course, the signed application is what I sent in a month ago. I called on Friday to see if perhaps the online database just wasn't updated. The woman told me it was, but they'd gotten a ton of registrations and would be processing them through the weekend. "Don't worry," she said, "but call back on Monday to make sure."

Today, Monday, is the voter registration deadline for DC. I just called. This time, I got a busy signal at the Board of Elections.

Enviros for clean elections?

Earlier today I sat in on a panel at the Big Tent on climate change. Featured among the panelists was Robert Kennedy Jr., along with Prof. David Orr and others.

While the conversation focused on global warming and the policy solutions--capping carbon emissions, ending the subsidies for fossil fuels like coal and gas, investing in renewables, and strengthening our electric grid--the panelists were in agreement and a couple, including Kennedy, got into the political reasons why we haven't made progress on virtually any of those fronts.

Convention fever

I'm spending the week in Denver at the site of the Democratic National Convention, along with several other Common Cause staff. We're helping to lead a full day on media and democracy issues at the Big Tent, home of bloggers, independent media, and other activists, which you can view through a live web feed.

We'll also be watch dogging the many lavish parties to see who's trying to buy access and influence with lawmakers, and contributing to the Party Time blog of the Sunlight Foundation. We'll be urging candidates to sign the Voters First Pledge for public financing of elections and to Recapture the Flag by committing to restore the rule of law and the Constitution.

Keep an eye out here for updates from Denver. Here's one to start off, with a quick look back to a week ago.

Walmart electioneering?

This comes from our intern Jamie McConkey, who will continue to follow this Wal-Mart story

Common Cause's advocacy for fair elections doesn't just focus on public officials and institutions. We'll challenge unfair practices wherever they may occur, so when the Wall Street Journal published an article earlier this month alleging that Wal-Mart had been warning its employees not to vote Democrat, our ears began to prick up.

A five point plan

USA Today has an "Improving Elections" editorial piece up that includes five sensible recommendations for a better presidential campaign, including paper records of votes cast on electronic voting machines, monitoring and curtailing the influence of 527s and other independent soft money groups, and taking public financing.

While they won't all be easy, they get it right in terms of making the election a boost for democracy and tackling important issues, rather than about trivialities and wealthy interests.

FEC, lobbyists, campaign reform

Two Post editorials today on campaign finance and election issues. The first criticizes the recent attention to lobbyists within the Obama and McCain campaigns, and includes a strong argument for public financing. My take: the Post is mostly right. They're wrong to dismiss the lobbyist question entirely--it IS a powerful illustration of how power players and powerful influences move within Washington and through federal campaigns--but they're right that it's not a long-term prescription for change.

This is, as we suspect both candidates know, a silly exercise. Lobbyists are a symptom of a larger problem that can't be fixed by turning them into political pariahs. The real problem is the distorting influence on public policy of moneyed interests; lobbyists are merely a particularly efficient delivery vehicle for the money that candidates need to satisfy their fundraising habits. The most effective cure would be to free lawmakers of this addiction by providing for public financing of campaigns, a solution that is, admittedly, a long way off.

The second piece takes a look at the FEC -- or lack thereof -- and highlights one of the most egregiously partisan nomination maneuvers in an agency that is defined by partisan maneuvers.

Small donors fueling Democrats in presidential race

The trend continues in the presidential race. As the Campaign Finance Institute's analysis of April fundraising numbers shows, small donors constitute a substantial majority of the recent financial support for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Both Democratic candidates raised more than half of their April funds in increments of $200 or less. John McCain remains dependent on large donors for the majority of his support. This does not tell the whole story -- after all, all three candidates relied on major donor support to launch their campaigns -- but it portends an exciting six months leading up to the November election. Hopefully more and more small donors buy into the presidential election process with a contribution and feel a greater stake in the outcome.

As I've noted in the past, this shouldn't be confused with trends in the races for Congress, which are moving in the opposite direction, where major donors dominate and small donors are "not a factor." We need Clean Elections-style public financing for Congress now more than ever.