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File photo of voting booths in Florida on November 8, 2016. GREGG NEWTON / AFP - Getty Images

If there is one priority that Democrats need to own is to expand access to the voting booth for Latinos and other voters. Automatic voter registration should be a priority for all Democratic lawmakers.

So it's a shame that in New Mexico two Democrats didn't vote for a bill that would have gotten closer to automatic voter registration. Instead, they voted for a second bill that is less "automatic," thus diluting the purpose making voting easier for Latinos and other voter groups.

The lawmakers, State Reps. Daymon Ely and Debbie Rodella

In short, an "opt-in" provision means that a person filling out an online form for a driver's license would also be presented with a box that asks them if they also want to register to vote. The box, however, would not be automatically ticked, meaning the person would need to affirmatively tick the box to register.

An "opt-out" provision is much more effective; it would present the applicant with a box that is already ticked and the registrant would need to affirmatively untick the box if they did not desire to register to vote. The difference is subtle but critically important.

Rep. Ely said in a

More troubling is Rep. Rodella, who

Here's why Rep. Rodella is wrong.

According to a recent study by Wendy Weiser, automatic registration helps millions of Americans who change residences, without it many fall off the voter rolls.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, one in four eligible citizens is not registered to vote, one in eight voter registrations in the United States is invalid or significantly inaccurate, and one in four voters wrongly believes their voter registration is automatically updated when they change their address with the Postal Service. This is shameful.

When the amended bill was presented again, it was presented with the opt-in provision and without the opt-out provision. In other words, it's not really automatic voter registration. The two Democratic lawmakers voted for this bill instead.

Expanding access to the democratic process is an imperative that Democrats at least pretend to want, but the Republican Party has been busy pushing for legislation to stymie this right across the country. From news laws that punish the

The democratic process requires more than just citizen participation, but a government that accepts its share of the responsibility over voter participation. The academic research on this is clear; political participation is not only about citizens going to politics, but about politics going to its citizens.

Automatic voter registration is the law in other democratic countries, such as Australia, Peru, Germany, and others. The research has also shown that automatic voter registration helps boost voter

This is even more important for Latinos. A

Much of the confrontation in democratic governments has been over access to the political process. Historically, voter registration laws have been a hurdle to participation for minorities and politically disaffected groups. Whether it is voter id laws, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, or disenfranchising citizens with a criminal background, registration laws have been precision tool to discriminate against the powerless behind a disingenuous veil of concern over securing our democracy.

The discussion over how the Democrats recover from their stunning loss to Donald Trump has generally focused on what Democrats can do to counter the Republican Party, whether by appealing to working-class white voters or by doubling down with progressive values that may hinder their outreach to rural towns that catapulted the President to an electoral college victory.

But also of immediate concern for Democrats is holding their own representatives accountable for violating the values and interests of their own party at the local level. And pushing for easier access to the voting booth and vigorously supporting automatic voter registration is a must for the party not only because Democrats need Latino voters, but because it is the right thing to do.

If Democrats expect to have a chance at winning back Congress it must start with local officials getting the message that they have to fight for the democratic process. The answer is supporting and better yet, introducing bills to make voting easier, including automatic voter registration. This is their job.

Originally posted here:
Opinion: Democrats Can't Drop the Ball on Automatic Voter Registration - NBCNews.com

UPDATED: SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017, 5:34 P.M.

HELENA Musician and political novice Rob Quist on Sunday captured the Democratic nomination for the May 25 special election to fill the states only congressional seat.

Quist prevailed over seven other candidates, including two experienced legislators who trailed the entertainer from the start of Sundays balloting in Helena.

Montana will be without a representative in the U.S. House until a successor is elected for Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who resigned his seat last week after being confirmed to lead the U.S. Interior Department.

I come here not as a career politician rising through the ranks, said Quist told delegates during opening speeches. As a poet-musician, I ask you to look outside the bubble of Helena to a man who has represented Montana from behind a different kind of microphone.

Quist is making his first run for office in his partys bid to recapture a seat that a Democrat has not held in 20 years.

State Reps. Kelly McCarthy and Rep. Amanda Curtis were also vying for the partys nomination.

McCarthy of Billings pitched himself to fellow Democrats as an experienced campaigner who is well-versed in policy and national security matters.

Curtis, the only woman vying for her partys nomination, sought to persuade delegates that her gender wont be a barrier in winning the seat.

Curtis was seeking to be only the second woman elected to Congress from the Treasure State. In 1917, Montana Republican Jeannette Rankin became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Quist, a singer and guitarist for the Mission Mountain Wood Band, said he has traveled to more than 40 counties in recent weeks to meet Democratic central committee members, who make up the bulk of convention delegates.

Ive been trying to make a personal connection with everybody who has to make a decision in this, he said.

Republicans hold their nominating convention Monday and will choose from six candidates, including Greg Gianforte, who was the partys nominee for governor in November.

Democrats are already attacking Gianforte, who has asserted that he has the necessary delegates to clinch the GOP nomination.

Quist said he was proud to carry the banner for the Montanas Democratic Party.

Quist will have to quickly unify Democrats not only in getting votes out but in getting contributions for his campaign.

Read the rest here:
Montana Democrats pick Quist to run for congressional seat - The Spokesman-Review

New York Times

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Democrats Bet GOP Will Regret Opposing Scrutiny of Trump - New York Times

Mayor Bill Peduto and Sheriff Bill Mullen won the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsement Sunday, after a gathering of party elders at the IBEW Local #5 hall on the South Side.

Mr. Peduto beat his sole rival for the endorsement, District 1 City Councilwoman Darlene Harris, by a 372-245 margin.

"We took 60 percent of the vote, which is a pretty decisive victory," said Matt Merriman-Preston, a spokesman for the Peduto campaign. "It really speaks to the breadth of the mayor's support. People know that the mayor is continuing to deal with the challenges the city is facing, and they're pleased with what he's done so far."

This weekend, Mr. Peduto also formally garnered the support of a long-time ally, the service employees union.

Although Mr. Peduto has run for mayor twice before, in 2005 and 2013, this was the first time he sought the party's backing. Voters in the Democratic primary can and sometimes do ignore the endorsement, though the committees approval confers bragging rights, and the chance to appear on slate cards handed out at polling places.

Ms. Harris has not formally announced a mayoral campaign, even as she has sought the partys endorsement. She said Sundays result will play "a big part" in her decision about whether to launch a full-throated bid for office. As to her next step, she said, "I'll be making a decision on Tuesday," when election petitions are due.

Asked whether she was disappointed by the outcome, she said, "Why would I be? I didn't even announce I was running."

Another mayoral candidate, the Rev. John Welch, was escorted out of the IBEW hall after a brief sojourn inside in the morning.

Rev. Welch, of Homewood, was not seeking the endorsement, and as such was not entitled to appear at the event. He withdrew to the sidewalk outside. "I figured there would be some hospitality, he said. I had a chance to greet some people, and then I was greeted."

Sheriff Mullen, the top vote-getter on Sunday, garnered 1,137 votes, beating the 442 racked up by Pittsburgh homicide detective George Satler.

Sheriff Mullen said it was "gratifying to get the most votes. I had a lot of people working very hard."

"I was hoping to do better," said Detective Satler. "But I don't want to disappoint the more than 440 people who supported me. I will continue to run."

Sheriff Mullen took nothing for granted. While candidates often make last-ditch appeals to committee members by offering freebies before voting, Sheriff Mullens campaign provided an unusual boon: a golf cart to ferry less able-bodied committee members to the hall from the parking lots cross the street.

In other races, Anthony Coghill easily won the endorsement in City Council District 4, beating Gary McBurney. (Another contender, Ashleigh Deemer, did not seek the endorsement.) Pittsburgh school board member Terry Kennedy, who represents the 5th district, besting challenger Ghadah Makoshi. In Common Pleas Court races, Patrick Connelly and David Spurgeon won endorsement for the two judicial seats available.

"I think the results were predictable," said county committee chair Nancy Patton Mills. She called the event "exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. We had no issues. Everyone was cordial, and we're very proud of all the candidates.

Read more:
Peduto, Mullen win endorsements from county Democrats - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Posted: Mar 05, 2017 12:01 AM

Now that President Trump has followed through on his campaign promise and started the deportation process for criminal illegal aliens, Democrats and the media are united in outrage. One talking point dominates all others: Immigrants have a much lower crime rate than Americans do, so its unfair to target them. This begs the question: To these liberals, how many American victims of illegal alien crime would it take to for it to matter to you?

There are regular reports of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens horrific gang-related murders have occurred recently in New York, Washington, D.C., and Houston but the true crime rate among illegal aliens is not known. Most states do not keep those records for reasons we can only guess, plus there is no way of knowing the real number of illegals in the country. That fact hasnt stopped liberal commentators and politicians from stating unequivocally that we Americans are the real crime problem in this country.

Although it may be true, and from a sheer numbers standpoint it undoubtedly is, its also irrelevant. Victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens would not have been victims if those people were not in this country. Every person murdered by an illegal alien would still be alive.

This is a simple fact those who spout this made-up statistic hope people dont realize, because their entire argument would fall apart if they did.

Kate Steinle, the young woman murdered in San Francisco by an illegal alien with multiple convictions and deportations, would not have been murdered that July day in 2015 if the man who did it had not been in the country illegally in the first place.

Democrats dont care. In addition to doing all they could to ignore Steinles murder, they even voted against Kates Law, which would impose a minimum sentence of five years for already-deported illegal aliens who re-enter the country. Like I said, Democrats dont care.

Democrats would rather pander for the potential votes of illegal aliens should they be granted citizenship than defend Americans.

At President Trumps address to a joint session of Congress, Democrats went so far as to invite illegal aliens and their children to be their guests in the House gallery.

In the build up to the speech, one woman in particular garnered a lot of Democratic and media sympathy.

The children of recently deported illegal alien Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos were invited guests to the presidents speech, and their plight was widely reported in incredibly sympathetic, if not accurate, terms.

CNN had five reporters (seriously, five people) file a story on them entitled, Trumps speech disheartens deported moms kids. If Guadalupe had hired a PR firm, it couldnt have drafted a more glowing press release.

Guadalupes sad tale of woe was easy to find across the media, but the reason she was deported wasnt as readily available.

The New York Times, of all places, is where you can find it, though its only casually mentioned in their story.

After mentioning Guadalupe had been meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for nearly a decade, the Times noted these annual meetings were a requirement since she was caught using a fake Social Security number during a raid in 2008 at a water park where she worked.

Thats a politically correct way of saying she committed fraud or stole someones identity the Times doesnt say which. But those are the only ways an illegal alien could get a legitimate job.

Although certainly not murder or drug dealing, neither option is a victimless crime either an American was denied a job by fraud and/or another had their identity stolen. And thats the real truth Democrats dont want you to think of illegal aliens have countless victims who may not know for years, if ever, that they were victims.

Still, Democrats do not care.

This is to say nothing of the cost to society. The cost of educating illegal alien children is significantly higher than Americans because of the language barrier. This siphons off valuable taxpayer resources from American children, usually from poor urban areas, making those children victims of illegal immigration.

Again, Democrats do not care. Theyd rather focus on an illegal alien being arrested after giving a defiant press conference than reality.

Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime simply because not all illegal aliens are members of MS-13 or Democrats want to pretend it is. Real people suffer real consequences when someone enters the country illegally or overstays a visa.

The question is: What is the magic number of Americans who must be victims of these crimes before Democrats will care more about those victims than about the potential voters now in our country illegally? If recent actions are any indication, no number is high enough.

Go here to see the original:
For Democrats, How Many American Victims Are Enough? - Townhall