Help stop another election debacle in Kern County

Written by: Helen Acosta on Sep 28, 2006 12:32 PM EDT

On June 6, 2006 when:

* Hundreds of Kern County voters were turned away at the polls and asked to come back later because the wrong Diebold cards had been delivered to polling sights all over the County
* County-wide elections workers reported that they had not been trained in the use of paper ballots and had been told not to break open the short supplies of paper ballots that were sealed and delivered to every precinct
* Some poll workers who were focused on making sure that every voter had a chance to vote attemped to make-do by copying ballots and handing then out to voters(many of whom ended up with the wrong Parties ballots)

Secretary of State Bruce McPherson gave the issue a cursory examination and said that our Elections Division did the best that could be expected under the circumstances.

Debra Bowen, Chair of the State Senate Committee on Elections disagreed. She brought a Senate Select Committee on Election Integrity to Kern County and held a 6 hour hearing in which the committee gathered evidence as well as suggestions for improvement. She suggested that there ought to be a constant evaluation cycle in which poll workers, those closest to the ground on election day, would share their suggestions on improving our election processes and that we need a statewide network of Elections Divisions and Departments to share their best practices and lessons learned to avoid these problems in the future. Secretary McPherson simply provided cover for our current flawed system while Senator Bowen focused on improving our elections and ensuring that every voter can vote when they show up to vote and that every vote is counted as cast.

Our vote is our voice. Senator Bowen is focused on protecting our voice. Please use your voice to help her defeat the apologist, Bruce McPherson.

Debra needs you to phone bank starting October 2. To sign-up please go to:

www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/bcde...

Peace,

Helen

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Location: Bakersfield, CA 93304