DNC Voting Rights Institute

[journalist3072]

I have one major question. Where is the DNC's Voting Rights Institute in all of this election madness?

It seems to me as if they are not really on the case. The DNC VRI was formed after the 2000 debacle to help educate voters on their rights and responsbilities at the polls.

If the VRI were doing their job, they should have fanned out all over the country before the election, working at the state level to enact uniform standards for provisional ballots.

What's the point of having a VRI, if they are going to be silent?

[alittlelark]

1. Perhaps no corporate sponsorship?

[bri_in_austin]

2. How do you know they haven't done anything?

[journalist3072]

5. VRI

If they have been doing anything, then they sure have not been vocal about it. If they are really being advocates for voting rights, they should be out there, doing press interviews, and educating people on what went wrong in this election.

[Eloriel]

3. Um, a little background on the DNC VRI

WHen Terry MacAuliffe was running for DNC Chair (backed HEAVILY by his old friend Bill Clinton), there was another man running. The first black mayor of Atlanta, the civil rights activist who was a young follower of Martin Luther King along with Congressman John Lewis and so many others, named Maynard Jackson.

Maxine Waters and numerous others (probably the whole Black Caucus) favored Maynard Jackson for the job. It was a fierce fight, coming down to the wire during their convention, and a deal was struck: Jackson would back off, and in return be given the top spot at a brand new "department" at the DNC -- the Voting Rights Institute, purportedly to ramp up grassroots organizing.

And he was NEVER heard from again. Probably un-funded or severely underfunded. You know the routine.

When Jackson died last spring, I heard Jimmy Carter (on some rdio program I heard while on my way to a Dean House Party) speaking about his memories of Jackson. Carter said he owed possibly his whole election to Jackson's efforts on his behalf. He would go to Maryland, and there in Baltimore he'd be met by a whole small army of people Jackson had organized on his behalf. He'd go to Detroit, and all sorts of other places and the same thing would be true.

The whole DNC is -- useless, frankly. All MacAuliffe could do was raise money, and that from corporate sources. They don't have a clue how to organize at the grassroots level and have NO interest in it anyway, except possibly at the very last minute in hasty GOTV efforts. They don't do well supporting local candidates, they don't know how and don't care to communicate with "the troops" (us), etc. -- I could go on, but what's the point?

And don't EVEN get me started on the DLC, the DNC's evil twin. :puke:

[journalist3072]

4. Maynard Jackson

Yep, I knew the background. When Maynard was trying to challenge Terry McAuliffe for the DNC Chairmanship, I was really rooting for him. As DNC Chair, he would have been a force to be reakoned with.

I love the Clintons, but I think they did a disservice to us by giving us Terry McAuliffe. He's been useless.