NPR’s Ina Jaffe took a look yesterday for Weekend Edition Sunday at the vote-by-mail election system in Oregon, and how the rules there make campaigning a unique experience.

A big critique of vote-by-mail, which has been echoed here by Norman J. Ornstein, is that the process negates the secret ballot. “We got rid of that big reform that guaranteed secrecy in the voting booth,” said Jim Moore, political science professor at Pacific University, “and got rid of the idea that no one can come between you and directly placing your ballot in the box — a sealed locked box.”

Listen to Jaffe’s piece here. My piece this week for NPR Sunday Soapbox, which was teased on Weekend Edition Sunday, was about how super delegates are shifting the election reform debate from our voting systems to our party system.

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Many of you were in touch to let us know about Tom Brokaw mentioning our efforts on MSNBC last night during the election coverage. Here is the transcript of his conversation with Chris Matthews, from MSNBC:

MATTHEWS: Tom, you know, back in—we watched the movie that other night in that Washington showing of the film about the recount in 2000, and if you think about what happened after that vote, and the Supreme Court’s intervention, it was African-Americans in the Congress.

Remember how zealous they were in trying to get that rejected, that Supreme Court intervention? It was the strongest community in the country on the hottest issue and the hottest group—community of concern about that matter, the way that was decided in 2000.

BROKAW: Well, they continue to feel—Andy Young is—led a real crusade in this country to have more focus, once again, on the Voting Rights Act. He thinks they need to go to the next step now. “Why Tuesday?” is the name of his campaign, because so many African-American voters and people at the lower end of the socio-economic scale, whatever their color, can’t always get to a polling place on a Tuesday.

And then there’s the Supreme Court decision now which has caused some controversy in Indiana that you have to have a photo ID of some kind. I think that may be less important in the final analysis. But it’s worth examining how you can make it possible for working class Americans, especially African-Americans, many of whom work two jobs, that they can get to the polling place easily.

So Andy Young, who is an old soldier, of course, in Dr. King’s crusade, and then the other young black legislators who are coming up in the South, those who were already in office, people like Harold Ford, we’ll be hearing from tonight. They have a big stake in all of this in making sure that their vote counts and that they are a new kind of constituency, not just on autopilot for the Democratic Party anymore.

If you’re new here, you can learn more about Ambassador Andrew Young and other members of our team. Do you know why we vote on Tuesday? If not, find out here.

Screen grab of Brokaw, Brian Williams and Tim Russert from MSNBC.

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Why Tuesday? Board Member Norman J. Ornstein

One of the most interesting and significant recent Supreme Court decisions concerned the Indiana voter identification law, in which the court by a 6-3 vote upheld the law despite zero evidence of in-person voting fraud in the state. In a major surprise, Justice John Paul Stevens led the opinion, saying the state’s interest in preventing such fraud justifies the Legislature’s action. Stevens did leave the door open to challenges to other states’ laws if they create too much of a burden on many voters.

Indiana’s law was better by far than the awful Georgia law that was overturned by the courts; in Indiana, the state would provide voters with the appropriate government-issue photo ID for free, while Georgia charged a significant fee, the equivalent of a poll tax. But Indiana’s requirements are plenty burdensome.

Elections need to be fair, and fraud is a real concern, especially in an era where the stakes are very high and the parties are close enough that many elections will be decided by razor-thin margins.

If a person cannot present a passport, driver’s license or other similar form of official identification, he or she must supply an official document, such as a birth certificate, to get the free ID, and getting a copy of a birth certificate is quite costly. The fact is that many elderly people and many poor people don’t drive, don’t fly and don’t have copies of their birth certificates. (more…)

Posted in Election Reform, Voter ID requirements, Indiana | No Comments »

Larry Rohter and Michael M. Grynbaum report high turnout — perhaps record high turnout — in Indiana and North Carolina.

“I’ve seen people I thought had passed on to glory, and young folks that sit around and usually don’t care,” said Carlotta Blake-King, an elections judge at a polling place in Hammond.

Election Day Tuesday is almost over. Do you know why we vote on Tuesday? Here’s the answer.

Posted in Election Reform, Indiana, Election 2008, North Carolina | No Comments »

Tuesday May 6, 2008 Indiana and North Carolina vote. Do you know why we vote on Tuesday? If you’re wondering, you’re not alone. We have the answer.

Drawing for the New York Times by Jason Logan.

Posted in Election Reform, Chris Rock, Why do we vote on Tuesday?, Indiana, Election 2008, North Carolina | No Comments »