Glad tey hit a chord -- Too many public interest groups are ignoring the

Public interest groups and office holders that are fighting for us on other fronts are strangely silent on our broken elections. I think targeting these groups is far more important to the cause than going after "brick wall" people.

See my earlier post for thoughts on this.

We need to get "our side" on board. Getting them on board doesn't let us off the hook, but without them, we often find ourselves to be voices in the wilderness.

It's so strange. When I talk to staff or leaders in the various public interest orgs, they usually express the notion that the fight for trustworthy elections is the purview of the parties. I think this is part of the specific-case focus and the strange notion that the interests of the candidates are foremost. The latter is another notion we need to challenge. Elections are intended to measure the will of the people and it is their interest that is primary. If the people are not satisfied with the conduct of an election, it doesn't matter if a candidate has conceded.

Although many that should know better have a "not our job" mentality, for the most part, they recognize the problem (although they may not have an appropriate sense of the magnitude or the urgency). Tackling people that are essentially on board and goading them to action is a less daunting task than fighting the "not a problem" mentality.

is the US Congress . . . and particularly the Democrats in the US Congress . . .

seems when it comes to the issues that REALLY matter, we are indeed a one-party nation . . .

We expect more of the Democrats, so it's understandable that we focus our disappointment on them, but I challenge the "particularly the Democrats" assertion. The Democratic Party is doing far more than the Republicans. Howard Dean has dedicated some party resources (not as many as I’d like, but it’s something) and 31 members joined Stephanie Tubbs-Jones in her objection on January 6th. Barbara Boxer standing up was an enormous win.

Too few have it on their radar, but we can change that. You might be surprised at how effective citizen lobbyists can be. There is no sufficient substitute for in-person dialog, which allows you to directly contradict the many rationalizations and excuses given for inaction.

There is real value to getting in the faces of our representatives. Developing and making an effective case is key. Interest groups spend millions on people doing this type of work.

The most effective tactic is to engage in a back and forth exchange. Calling to get the name of the Senator or Rep's scheduler and faxing a written request is the best way to get in the door (sample letter). Call to follow up if you don't hear back. Don't go with lots of people, it is not conducive to dialog (three or four max). If you belong to or support a group working on the issue, try to arrange going as their local representative. Find out what actions the congresscritter has taken and acknowledge them. No matter what they have done, our broken elections are not a top priority for many, so you can ask why it isn't at the top of their agenda. Some have a list of issues for constituents to select from when they send comments. Voting rights or trustworthy elections isn't on any of the lists I've checked. The staffer may claim they are on it, but if they don't have it on their web site, you can point to the omission as evidence of the low priority it has for them.

Your task is to elicit their rationalizations for inaction and challenge them. It is important to make the key points of your case in a back and forth dialog. It needs to be a two-way conversation. If you are doing all the talking, it is unlikely you are engaging in a way that influences. Typically, the standard rationalizations come up spontaneously, but if they don't, elicit them (e.g., "People working on this issue often find that leaders view it as the exclusive purview of the the party or campaigns. Is this an assumption your office makes?" or "We've found that many fail to recognize how activating this issue is. Have you ever noted how powerful the response is when any leader touches on the topic in speeches?"). Ask the tough questions (e.g., "Are hours-long poll-tax-lines for poor, minority voters AND none for affluent, white voters a tolerable condition for you?" or "Can we tolerate secret vote counting?"). If you don't get direct answers, press for them in follow up contacts. Leave them with a short summary of the key points (many are covered in my other posts to this thread). Follow up with a more comprehensive list of links and material.

These folks are just people. For whatever reason, they have not dedicated resources to the problem. It's circular. Staff is focused on other things. When something is off the collective radar, it is off. If you push and get no response, that’s another matter.

Perhaps they "should" know better, but if they don't "get it", it doesn't mean they are willfully ignoring the issue. More often than not, they have just never heard an effective case for acting.

It's the most detailed description I've seen of how to talk to your reps. I recommend you start a new thread for it, or--maybe better--start a topic in the research forum about how to talk to your reps and then start a thread in election reform that links to the research topic.

If you do a research topic, people can add their knowledge to it. Maybe there already is one you can add to. Check that out first.

Thanks for writing.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll restructure to make it more appropriate to that thread and post a pointer to it in this discussion.

It would be great to gather arguments that have worked for others in their lobbying efforts, and gather the rationalizations folks run into so we can formulate responses.

During the January 6th effort we had a yahoo group for that purpose, but things moved so fast, most information got passed by phone or at meetups. We captured talking points for that effort in this document. We intend to kick off a more organized effort to recruit citizen lobbyists in the coming year, but in the meantime, I can do a bit of proding here and there.

Oops. It's too late to edit my original post.

Sorry, I accidently created a new post when i meant to reply to this one