tagged w/ Current Election
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Blogged by David Safier
Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election Tabulating Software
Pima County, AZ, Election Integrity Group Creates Software to Analyze Diebold GEMS Databases, Wants to Share Capability With Others...
Guest Blogged by David Safier of Blog for Arizona
Just in time for the elections, the Pima County, Arizona, Election Integrity Committee has developed computer tools to examine election databases created by the Diebold/Premier system. The EI group is offering to examine data from any jurisdiction in the country that uses Diebold's faulty GEMS (Global Election Management System). GEMS will tabulate about half the nation's votes on November 4th...
Last year, the Pima County EI group won a groundbreaking legal case which gave it access to all the county’s computer-generated databases since 2002. Recently, computer programs were completed to examine the databases. They have already revealed problems and inconsistencies that warrant further examination. For example, they found that a few dozen memory cards from optical ballot scanners were uploaded twice, causing changes in vote counts. (A document by Tom Ryan gives more details about the capabilities of these tools and possible problems they have uncovered.)
The programs search for such things as unusual increases in vote tallies, changes in configuration information, and similar indicators that could point to vote flipping or other inappropriate activity. They go through the election from start to finish --- from the Logic and Accuracy tests to the early voting and election day counting to the final wrap up. The results can then be displayed in a spreadsheet.
Anyone interested in more information should email ElectionIntegrity@earthlink.net.
This program isn’t a magic bullet that will prove an election has been rigged. By pinpointing specific problem areas, the results allow investigators to focus on the portions of the GEMS database where possible election fraud is most likely to have occurred.
When the Pima County EI group won access to GEMS databases dating back to 2002 in a court ruling, it was also granted access to all databases from future elections. As a result, it’s likely that Pima County will have the most carefully monitored elections in the nation.
Election Integrity groups outside of Pima County that suspect election fraud have a huge hurdle in front of them – gaining access to the GEMS databases. Hopefully, the newly available tools will encourage them to put pressure on local officials to make the data available.
The long term objective of the Pima County EI Committee is to distribute the programs widely, but currently the data examination is only being done in Tucson. The programs are still evolving in their scope and sophistication, and the analysis team in Tucson is still learning how to use the tools to maximum advantage. Years of work has given the team a familiarity with the GEMS systems that usually isn’t available elsewhere.
This PDF goes into more detail about the computer tools. The Pima County EI group can provide more information, including technical details about the GEMS databases. Please email questions to ElectionIntegrity@earthlink.net.
Blogged by David Safier
Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election... more
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Coldcut vs TV Sheriff "Revolution '08" Music Video
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WASHINGTON — Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday.
In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.
Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.
The men also sought to go on a national killing spree, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.
"They said that would be their last, final act _ that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
An Obama spokeswoman traveling with the senator in Pennsylvania had no immediate comment.
The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond. Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.
Attorney Joe Byrd, who has been hired to represent Cowart, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.
Cowart and Schlesselman are charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president.
The investigation is continuing, and more charges are possible, Cavanaugh said.
WASHINGTON — Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic... more
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -The Anchorage Daily News, Alaska's largest newspaper, endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Sunday after declaring Gov. Sarah Palin "too risky" to be one step away from the Oval Office.
"Like picking (Republican presidential candidate John) McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time," The Daily News said.
The newspaper said Obama "brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand."
The Daily News said since the economic crisis has emerged, McCain has "stumbled and fumbled badly" in dealing with it.
"Of the two candidates, Sen. Obama better understands the mortgage meltdown's root causes and has the judgment and intelligence to shape a solution, as well as the leadership to rally the country behind it," the paper said.
More at link...ANCHORAGE, Alaska -The Anchorage Daily News, Alaska's largest newspaper, endorsed... more
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After Obama's big win in Iowa, the question for everyone in New Hampshire was "Is this really the year of the coveted youth voter?"After Obama's big win in Iowa, the question for everyone in New Hampshire was "Is this... more
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Elizabeth Chambers goes on a ride along with U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona, where large numbers of migrants attempt to illegally cross the rugged desert border in hopes of making it to the U.S.Elizabeth Chambers goes on a ride along with U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona, where... more
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In pre-dawn hours, Fugitive Operations teams from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fan out across Los Angeles County in search of undocumented immigrants who have skipped out on their deportation orders.In pre-dawn hours, Fugitive Operations teams from Immigration and Customs Enforcement... more
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Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose history-making presidential campaigns divided the Democratic Party, joined forces Monday for an exuberant outdoor rally in what Clinton called "the battleground of the battlegrounds."
Making their first joint appearance since July, the former political rivals walked on stage here with their arms wrapped around each other's waists. Obama led the crowd — estimated at 50,000 by the Orlando Fire Department — in chanting "Hil-lar-y."
Clinton, who asked during the primary why Obama couldn't close the deal with voters, transformed the line to work in his favor: "Now is the time to close the deal for Barack Obama."
The New York senator took a shot at Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, who has sought to appeal to Clinton's supporters. Mocking the Alaska governor's frequent exhortation to "Drill, baby, drill," Clinton said Democrats have "a new slogan."
"Jobs, baby, jobs," she said. "That's what we're for."
Clinton, who won this state's primary, appeared with Obama as he kicked off a two-day swing here on the first day of early voting statewide. Obama and McCain are in a closely fought contest for the state's 27 electoral votes, which made George Bush president in 2000 and helped elect him again in 2004.
Obama urges his supporters to take advantage of the opportunity to avoid the lines being predicted on Election Day.
"Go vote," he said. "You don't know what will happen Nov. 4."
Florida is one of six states where polling places opened Monday for voters who want to cast their ballots before Election Day. Three other states will open early voting this week.
The early vote is a key factor in Florida, where 36% of the ballots in the 2004 presidential election were cast early, according to Steve Schale, who directs Obama's campaign in the state.
The GOP also is working to turn out early voters.
"It's going to be very close in Florida," state GOP Chairman Jim Greer said in a phone interview Monday as he barnstormed with the state's Republican governor, Charlie Crist.
Greer said he's not concerned about statistics showing Democrats widening their lead among registered voters in Florida this year. "Democrats are just registering anything that breathes," Greer said. He said Democrats out-registered Republicans in 2004, yet Bush won the state.
"Republicans in Florida have the best voter-turnout operation in the nation," Greer said. One barometer: 100,000 more Republicans than Democrats have cast absentee ballots.
Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose history-making presidential campaigns... more
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The mainstream media has finally noticed Sarah and Todd Palins' ties to the rabidly anti-American secessionist group, the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP). A new CNN video report by anchor Rick Sanchez digs into the Palins' relationship with the AIP, noting that Todd Palin has been a member of the group and that Sarah Palin sent official video greetings as Governor of Alaska to the 2008 AIP convention. In this video, as pictured here, Palin praises the "important role" played by the AIP in Alaska politics.The mainstream media has finally noticed Sarah and Todd Palins' ties to the rabidly... more
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New Mexican Flutists and Drummers for Obama get the crowd psyched for an Early Voting March in ABQ, NM.
Is that an Al Gore 49er jersey?! Crazy! ; ) New Mexican Flutists and Drummers for Obama get the crowd psyched for an Early Voting... more
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Is the mother's-health exception to bans on late-term abortion being abused as John McCain suggested? We take a look at the laws.
Using air quotes in any serious conversation is risky. Even more so during a presidential debate when the topic is abortion. So it was perplexing to many women when John McCain inserted them into a discussion on Wednesday about whether late-term-abortion bans should include exceptions for the mother's "health." Senator McCain's point was that health exceptions, which his rival Senator Barack Obama supports, have "been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything." But then, while describing what he called his opponent's "extreme pro-abortion position," McCain made air quotes when referring to the "health" of the mother.
The chorus of disapproval over the GOP candidate's tone and gesture spread quickly. MSNBC's Chris Matthews called it "a big mistake by John McCain" and chided him for belittling "the health exception with regard to abortion." And online message boards were flooded with outraged women. "As a mother who almost died during childbirth, the mockery of a woman's 'health' actually being considered was beyond insulting," wrote one woman on DCUrbanMom.com. "McCain should send an apology letter to all the women who have gone through this."
And, not surprisingly, the big pro-choice groups immediately issued press releases decrying McCain's remarks. "His air quotes around women's health signified a total lack of regard," says Ted Miller, communications director for the National Abortions Right Action League (NARAL). "When McCain had the audacity to do that, it wasn't just about the health exception, it was attacking a woman's ability to make private decisions with her doctor."
So what exactly is a "health exception" in abortion legislation, and is it the "extreme pro-abortion position" described by McCain? Obama's position is basically aligned with that of the Supreme Court. In Roe v. Wade , the court ruled that with postfetal viability--when the fetus's critical organs can sustain independent life--the state "may go so far as to proscribe abortion during that period, except when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother." And in Doe v. Bolton, a companion case issued the same day as Roe , the court provided further guidance on what preserving the "health of the mother" entailed. "Medical judgment may be exercised in light of all factors--physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman's age--relevant to the wellbeing of the patient," the court wrote. "All these factors may relate to health."
McCain is correct when he suggests that the law does not specify which conditions or complications should be included in the legal definition of what constitutes a threat to the mother's health. That decision is left up to the doctor. Pro-life groups have long complained that the Supreme Court's definition is too vague and includes too many provisions. "It allows abortion under any circumstance because the Supreme Court has defined 'health' to mean a general feeling of well being or age or familial conditions or psychological factors," says David O'Steen, president of the National Right to Life (NRLC). "Health means anything." The NRLC has attacked Obama's own characterization of his abortion position in the debate as disingenuous.
Is the mother's-health exception to bans on late-term abortion being abused as John... more
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Finally, John McCain and Barack Obama are put on record on some key women’s issues. It could be a revelation for many voters, especially McCain’s tone and body language in mocking health exemptions from abortion bans.
McCain had criticized Barack Obama for not supporting an array of anti-abortion bills in the Illinois state legislative bills. Obama said he had not backed them because they lacked exemptions to protect the health and life of the mother.
Here’s what McCain responded, his voice rising in moral indignation: “He’s [for] health for the mother. You know, that’s been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That’s the extreme pro-abortion position, quote ‘health.’”
The way McCain exaggerated the pronunciation of “health,” including putting in hand gestures to indicate quotations, was reminiscent of his running mate Sarah Palin’s belittling of “community organizer” in her maiden speech to the Republican convention. That was Palin’s thinly veiled mockery of Obama’s early organizing experience in Chicago.
McCain’s “health” exemption statement Wednesday showed his to be the extreme position: he differed with current law. The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down abortion bans that do not contain exemptions for the health and life of the mother.
McCain said he wants abortion decisions to be decided by the states, ending the federal guarantees for it under Roe. Asked by moderator Bob Schieffer if he would consider someone for the court who “had a history of being for abortion rights,” McCain answered in a convoluted way: “I would consider anyone in their qualifications. I do not believe that someone who has supported Roe v. Wade that would be part of those qualifications. But I certainly would not impose any litmus test.”
The third and final network-sponsored debate between Republican presidential nominee McCain and Democratic nominee Obama touched on three key issues: appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court that will affect women’s rights well beyond the landmark Roe v. Wade reproductive rights ruling; current state legislative attempts to restrict legal abortion, including health exemptions for the mother; and pay inequities as reflected by the recent Supreme Court rebuff to Alabama factory worker Lily Ledbetter.
Wednesday night’s debate could be a taste of more to come—or it could be all that women’s groups get in terms of grilling the presidential nominees in depth this campaign.
Obama called abortion “a very difficult issue and it is a moral issue and one that I think good people on both sides can disagree on. But what ultimately I believe is that women in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers are in the best position to make this decision. And I think that the Constitution has a right to privacy in it that shouldn’t be subject to state referendum, any more than our First Amendment rights are subject to state referendum…”
He talked about the importance of the next president’s appointments to the Supreme Court. He said he would “look for those judges who have an outstanding judicial record, who have the intellect and who hopefully have a sense of what real-world folks are going through.”
And then he made a segue into the pay equity issue, where Congress has failed so far to overturn the Supreme Court ruling against Lily Ledbetter, naming its bill after her. The Supreme Court had said her pay-discrimination claim against a tire company came too late—decades after she got her first paycheck that was substantially lower than men doing the same job at the same plant. The fact that she only learned about the pay disparity recently made no difference to the justices: the time had expired.
Read Lots More At LinkFinally, John McCain and Barack Obama are put on record on some key women’s issues.... more
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"Are you going to get any better or is this it?" With, mercifully, only one debate to go, that is the question about John McCain's campaign.
In the closing days of his 10-year quest for the presidency, it's less that Obama has bad ideas than that Obama is a bad person.
Demonstrated by bad associations Obama had in Chicago, such as with William Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist. But the McCain-Palin charges have come just as the Obama campaign is benefiting from a mass mailing it is not paying for. Many millions of American households are gingerly opening envelopes containing reports of the third-quarter losses in their 401(k) and other retirement accounts -- telling each household its portion of the nearly $2 trillion that Americans' accounts have recently shed. In this context, the McCain-Palin campaign's attempt to get Americans to focus on Obama's Chicago associations seems surreal -- or, as a British politician once said about criticism he was receiving, "like being savaged by a dead sheep."
Recently Obama noted -- perhaps to torment and provoke conservatives -- that McCain's rhetoric about Wall Street's "greed" and "casino culture" amounted to "talking like Jesse Jackson." What fun: one African American Chicago politician distancing himself from another African American Chicago politician by associating McCain with him.
After their enjoyable 2006 congressional elections, Democrats eagerly anticipated that 2008 would provide a second election in which a chaotic Iraq would be at the center of voters' minds. Today they are glad that has not happened. The success of the surge in Iraq, for which McCain justly claims much credit, is one reason why foreign policy has receded to the margins of the electorate's mind, thereby diminishing the subject with which McCain is most comfortable and which is Obama's largest vulnerability.
McCainseeking traction in inhospitable economic terrain, said that the $700 billion bailout plan is too small. He proposes several hundred billions more for his American Homeownership Resurgence -- you cannot have too many surges -- Plan. Under it, the government would buy mortgages that homeowners cannot -- or perhaps would just rather not -- pay, and replace them with cheaper ones. When he proposed this, conservatives participating in MSNBC's "dial group" wrenched their dials in a wrist-spraining spasm of disapproval.
It might be prudent for McCain to throw caution, and billions, to the wind. Obama is competitive in so many states that President Bush carried in 2004 -- including Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Colorado and New Mexico -- it is not eccentric to think he could win at least 350 of the 538 electoral votes.
If that seems startling, that is only because the 2000 and 2004 elections were won with 271 and 286, respectively. In the 25 elections from 1900 to 1996, the winners averaged 402.6. This, even though the 1900 and 1904 elections -- before Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma attained statehood, and before the size of the House was fixed at 435 members in 1911 -- allocated only 447 and 476 electoral votes, respectively. The 12 elections from 1912 through 1956, before Hawaiian and Alaskan statehood, allocated only 531.
In the 25 20th-century elections, only three candidates won with fewer than 300 -- McKinley with 292 in 1900, Wilson with 277 in 1916 and Carter with 297 in 1976. President Harry Truman won 303 in 1948 even though Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrat candidacy won 39 that otherwise would have gone to Truman. After John Kennedy won in 1960 with just 303, the average winning total in the next nine elections, up to the 2000 cliffhanger, was 421.4.
"Someday, Labour will win an election. Our job is to hold on until they are sane." Republicans, winners of seven of the past 10 presidential elections, had better hope they have held on long enough.
"Are you going to get any better or is this it?" With, mercifully, only one debate to... more
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The night after a disastrous debate performance was not the time for McCain to make the gaffe in the video above. He most likely intended to say, “My fellow Americans,” but instead said, “Across this country this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners and the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent.”
The gaffe was more harmful in reminding people of how McCain repeatedly brings up his POW experience, and even more so as he is also talking about applying standards of clarity to his opponent.
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I cannot stop laughing at this....this guy is runnning for president of the most powerful country in the world? You must be joking. If he is voted in, I forming my own government of peace and truth within the internet and then declare peace on earth for my fellow earthlings!The night after a disastrous debate performance was not the time for McCain to make... more
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Claiming to be searching for evidence of voter fraud, Nevada state authorities raided the headquarters of a nonprofit organization that helps low-income people vote. A spokesperson for the Nevada secretary of state’s office told The Associated Press that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has been accused of submitting multiple voter registrations with false names. State agents, according to the news service, took crates of documents from ACORN’s headquarters early this morning.
ACS and the American University Washington College of Law hosted a panel discussion today on obstacles to voting in the 2008 elections. During the discussion, Kristen Clark, assistant counsel in the Political Participation Group of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said voter fraud accusations are often used to challenge the rights of voters.
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Here we go again. Another attempt to quash the democratic vote this coming election. Several states have already had problems and crimes committed concerning voter registration. Is this the Republicans effort to tamper with the election process? or, even the Bush in the WH? I see some more major problems coming from this. I hate to say it, bit it is the rednecks of the USA that are very dissatisfied with the Democratic pick for President becuae of many factors, including his popularity. We need to keep an eye on this and report as much as possible
Here is the video if you wish to see it.........
Protect the Vote
Presenter(s):Washington College of Law
Date:10/7/2008
Time:11:45 AM EST
Length:1 Hour 18 Minutes 23 Seconds
http://media.wcl.american.edu/Mediasite/Viewer/Viewers/ViewerVideoOnly.aspx?mode=Default&peid=4bd06b81-5bd2-4fcb-baf6-c2ef966d31c9&pid=491fb9b9-03d6-4f87-9bfb-406733f71256&playerType=WM7#Claiming to be searching for evidence of voter fraud, Nevada state authorities raided... more
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President Bush called the Coalition of Instrumentalists and Minstrels, more commonly known as the national marching band, to active duty Monday in order to boost the nation's low morale with a series of lively, up-tempo brass numbers.
"This is a measure of last resort," Bush said about the decision to bring out the band, whose 7,500-mile route starts in Maine, stretches down the Eastern Seaboard and across the Midwest, and ends in Southern California at the 2015 Rose Bowl.
The band will play a 61,300-hour rendition of "Stars And Stripes Forever" for the entirety of its cross-country march. Bush added, "If the peppy spirit and eye-catching glide step of this band doesn't cheer people up and fix all the bad problems in our nation, I don't know what can." The national marching band was formed in 1942 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to take the nation's mind off—and later serve valiantly in—World War II.
----------------more funny at link------------------
Bush needs to do something to help the average person. Signing the bailout is just ink on paper for printing more paper so that instruments of paper will be honoured...what about us mr bush?President Bush called the Coalition of Instrumentalists and Minstrels, more commonly... more
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Alex Jones' brand new documentary Endgame charts the history of the elite blueprint for social domination and control, outlining the ultimate plans that those who consider themselves the anointed have for our planet.
The first section of the film documents the rise of the banking cartels, who since 1800 have funded both sides of almost every war. Endgame charts the usurpation of the British economy by the Rothchild family who went on to bankroll all factions during the first world war providing armaments companies through banks in France, Austria, Germany and England.
Endgame then documents the fallout of the great war and the attempts to form a controlling League of Nations, which was ultimately blocked by Congress. Such frustration on the part of the elite led to the rise of two factions, fascists and Fabian socialists. Endgame documents how bankers again funded both sides during WW2 which ultimately led to the creation of the UN and the beginning of the movement to implement three power blocs via incremental globalism.
The second section of the film covers the Bilderberg group and Alex's documentation of the elite group at the 2006 meeting in Ottawa. It covers Alex's detention on the Canadian border at the behest of Bilderberg insiders themselves. Alex and his crew describe how they were interrogated for nearly twelve hours before finally being allowed entry into the country.
Featuring extensive interviews with Jim Tucker and Daniel Estulin, veteran reporters who have been covering the meetings for 27 and 15 years respectively, Alex reveals how it is an offence for any member of the federal or state government to meet with foreign power brokers without the express authority of the president or Congress.
Endgame then shifts focus to the impending movement towards a North American Union, presenting reports and documentation relating to the efforts toward regional harmonization between the US Mexico and Canada at the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summits, which refer to an "evolution by stealth" agenda.
--------------more at the link, or just watch the whole movie here, for free!Alex Jones' brand new documentary Endgame charts the history of the elite blueprint... more
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Now is the time to register if you haven't yet. Rock the Vote has made it quite easy. Here is what they are about if you haven't heard:
Rock the Vote’s mission is to engage and build the political power of young people in order to achieve progressive change in our country.
Rock the Vote uses music, popular culture and new technologies to engage and incite young people to register and vote in every election. And we give young people the tools to identify, learn about, and take action on the issues that affect their lives, and leverage their power in the political process.
We are creative, effective, and controlled by nobody’s agenda but our own – we tell it like it is and pride ourselves on being a trusted source for information on politics. We empower the 45 million young people in America who want to step up, claim their voice in the political process, and change the way politics is done.
Here is the link as well, or just click the link above:
http://www.rockthevote.com/rtv_register.html?api_key=cA6nvbiY3NZ0eKkrbpIorkcvNqE&ms=pes4
All info is strictly confidential...please pass this to your email list too...Now is the time to register if you haven't yet. Rock the Vote has made it quite easy.... more
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