So I just spent 1.25 hours with my sister trying to help her decide her local election choices. It's an off year, so generally only those of us who are Hard Core about voting bother to do so. That just makes our votes that much more powerful. I appreciate the irony of someone like me, frequent Doomsayer on the sad state of our video poker voting reality, talking about good voting. But I'll do so anyway, cause part of me wants to Hope. /scampers away from Lambert/

Anyway, if you're voting tomorrow, are there any online resources that have helped you make your choices? Please, post them here if so. My sister and I agree that one of the really sucky things about off-year local level voting is how hard it is to find useful information about the candidates. And that problem is getting worse. Judge 4 Yourself is one resource she and I found, but it appears to be regional. I really wish there were more, and if I were an Al Gore elected official, I'd be expanding mandated government websites to include more pages about people's records in government, and also those trying to be so. A pipe dream, I'm sure, but voting blogging is one of the aspects of the blogsphere I'm most proud of and hope grows. Brad remains the intertube's own god when it comes to vote blogging.

Not so much so far--in Florida, at least.

"... younger voters have shifted heavily toward the Democratic Party during the past four years.

But as yet -- in either Central Florida or the state as a whole -- a surge of younger voters hasn't materialized.

Though a bit more than 10 percent of all voters are younger than 25, fewer than 6 percent of early voters fit that category. Similarly, voters 25 to 34 years old are 14.4 percent of the electorate -- but just 9.5 percent of those who voted early. ..." -- Orlando Sentinal analyses the early voting figures in all of Florida -- Battle for Florida: Blacks turn out in droves, but few young people have voted

It's Friday night. You're tired and don't want to cook.

Some friends had invited you over for dinner. But they're pretty weird, you think, and you don't recognize what they say they're having. You declined.

You decide to go out to eat. You go downtown to a block that used to have twenty restaurants, but nineteen are boarded up. The line to get into the only one still open is endless.

You wait patiently in line for two hours and finally get seated. The waiter brings you the menu - a post-it note with only two items: fresh shit on a shingle and leftover shit on a shingle.

There's only one waitron and the place is mobbed. The little bot finally comes back after an hour. You ask, "Anything besides shit on a shingle?" It says, "Let. Me. Ask. Cook." and whirs off. Comes back in an hour. "We. Had. More. Choices. Too. Expensive. You. Want. Fresh. Or. Leftover?"

I have simple needs and to obtain my vote the Democratic and Republican candidates can easily meet them.

• Dismantle all of the faith based creations of his predecessors.
• Eliminate “Don’t ask, don’t tell”.
• Appoint a substantial number of gays and minorities to leadership posts in our military services and truly integrate our military.
• Put the criminals from prior administrations in jail, now!
• Restore the personal freedoms of Americans.

• There is no other candidate on the ballot.
• Someone puts a gun to my head and forces me to vote.

Today is not the first time the New York Times has urged elites to step in and stop people from destroying the country by voting. From the 1915 New York Times Editorial on the proposal to give women the vote:

The topic of WTDAMAF?(What To Do About Michigan And Florida?) has been discussed ad naseum , and I'm not trying to rehash them out here. But one argument that is always brought up, by someone supporting Obama, is that Clinton's entire stance is politically motivated. But, that is as that may be. The underlying point to me is that Obama is not. Period. End of discussion.

The right to vote is fundamental to democracy. Any candidate who can not stand up for that principle, in a primary, does not deserve my vote in that primary.

I'm really not against hand counts and audits of electronic voting. Heck I think there should be federal laws requiring audits where hand counts are compared to electronic results. But, in this case, I think the NH recount will be used by the media as a big orange-devil-stick to silence Those-that-dare-speak-its-name. (and Bev agrees)

Candidates who lose by 3 percentage or less are entitled to a recount for a $2,000 fee. Candidates who lose by more must pay for the full cost. Kucinich's campaign said it was sending the $2,000 fee to start the recount.

(Let's not repeat that virulent meme, "voter fraud," eh? Since, let's face it, that's a felony, and not many people want to risk a felony to vote. No matter how much the Republicans would like to make that dream come true. And if somebody comes up with something catchier than "voter disenfranchisement" I'd like to hear it.)

As always, Bradblog has the goods:

John Boyd, an Albuquerque, New Mexico based elections attorney who worked with the Democratic party in the state during the 2004 election, sends us the following inside account of the scandal surrounding recent reports that purged U.S. Attorney in NM, David Iglesias, was removed for his unwillingness to prosecute claims of "voter fraud" in the state prior to the 2004 Presidential Election.

Many happy returns, friend. My apologies for being so bad with birthdays, I can hardly remember my own.

Everyone really should thank Brad for his efforts. There are bloggers, there are journamalists, and then there are champions of truth and democracy. That's him.

Nothing brings greater fear to the heart of the racist than black and brown people with experience in 'The System' who vote.

Except, perhaps, a black man that white voters will elect to office.

I found it interesting how few of us wanted to discuss the fact that 40 years later, 33 congresscritters still opposed the Voting Rights Act, and voted so.

These are a few of the reasons why I take evoting issues so seriously, in case anyone wondered. There's no need for this kind of public drama, if one can flick a switch and magically make voting machines in minority districts not work, or not tabulate correctly.

I can post this kind of thing. I know, it's just a report from someone on the ground with legal training and election experience talking to those who actually saw the tampering that was going on, so we shouldn't pay any attention to it at all. Kennedy was wrong about thimerisol* after all, so who cares?

I mean, really. What is going to be enough for people to demand someone do something about this?

TO REVIEW: The election was run on highly hackable Diebold voting machines that were sent home overnight and unsecurely with poll workers for days prior to the election which rendered the machines both illegal and uncertified for use in the election under both federal and state laws, requirements and statutes. The GOP has since rushed to swear-in Bilbray before the votes were counted, or the election even certified by the state of California.

It must be tough to be liberal and have the temerity to speak out.

The point, though, is that Grapski started spending more and more time at City Hall researching the absentee ballots. At first, he was given free rein to examine them as closely as he pleased. Then he was told he was no longer at liberty to make photocopies. Shortly afterwards, Henderson told him he would be allowed no more than an extra hour to go through the ballot pile, and if he wanted to scrutinize them further he would have to pay the city for the trouble of watching over him as he did so.

Seriously:

"This is a true festival, women will run and vote for parliament for the first time," candidate Khaledah al-Khadher, a 48-year-old doctor and mother of eight, told Reuters on Sunday.

Brad and JFK are buddies:

A damning and detailed feature article, written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for Rolling Stone and documenting evidence of the theft of the 2004 Presidential Election is set to hit newstands this Friday, The BRAD BLOG can now confirm. The online version of the article will be posted tomorrow (Thursday) morning.