It is the last day to register to vote - so if you’ve been procrastinating, now is the time to get it together and do it!

So watch the video above (a little more procrastinating won’t kill you and it’s a funny take on School House Rocks) and then takepart and DECLARE YOURSELF.

So it’s Monday and Monday’s can always be a bit rough - with that in mind I thought I would post some pictures from a site called Cats for Obama - and I kind of figure no matter what side of the election you’re on this will cheer you up (if you like Obama they’re cute and funny, if you don’t, I imagine you’d simply laugh at and not with the cats)

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This is a really simple, quick and important action: register to vote! And do it now because time is running out to register. Why should you do this? Because voting is a right that we take for granted here while millions of people worldwide don’t have this precious right. Do you care about your future-your career, the air you breathe, access to good educational opportunities, healthcare, taxes? If so, then you need to vote because it’s one of the most important ways to influence our political process and stand up for the values, policies and ideas you believe in. takepart register to vote, confirm you are registered to vote and/or to vote early: http://www.declareyourself.com/

(Photo from Enrico Fuente’s flickr photostream)

Early voting began in Ohio today—with a twist. Between now and October 6th, the state’s deadline for registering to vote in the general election, any voter can walk into an early voting site, complete their voter registration, and then cast a ballot. All in the same day. It’s kind of an EDR* special offer. Limited! For a short time only! Enjoy the progressive electoral policy enjoyed by voters in eight states across the country! An Ohio judge upheld the practice yesterday, making way for a week in which scores of homeless people and students intend to take advantage of the opportunity. Republicans opposed the policy, which was the work of Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. But they still encouraged Republican voters to get out there and cast their McCain/Palin ballots early.

takepart Contact your local election office to find out the registration deadline, and whether or not your state has early voting or no-excuse absentee voting.

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From Carter to Bush in 2004, a new JAMA study suggests an increased risk of car crashes on voting days (except in Oregon, where they vote-by-mail).  The solution: drive safer on voting days.

Here’s the original article on NPR and link to the audio feed discussing the story.  You can takepart by visiting the Global Road Safety Partnership.

Related:
Another Reason to Vote on Weekends from Why Tuesday?

by Ann Truong

I hate to open old wounds, but remember the Florida ballot fiasco in 2000? Since then, Florida has made several attempts to improve their ballot system. Some counties have adopted a touch screen method, and others stick to the popular “bubble” method. However, in Orlando, they use what’s called a broken arrow system. And already, there are glitches, not to mention confusion that may come with interpreting this ballot.

What happens is, each candidate has a broken arrow next to his or her name, and if you want to vote for a particular candidate, you fill in the gap to connect or complete the arrow.

Wait…what?

Complete the arrow? No wonder people are so confused. I’d probably screw that one up myself. Imagine someone like my mom, who is incredibly farsighted, walking into that booth trying to figure out what they want her to do, and all she sees are broken arrows. And especially if people don’t spend the time to carefully read the instructions, they’d have no idea what to do.

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The most recent addition to the ever-growing list of election pitfalls that rate high on the “disenfranchisement potential” chart was reported on in Wired last week. Statewide, centralized voter-registration databases—mandated by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002—are debuting in a number of states in November and they are far from ready for prime time. Prior to HAVA, each county or election district maintained its own voter list and there was no communication between districts.

“States were supposed to consolidate their lists by Jan. 1, 2004, but most got an extension to 2006. Creating a statewide system that interfaces with multiple county registration databases built by different companies proved to be difficult. About a dozen states missed the 2006 deadline, and four were sued by the Justice Department.” [Wired]

Voter registration lists have been the source of numerous problems at the polls in recent elections. Attempts to “clean up” lists in Florida in 2000 led to the infamous purging of thousands of voters who shared names with ex-felons from the rolls. And it was the high incidence of voters not finding their names on lists when they arrived at the polls that led to the mandate for provisional ballots (also via HAVA), which have arguably created a whole new category of problems.

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My first thought is that Stealing America looks to be a bit alarmist, which is never good when you’re dealing with something as controversial and personal as elections and voting. Our voting system is a serious issue - and I’m not sure a film that in the trailer asserts that fraud is happening is going to be taken seriously? What do you think?

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As the election draws nearer it’s becoming more and more important to encourage everyone to vote this go around.

In regards to the youth vote, The Nation has an interesting piece up about the influence of Rock the Vote on the election this year:

While RTV held the biggest name brand in youth politics, youth turnout declined in 1996 and 2000, and a lot of political minded folks concluded that Rock the Vote wasn’t getting the job done. As described in [the] book, Youth to Power, the vacuum left in youth organizing by the failures of Rock the Vote in part inspired the boom in youth organizing that occurred between 2003 and 2007.

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So I’m not usually one for big budget Hollywood comedies, esp ones that star Kevin Costner. But after watching the trailer for Swing Vote, I can’t help but think this might actually be good or at least make people think about something they definitely need to be thinking about this summer and fall:

Yay voting! Yay movies that encourage voting! To find out how you can speak your peace this voting season click here>>>

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