I have questions about Culver and how well he did with Iowa voting issues

[CoffeeCat]

Since Culver was our Secretary of State, how well did he protect voter rights in the 04 election?

Did he do a good job?

I remember, after the 2004, I called the SOS's office and asked if there was any way to verify that my vote counted. The person on the phone politely said, "No."

I'm not a fan of that. Does anyone know if Culver advocated for voter rights?

I do remember that he was on the news in the run up to the 04 election. He was fighting like mad to get adequate numbers of voting machines in Ames. Apparently, there was a shortage of machines. These shennanigans appeared to be a deliberate "mistake" (on the part of Republcians) to lessen vote counts in a highly Democratic part of the state--where high numbers of liberal-minded ISU voters live.

I do remember Culver being ticked at a Republican (a female), who promised to deliver a certain number of voting machines to the Ames area, but did not deliver on those promises.

I was impressed with Culver's tenacity. He seemed very passionate and truly angry at this situation.

Does anyone know of other instances where Culver fought to secure a fair vote in Iowa? Has he openly advocated for paper ballots or against hackable machines?

Anyone have any additional info?

[ISUGRADIA]

1. Culver was very vocal in 2004 and fought for voter protection

He and AG Miller tried to make sure that people who may try and vote at the wrong precinct would have at least the part of their vote that should count, count. The Repubs blocked that in court.

He also put into the Iowa Administrative Code for the first time a definition of what counts as a vote when their is a dispute on a ballot during a recount. Very valuable in a recount.

Culver tried to fight restictive changes in voting that the Republicans passed to make absentee voting more difficult but they passed and went into law. Vilsack has the veto, Culver does not.

As to "any way to verify that my vote counted" what exactly do you mean? Give me an example of a state where you can verify your vote. In Iowa, if you call your local auditor's office you can see if you have voting credit for an election. If you voted by absentee by law you have to be notified if your vote did not count.

[terryg11]

2. thought some states had "paper" voting

meaning that they got something like a printout of hw they voted.

[ISUGRADIA]

6. No state does this i.e. provided the voter with a receipt of his

or her votes. This would make vote buying very easy. Some electronic systems may print a record of the votes from the touch screen that is not accessible to the voter though.

[CornField]

3. Yes, he has

In May of last year he appeared before the Iowa House & held press conferences to endorse the Senate's bill which called for verifiable paper trails on all Iowa voting machines. His press conference also was to call attention to 47 Iowa counties which had made their intentions to purchase black boxes for voting (as part of HAVA - Help America Vote Act). Culver said that without the bill's passage in the House, he could not force the county auditors to purchase machines with verifiable paper trails.

The bill passed unanamously in the Senate last session... it has been stonewalled and buried in committee in the House. (I've got several posts about this already so I'm not going to go into all again.)

Culver, Gov. Vilsack, several labor and voter groups and others endorsed the bills in both the House and Senate. The only groups opposing those bills are the county officials.

[Debi]

4. I was going to reply, but see I don't need to, except on one point

Although the SOS office should have record that you voted in 2004, I think it's a privacy issue determining who you voted for. Whoever you talked to at the SOS office should have known that there is checking (you know this, you have to sign in, you have to give your address and phone number and then sign the voters list book, you are given a paper ballot to fill in for the elliptical reader - at least in Black Hawk -) Now, if your Democratic Party officials for your county are on the ball they should have record that you voted as well, by having poll watchers keep track of who voted when. But I still believe that when you enter the booth, nobody records how you voted.

[ISUGRADIA]

7. You are right, votes are totally secret there is no log as to how an

individual votes. It would defeat the idea of a secret ballot.

And the SOS has voting credit as you mentioned for anyone who voted in 2004. Candidates buy these lists to know who to target for mailings, etc. Iowa has a very good system and Culver has helped to make it better.

[amesdem]

5. Culver did it right!

During the last general election you're complaining about the proper representation of your vote. I think thats what your complaint is regarding unfortunately I don't see this as a problem with Culver, I actually think its one of his greatest strengths!

During the last congressional session Culver held a statehouse press conference to urge the importance of a verified paper trial and wrote a letter to the Governor urging the importance of a verified paper trail. Currently 9 counties have verified paper trials. Culver has never been a lightweight on this issue!

I think Culver has been equally as GOOD in advocating voters rights as Catherine Harris has been BAD!

[Debi]

8. Nice comparison!

:thumbsup: