Since 2000 the specter of election fraud has haunted America's elections. There is little question that things have gone wrong in our elections in recent years, from gun toting rednecks threatening Hispanic voters to voter caging to what appears to be manipulation of voting machines by Republican biased companies. It is unclear if this kind of activity has actually affected the outcomes of elections, and if so how many elections, but problems have been frequent and almost always favoring Republicans. It should be noted that this year, to date, accusations of fraud that favor Democrats has been largely debunked, while accusations of fraud favoring Republicans has led to actual arrests in at least two cases.

Since 2000 the reaction to apparent election fraud has ranged from denial to panic. Panic is NEVER appropriate. And I will deal with the denial end when I have more time. But the truth is, neither panic nor denial are terribly effective strategies. What is effective is preparation and action. Barack Obama's unprecedented legal team is one example of this. But there is a much quieter example that is already paying dividends: the Secretary of State Project. The Secretary of State Project (SoS) was created by concerned citizens to provide an easy-to-use, low-cost vehicle for online donations to key Secretary of State races. They got started in 2006 and won five key races. You want to hear preparation, compare the list of states that the SoS project won in 2006 to our key swing states this year: Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa and...yep, Ohio. This success in 2006 should be reassuring to America in 2008, as recently pointed out by the Secretary of State Project:

This comes from Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century:

Friday night, June 13, DL21C, along with Screening Liberally, invite you to the first of several special screenings of the recent HBO movie, Recount, about the historic 2000 election starring Kevin Spacey, Denis Leary, Laura Dern and Tom Wilkinson.

Joining us will be Christine Jennings, a Florida Congressional candidate ( Sarasota ), who lost her 2006 election by fewer than 400 votes, prompting a machine recount and special investigation. Jennings is running again in one of the hottest Congressional races this cycle, so this is a fun opportunity to enjoy a (free!) Friday night movie and hear from a candidate who has lived through hanging chads and butterfly ballots!

Christine will be introduced by our very own State Senator Liz Krueger.

We'll be screening Recount again later this summer, but hope you can make it Friday night to meet Christine and Senator Krueger!

* * *
DL21C, along with Screening Liberally, invite you to

A Special Movie Screening of

HBO’s Recount

Friday, June 13
7:00pm (Movie begins promptly at 7:20pm and runs 110 minutes)
DCTV Screening Room