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 <title>John Bonifaz blogs</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog</link>
 <description></description>
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 <title>&quot;They&#039;re Supposed to Count the Votes, Right?&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060921</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060921&amp;amp;title=%22They&#039;re%20Supposed%20to%20Count%20the%20Votes%2C%20Right%3F%22%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060921&amp;amp;title=%22They&#039;re%20Supposed%20to%20Count%20the%20Votes%2C%20Right%3F%22%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;[ &lt;a href=&quot;http://bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4078&quot;&gt;crossposted&lt;/a&gt; at &lt;em&gt;Blue Mass Group&lt;/em&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For much of the year, I have worked for &lt;a href=&quot;http://johnbonifaz.com/&quot;&gt;John Bonifaz&lt;/a&gt;, not just promoting his campaign online, but also covering election issues to inform people about the state of Democracy in America and the problems we need to fix.&amp;nbsp; On Tuesday, I dedicated the day to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.soniachangdiaz.com/&quot;&gt;Sonia Chang-Diaz&lt;/a&gt;&#039;s campaign for state senate in the Second Suffolk district.&lt;p&gt;
The two streams combined: Tuesday night, I found myself at the center of the kinds of voting problems I&#039;d &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060912&quot;&gt;written about&lt;/a&gt; on John&#039;s blog.&amp;nbsp; Even before Wednesday&#039;s announcement that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/09/eight_uncounted.html&quot;&gt;eight precincts had no vote tallies at all&lt;/a&gt;, we knew there were hundreds, if not thousands, of votes not counted, and the election results uncertain.&amp;nbsp; On Wednesday, the Chang-Diaz campaign called John Bonifaz to help guide them through the process of seeing all the votes counted.&lt;p&gt;
I&#039;d like to commend the Boston elections department for being as helpful as they have, on election night and in advance.&amp;nbsp; Especially John Donovan - if we pull through this mess and end up with a full and reliable count of the votes, it will be partly thanks to him.&amp;nbsp; But make no mistake: &lt;strong&gt;the votes have not been counted&lt;/strong&gt;, even without considering the 8 precincts that submitted no tallies.&amp;nbsp; It&#039;s not yet time to think about a &quot;recount&quot; - we still need a real first count.&lt;p&gt;
As Bonifaz said many times on the campaign trail, we didn&#039;t know about the problems in Florida until 2000, and most of us didn&#039;t know about the problems in Ohio until 2004; if we have a really close result in a prominent election, we would find out that we also have problems here in Massachusetts.&amp;nbsp; Perhaps this will be the election that brings them to our attention.&lt;p&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Count the Votes?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;
During most of the last couple of hours before polls closed, and the next few hours after, I held the line 1 telephone and fielded a majority of the incoming calls.&amp;nbsp; Signs of trouble started early in the evening: the first time I got a call from a volunteer asking &lt;em&gt;&quot;they&#039;re supposed to count the votes, right?&quot;&lt;/em&gt; I almost didn&#039;t know what to make of it.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Thu, 21 Sep 2006 13:51:29 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Thank You</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060919-thankyou</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060919-thankyou&amp;amp;title=Thank%20You%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060919-thankyou&amp;amp;title=Thank%20You%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THANK YOU!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Over the last 10 months, I have traveled the Commonwealth speaking to voters from the Berkshires to the Cape and everywhere in between. I have been inspired by the passion and commitment of voters of all ages and from all walks of life to this grassroots campaign.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thanks to all of you who supported this campaign. I have been humbled by your support and am proud to stand with you again tonight.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While we did not emerge victorious at the polls, we should all feel a sense of pride about our efforts, about the movement we have started and about what lies ahead. Tuesday, nearly 130,000 voters stood up and I am honored to stand with them today and into the future.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is just the beginning. We&#039;ll be back and together we will continue our journey to return voters to power and to make Massachusetts a national leader once again.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Keep on!&lt;br /&gt;
John&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Tue, 19 Sep 2006 22:44:39 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Bonifaz featured on thenation.com</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060919-thenation</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060919-thenation&amp;amp;title=Bonifaz%20featured%20on%20thenation.com%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060919-thenation&amp;amp;title=Bonifaz%20featured%20on%20thenation.com%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On the front page of &lt;em&gt;The Nation&lt;/em&gt;&#039;s web site today, John Nichols&#039; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&amp;amp;pid=122699&quot;&gt;A Plan to Fix Our Broken Elections&lt;/a&gt; proclaims, &lt;strong&gt;Massachusetts candidate John Bonifaz has the right program to restore democracy.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nichols writes, &quot;Some of us have been writing and talking about this country&#039;s almost fully dysfunctional electoral systems for the better part of a decade.&quot;  Secretary of state positions &quot;have to be occupied by champions of democracy who believe that protecting and the promoting the right to vote must be the central function of local and state election officials.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;[Bonifaz] has persevered with a primary campaign that has spoken well and wisely of the need to fix our broken election systems. His small &quot;d&quot; democratic commitment has earned Bonifaz enthusiastic endorsements from newspapers such as the Boston Phoenix, one of the nation&#039;s premier alternative weeklies, and the New Bedford Standard-Times, which declared last week that, &quot;Mr. Galvin has not used his office enough to push through voting reforms that make Massachusetts a shining example and a leader in reviving democracy at the local level. Mr. Bonifaz will be that champion for the voter.&quot;&lt;/div&gt;
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 <pubDate>Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:44:12 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Blogs for Bonifaz</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060919-blogs</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060919-blogs&amp;amp;title=Blogs%20for%20Bonifaz%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060919-blogs&amp;amp;title=Blogs%20for%20Bonifaz%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We&#039;ve always believed that if voters took a long look at the candidates for Secretary, most of them would pick John Bonifaz.  He&#039;s clearly the better candidate.  Our challenge has been that most voters don&#039;t think about the race for Secretary, and the press doesn&#039;t cover it as much as the exciting race for Governor that voters are paying a lot more attention to.  Our task has been to get the word out, to get people interested in researching the candidates, knowing that of those who do, a majority will vote for Bonifaz.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We believe Bill Galvin knows it.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/articles/2006/09/03/running_after_a_little_respect/&quot;&gt;Bill Galvin&#039;s strategy&lt;/a&gt; has been to keep this race out of the news and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060902&quot;&gt;to keep voters in the dark&lt;/a&gt;.  His hope is that most voters &lt;em&gt;won&#039;t&lt;/em&gt; think much about the race for Secretary until they&#039;re at the polling place, see the ballot, and vote for the incumbent whose name they probably recognize.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Well, one group of voters who &lt;em&gt;have&lt;/em&gt; been paying a lot of attention, and carefully evaluating the candidates all year, are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://leftyblogs.com/massachusetts&quot;&gt;bloggers&lt;/a&gt;.  They&#039;re independent of the Democratic party, but they&#039;re very active and informed.  Massachusetts Democratic political bloggers span the spectrum of views in the Massachusetts Democratic party, and earlier this year, several of them were leaning towards Galvin, several towards Bonifaz, and several undecided.  And after taking a good long hard look at the candidates, &lt;strong&gt;a host of Massachusetts Democratic blogs endorsed John Bonifaz&lt;/strong&gt; while &lt;strong&gt;none have endorsed Galvin&lt;/strong&gt; as far as we can see.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3755&quot;&gt;Blue Mass Group&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;At the outset, each of us expected to back Galvin in this race (though we didn&#039;t expect to be terribly vocal about it).  But as we&#039;ve explored the details of the race and seen the way the two candidates are conducting it, we&#039;ve changed our minds.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.massrevolutionnow.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=480&quot;&gt;Mass Revolution Now&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;I must admit that for quite some time I was ambivilent on the Secretary of State&#039;s race in Massachusetts. [...] In the last few weeks my thinking certainly changed.  Not only have I realized how important the SoS&#039;s office can be if filled by the right person but I have also come to see that John Bonifaz is not only a tremendous candidate with excellent ideas and but also a great person. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://ryanpadams.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-im-supporting-bonifaz.html&quot;&gt;Ryan Adams&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;... the tipping point in my decision to vote for Bonifaz is his internet presence. Not only is Bonifaz using the internet to educate voters and compel them to vote for him, &lt;em&gt;he&#039;s pointing voters out to some of the most important issues going on in Massachusetts.&lt;/em&gt;  The race isn&#039;t about Bonifaz, it&#039;s about the issues - and whether or not he wins, he&#039;s probably done more good for electoral politics outside of office than Galvin has as an elected official.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.leftinlowell.com/2006/09/14/my-downticket-votes/&quot;&gt;Left in Lowell&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;I cast my vote today for Secretary of State for John Bonifaz. And, as the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3755&quot;&gt;editors at BMG&lt;/a&gt; said in their endorsement, it’s not just a vote against Galvin - who not only flubbed in his ignore-the-opponent tactic, but who appears to be less attentive to his job than he once was. However, Bonifaz, though many of his ideas are grand and would be hard to implement, has views that are in line with mine - from corporate responsibility to election reform and protecting voting rights. We know that with Bonifaz, we will never have to worry about paperless touchscreen ballots or having &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/03/19/lowell_voting_problems_probed/&quot;&gt;known problems with voting in some cities&lt;/a&gt; ignored.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.soapblox.net/belowboston/showDiary.do?diaryId=383&quot;&gt;Below Boston&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;John Bonifaz for Secretary of State. For using his years of expertise and energy on educating people on the fundamental importance of the office for which he seeks, his clear understanding on the vital role fair and honest elections have on maintaining our democracy,his committment to enfranchising the citizen as voter, his understanding of the role the Secretary of State&#039;s office plays in regulating corporate citizenship, and his willingness to debate these issues with his opponent makes him our clear choice for Secretary of State.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dedhamblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/john-bonifaz-deserves-debate.html&quot;&gt;DedhamBlog&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;I have to agree with other bloggers out there like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3518&quot;&gt;David at BlueMassGroup&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://ryanpadams.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-interview-with-bonifaz.html&quot;&gt;Ryan over at Ryan&#039;s Take&lt;/a&gt; that John Bonifaz deserves a debate with Bill Galvin and he has my support on September 19th unless Galvin convinces me otherwise in a debate of some kind.  To learn more about John Bonifaz, visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/&quot;&gt;www.JohnBonifaz.com&lt;/a&gt; and avoid another &#039;no information voter&#039; campaign.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://massmarrier.blogspot.com/2006/09/bonifaz-becomes-only-option.html&quot;&gt;Marry in Massachusetts&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;The dictionary defines &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;galvanize&lt;/span&gt; as &quot;stimulate&quot; or even &quot;coat with zinc.&quot; Given our secretary of state&#039;s cowardly inaction and lack of communication, perhaps it would define &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;Galvinize&lt;/span&gt; as &quot;avoid citizens&quot; or &quot;disdain the voters.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It cracks a corner off my infallibility plaque, but I have to reverse my endorsement in this race.  After much thought in May, &lt;a href=&quot;http://massmarrier.blogspot.com/2006/05/begrudgingly-galvin.html&quot;&gt;I came down for Bill Galvin over John Bonifaz&lt;/a&gt;. In light of the objections I had then to Galvin and particularly his recent behavior, I switch to John Bonifaz.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I see Bonifaz as by far the brighter and more principled of the two.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mfw.us/b4pc-endorsements&quot;&gt;Michael Wilcox&lt;/a&gt;, Berkshires for Progressive Change.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dfaboston.org/Mass/2006/09/dfa-boston-volunteer-days.html&quot;&gt;Blog for Boston&lt;/a&gt;, the blog of Democracy for America - Boston.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://offonatangent.blogspot.com/2006/09/accuvote-how-to-write-in-sticker.html&quot;&gt;Off on a Tangent&lt;/a&gt;, with a great post about how to vote in a sticker campaign.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://theprogressiveblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/john-bonifaz-for-secretary-of.html&quot;&gt;The Progressive Blog&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;The Progressive Blog is pleased to announce its first ever, official political endorsement:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;JOHN BONIFAZ&lt;br /&gt;
for SECRETARY of the COMMONWEALTH of MASSACHUSETTS&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
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 <pubDate>Tue, 19 Sep 2006 08:21:15 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>A Vote for Bonifaz is a vote for...</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/vote</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;A vote for Bonifaz is...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;font-size:1.1em; line-height:1.5em; padding:0.5em; background-color:#EEF&quot;&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2Fvote&amp;amp;title=A%20Vote%20for%20Bonifaz%20is%20a%20vote%20for...%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2Fvote&amp;amp;title=A%20Vote%20for%20Bonifaz%20is%20a%20vote%20for...%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
A vote for &lt;strong&gt;leadership&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
A vote for &lt;strong&gt;same day registration&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
A vote for &lt;strong&gt;clean elections&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
A vote &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;against&lt;/em&gt; Diebold&lt;/strong&gt; touchscreen voting.&lt;br /&gt;
A vote for enforcing the Voting Rights Act in Massachusetts.&lt;br /&gt;
A vote against entrenched incumbency and &lt;em&gt;for&lt;/em&gt; public debate.
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bill Galvin ignored voting rights violations while Bonifaz stepped up to help, stayed silent when clean elections was attacked and Bonifaz led the fight to defend it, blocked same day registration legislation promoted by town clerks, and has failed to show up to a single debate with John Bonifaz all year.  The difference couldn&#039;t be clearer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wheredoivotema.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vote&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, then &lt;em&gt;call your friends&lt;/em&gt; and remind them to vote.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Tue, 19 Sep 2006 01:52:05 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Galvin Considers Diebold for Massachusetts</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060918-diebold</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060918-diebold&amp;amp;title=Galvin%20Considers%20Diebold%20for%20Massachusetts%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060918-diebold&amp;amp;title=Galvin%20Considers%20Diebold%20for%20Massachusetts%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Help America Vote Act&lt;/em&gt;, was a mixed bag, but one clearly positive part of the bill was a requirement that states make voting more accessible to the disabled.  As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/14/voting_tool_for_disabled_delayed_for_primaries/&quot;&gt;the Boston Globe reported&lt;/a&gt;, however, Bill Galvin failed to meet the deadline to comply.  HAVA, passed in 2002, gave states until Jan. 1, 2006, &quot;to provide disabled voters with the same accessibility and privacy in the voting booth that everyone else enjoys.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;State elections officials say specially designed voting machines for people with disabilities might not be available at every polling place in time for the Sept. 19 primary election, despite a federal requirement that the machines be in place this year.  Secretary of State William F. Galvin said he is near the end of a lengthy vetting process and could order the machines within days, depending upon an outside expert&#039;s evaluation of three models&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Federal government has already sued a few states for failing to comply with this requirement.  John Bonifaz &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/files/pressrelease20060814.pdf&quot;&gt;harshly criticized Galvin&#039;s inaction&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;&quot;One of the most important aspects of the Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002, is the need for states across the country to have voting equipment that adequately and securely meets the needs of voters with disabilities. [...] despite HAVA&#039;s passage four years ago, Secretary Galvin has no plan in place to meet this requirement and train all poll workers in time for September 19. [...] this process should have started years ago, after the bill&#039;s 2002 passage. Massachusetts is again failing to meet basic federal requirements because of Secretary Galvin&#039;s inaction. We&#039;ve seen voting rights violations and Justice Department lawsuits in Boston and Springfield. Now, it is non-compliance with a critical voter accessibility law.&quot;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;p style=&quot;text-align:center&quot;&gt;John Bonifaz answers questions,&lt;br /&gt;talks about computer voting in Ohio.&lt;br /&gt;
(&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/lwWP-N1HqT0&quot;&gt;link to this video&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;What &quot;three models&quot; of voting machines is Galvin&#039;s office considering?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to Massachusetts election integrity groups, Galvin&#039;s office sent out requests for proposals to voting machine companies only last fall, and narrowed the choices down to three for serious consideration.  For most of this year, anxious town clerks who have asked the elections division what machines they may need to by, have been told that these three options are still being evaluated.  They are: the AutoMARK, the Hart InterCivic eSlate, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3965&quot;&gt;Diebold AccuVote&lt;/a&gt; touchscreen voting machine!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;John Bonifaz would not consider bringing proprietary Diebold touchscreen voting to Massachusetts.&lt;/strong&gt;  In his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/votersbillofrights&quot;&gt;Voters&#039; Bill of Rights&lt;/a&gt; he writes,&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Count every vote&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The right to vote includes the right to have our votes properly counted.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We must ensure that every citizen&#039;s vote will be counted. This includes a guarantee of open and transparent elections with verified voting, paper trails, hand-recorded paper ballots, and access to the source codes for, and random audits of, electronic voting machines. It also includes a guarantee that we the people, through our government, will control our voting machines — not private companies.&lt;/div&gt;
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 <pubDate>Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:21:55 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Mimi Kennedy: Elect John Bonifaz</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060918-mimikennedy</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060918-mimikennedy&amp;amp;title=Mimi%20Kennedy%3A%20Elect%20John%20Bonifaz%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060918-mimikennedy&amp;amp;title=Mimi%20Kennedy%3A%20Elect%20John%20Bonifaz%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Mimi Kennedy is the chair of the board of &lt;a href=&quot;http://pdamerica.org/&quot;&gt;Progressive Democrats of America&lt;/a&gt;  -- Ofer Inbar)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;John Bonifaz&#039;s election as Massachusetts Secretary of State is necessary to reverse the decline in American democracy at a time when our children&#039;s future hangs in the balance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In November 2000, John Conyers and NAACP officials conducted post-election hearings in a sweltering schoolroom in Florida.  I watched, on C-SPAN,  as African American voters and pollworkers told stories of abuse and disenfranchisement that made me weep. I had celebrated the civil rights victories of the sixties, but as a white person, I&#039;d never been harassed or disenfranchised at the polls. The reality for my fellow voters, forty years after the Voting Rights Act, was horrifying.  When John Conyers&#039; thorough report on Florida established the groundwork for federal election reform, I rejoiced.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Help America Vote Act was passed in 2002. Like most Americans and their legislators, I didn&#039;t know the bill&#039;s details.  The name promised an end to disenfranchisement and national enforcement of standards to end local corruption: election reform! But, like the resolution that led to war in Iraq, like the Patriot Act, HAVA has had consequences that, while perhaps not unintended by the lobbyists who helped craft it, has sown wider and more subtle disenfranchisement throughout the country.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In Ohio, 2004, electronic voting helped a partisan Secretary of State decide the presidential election despite massive anomalies, voter suppression and disenfranchisement, and documented, decisive inaccuracies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;John Conyers, once again a lone legislator crying &quot;foul!&quot;, held hearings - and &lt;strong&gt;John Bonifaz was there. His detailed analysis of Ohio&#039;s problems established him as a leader&lt;/strong&gt; in both the voter-suppression and technological aspects of election reform and election protection - now combining under the name election integrity.  His passion for election integrity is just that: it is for integrity.  Our voting system must serve &lt;strong&gt;all&lt;/strong&gt; voters&#039; intent. It is not to be used to reward some and punish others; to serve some interests and ignore others; to record some votes accurately and shift others; to give access to some and deny it to others.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;John Bonifaz understands the threat to democracy from social injustice.  As a leading Constitutional lawyer, he&#039;s committed to civil rights. But he also understands - with a knowledge that is rare and increasingly valuable -- how mathematically-manipulated elections happen -- and are accepted by an electorate convinced by skewed polls and divisive PR campaigns.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Restore hope to democracy by electing John Bonifaz, one of the nation&#039;s leading election protectors, as Massachusetts&#039; top elections official.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:30:06 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Clean Elections: Healthier Democracy in Arizona</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060917-arizona</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060917-arizona&amp;amp;title=Clean%20Elections%3A%20Healthier%20Democracy%20in%20Arizona%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(In 2002, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.progressive.org/node/1548&quot;&gt;John Bonifaz took the lead&lt;/a&gt; in defending Massachusetts&#039; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2321&quot;&gt;clean elections&lt;/a&gt; law, while Secretary Galvin did nothing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Phil Lopes is the progressive House Minority Leader in Arizona.  He ran as a clean elections candidate when he was first elected in 2002, and again for both of his re-election campaigns since then.  Arizona&#039;s public financing law has had a major impact on his and other campaigns.  -- Ofer Inbar)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&#039;ve worked in public health all of my career, health care and health care reform; I want to create a single payer system.  I&#039;m a very liberal Democrat, and Tucson is a liberal place, but Arizona is pretty conservative.  I hoped that by getting elected, I could not just be a voice for liberalism, but also influence what Republicans in this state do.  By the time 2002 rolled around I was semi-retired and the kids were grown.  I&#039;d been wanting to run for office since I was in high school, and now it was time.  In 2004 I got elected House minority leader, which gives me a bully pulpit to keep talking about health care.  That&#039;s my passion.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Talking to the Voters&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I had run for state house once before, in 1992, and lost.  One of the things I hated most was asking people for money, so I supported the clean elections law when it was on the ballot.  The law went into effect with the 2000 election.  In 2002, clean elections made my decision much easier, because I knew what I had to do: talk to voters.  That&#039;s much better than having to ask people for money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Under the Arizona law, a candidate for state house must collect 220 contributions of $5 each from registered voters in the district.  You submit all of the contribution forms to the secretary of state, who verifies a sample of the contributors to make sure they&#039;re legitimate, and certifies you.  Then you turn that certification in to the Clean Elections agency, and they send you a check: about $12,000 for the primary, and about $18,000 for the general election.  Whatever you don&#039;t spend, you must return to the state.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That&#039;s one of the real attractions of it: Once I raised my 220 contributions in June, I never had to ask for money again.  All I did from then on, was talk to voters about the issues - knowing that all my opponents had the same resources as I did.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Sun, 17 Sep 2006 20:38:04 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Town Clerks Want Same Day Registration</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060916</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060916&amp;amp;title=Town%20Clerks%20Want%20Same%20Day%20Registration%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060916&amp;amp;title=Town%20Clerks%20Want%20Same%20Day%20Registration%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The south coast&#039;s most influential newspaper, the &lt;em&gt;Standard Times&lt;/em&gt; of New Bedford, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-06/09-13-06/01opinion.htm&quot;&gt;endorsed&lt;/a&gt; John Bonifaz this week, as we&#039;ve already written here.  In their endorsement, the &lt;em&gt;Times&lt;/em&gt; asked of Galvin, &quot;why not also champion election day registration and work aggressively to see it implemented in Massachusetts?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;Judith L. St. Croix, the president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association and the town clerk of Wayland, said her organization did a detailed study of election day registration in 2004 and presented the findings to state officials. She said she has seen no efforts by Mr. Galvin to push for this reform.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In fact, she said she was surprised to read Mr. Galvin state in a newspaper interview that he wants to have this reform implemented by the November election.  It would be nearly impossible for this to happen, she said.  And it&#039;s clear Mr. Galvin is now saying this because Mr. Bonifaz has charged him with dragging his feet.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Surprised, indeed.  As we know, &lt;a href=&quot;http://johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060906&quot;&gt;Bill Galvin worked to block election day registration legislation&lt;/a&gt; last year.  Town Clerks are the people who administer elections locally, and they studied election day registration in 2004 and asked the state to implement it.  Galvin says he blocked it in 2005 because he thought we needed to study it first.  Hmmm?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As the president of the Town Clerks Association said to the &lt;em&gt;New Bedford Standard Times&lt;/em&gt;, it&#039;s clear that Galvin is only saying this now because John Bonifaz is challenging him on it.  Let&#039;s take that challenge to the ballot box on Tuesday: a vote for Bonifaz is a vote for &lt;em&gt;getting it done&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Sat, 16 Sep 2006 14:08:39 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Ned Lamont Voter: Denied at the Polls</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060915-fernando</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Last month, I went to Connecticut to volunteer for Ned Lamont on election day.  Standing outside the polling place that afternoon, &lt;a href=&quot;http://cos.mydd.com/story/2006/8/8/123843/2322&quot;&gt;I met a poll worker&lt;/a&gt; named Luis, taking a break.  He told me that he&#039;d been voting in Democratic primaries for a long time, but that day, he couldn&#039;t vote - he was listed as &quot;unaffiliated&quot;, and CT doesn&#039;t allow unaffiliated voters to vote in primaries.  I asked if he could cast a provisional ballot, but his English was not great and I&#039;m not sure he understood.  He didn&#039;t want to press the issue - he just wasn&#039;t going to vote in this election.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Later, I met an organizer named Juan, who told me the town we were in had a history.  Several years ago, in a contested Democratic primary for first selectman, many voters with hispanic last names found that they were unaffiliated, even though they had registered as Democrats.  It was happening again, it seemed.  Juan suggested I speak to his friend Fernando, and after hearing his story, I invited him to write it down for us.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060904&quot;&gt;Same Day Registration&lt;/a&gt; is the solution to problems like this, although &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060906&quot;&gt;Bill Galvin doesn&#039;t like it&lt;/a&gt;.  -- Ofer Inbar)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Connecticut primary on August 8, 2006 displayed to the nation the showdown between the current Connecticut Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman and his challenger for Connecticut Ned Lamont; two different views on the war in Iraq.  I felt that although it was only the primary it was just as important as voting in the November elections; I wanted to be one of the many I hoped would show up to vote to voice my discontent with the current Republican government and Joe Lieberman.  By voting for Ned Lamont I and so many others would now have a say as to what course we want to take with regard to Iraq.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After work I picked up my mother from work and headed to our local voting station and reported to the voters list table only to discover that my name was not on the list!&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Fri, 15 Sep 2006 22:22:36 -0400</pubDate>
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<item>
 <title>Galvin Spurns Voters One Last Time</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060915-debates</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060915-debates&amp;amp;title=Galvin%20Spurns%20Voters%20One%20Last%20Time%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060915-debates&amp;amp;title=Galvin%20Spurns%20Voters%20One%20Last%20Time%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Early this summer, after months of inviting Bill Galvin to debates without response, John Bonifaz delivered a letter to his office &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/files/pressrelease20060706.pdf&quot;&gt;challenging Bill Galvin to 7 debates&lt;/a&gt;.  Bonifaz wrote, &lt;em&gt;&quot;I look forward to your immediate response so that we may reach agreement on the scheduling of these debates.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Galvin never responded to the letter.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On Thursday night, the last scheduled public forum for candidates for Secretary before the Democratic primary, was held in Springfield.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060901&quot;&gt;True to pattern&lt;/a&gt;, both Galvin and Bonifaz were invited, but only Bonifaz showed up.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It&#039;s not too late, Bill Galvin.  There are 4 days left before the election.  If you&#039;d like a debate, we&#039;ll work with you to make it happen.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:46:33 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Should Voters Pick Candidates, or Candidates Pick Voters?</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060914-districts</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/files/MA-4-thumbnail.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.townonline.com/norton/opinion/view.bg?articleid=571288&quot;&gt;Bill Gouveia&#039;s column&lt;/a&gt; in last week&#039;s &lt;em&gt;Norton Mirror&lt;/em&gt; highlights the problem of Gerrymandering in Massachusetts - the legislature&#039;s practice of drawing districts to benefit current officeholders, at the expense of the voters.&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;Oh sure, every vote counts in every election - we all know that. But try selling that to the voters of Norton, many of whom aren’t even sure just who represents them now, never mind who is looking to represent them in the future.  This is not a reflection on the people of Norton, but rather on the stupid, disjointed, political system of drawing districts that has left the small town of Norton divided into three different districts.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Norton is divided up into three legislative districts. The largest is the 1st Bristol District, currently represented by outgoing Rep. Virginia Coppola. That district includes precincts 3,4 and 5 in Norton. Currently there are three democrats and one republican seeking to grab this vacated seat. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the 4th Bristol District, Norton’s precinct 1 is thrown in with Seekonk and Rehoboth - two towns with which Norton shares virtually nothing else. There are no less than six - count’em, six - candidates seeking that seat, with all of them pretending Norton is a critical part of the district. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Precinct 2 is Norton’s lone remaining precinct. That one is lumped in a district with North Attleboro and part of Mansfield, currently represented by Rep. Betty Poirier, who has no opposition. Poirier is also careful to pay the proper amount of public attention to Norton, insisting the town is lucky to in fact have three state representatives rather then just one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So we are left with two races for three seats, and we are not a major factor in any of them. But that does not mean we should not vote on the 19th.  Last year Claire Naughton won in two of the three towns in her district, including Norton. But she lost the race because she was unable to carry Foxboro - the only town in the district that has all its precincts included.&lt;/div&gt;I was on that campaign.  When Claire Naughton hired me to make her web site last December, one of the first things I did was look for &lt;a href=&quot;http://clairenaughton.com/district.html&quot;&gt;a map of the district&lt;/a&gt; to put on her web site.  Go ahead, look at the map.  Does it make any sense that the district would snake distontiguously thorough half of Mansfield just to grab half of Norton on the other side?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But that&#039;s far from the strangest Massachusetts district I&#039;ve campaigned in over the past few years.  Check out, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sec.state.ma.us/spr/sprcat/catpdf/house/eighteenthsuffolk.pdf&quot;&gt;the 18th Suffolk&lt;/a&gt;, which snakes around the outside of Allston-Brighton, dipping into Brookline for one precinct, and surrounding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sec.state.ma.us/spr/sprcat/catpdf/house/seventeenthsuffolk.pdf&quot;&gt;the 17th Suffolk&lt;/a&gt;, which is shaped like some sort of splatter.  Or how about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sec.state.ma.us/spr/sprcat/catpdf/cong/cong4.pdf&quot;&gt;bizarro 4th Congressional District&lt;/a&gt; - whose major population centers of Brookline, Newton, Fall River, and New Bedford, are at opposite ends.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right;padding:4px&quot; src=&quot;/files/18thsuffolk-thumbnail.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
When I volunteered for Tim Schofield in a special election in the 18th Suffolk in early 2005, even most of us on the campaign never quite had it clear in our heads which streets were in which district.  If we were confused, walking precinct canvass lists every day, imagine how confused the voters of Allston-Brighton are about it!  Hardly anyone can guess whether their neighbor has the same state rep as they do.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The 18th Suffolk district was drawn the way it is to protect former Rep Brian Golden, a conservative Democrat who campaigned for Bush in New Hampshire in 2000 and 2004.  He initially won the seat in a 5-way primary with less than 30% of the vote.  The the district was altered to remove some precincts that vote more liberally, protecting him from future challenges.  It highlights the inherent conflict of interest we get when the legislature makes the map: &lt;strong style=&quot;font-size:1.2em&quot;&gt;legislators choose their voters, rather than voters choosing their legislators&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/votersbillofrights&quot;&gt;level the playing field for challengers&lt;/a&gt;, John Bonifaz will advocate for independent redistricting.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:24:21 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Breakdown: Diebold in Maryland</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060914-maryland</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060914-maryland&amp;amp;title=Breakdown%3A%20Diebold%20in%20Maryland%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This Tuesday, a number of state held primary elections.  One of them was Maryland, where the state tried all-electronic voting for the first time, using Diebold touchscreen voting machines and voter roll sign-in computers instead of paper pads.  The &lt;em&gt;Baltimore Sun&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/elections/bal-vote0912,0,1406145.story&quot;&gt;summarized the outcome&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;Maryland&#039;s first statewide run of an all- electronic voting system stumbled out of the gate Tuesday, with major glitches in Baltimore City and Montgomery County that frustrated thousands of would-be voters&lt;/div&gt;They were too kind.  &quot;Clearly, there is something wrong with the way elections are run in Maryland&quot;, wrote the &lt;em&gt;Washington Post&lt;/em&gt; in a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091301974.html&quot;&gt;scathing editorial&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;In Baltimore, many people who tried to vote early Tuesday found polling places shut because election judges hadn&#039;t shown up for work. In Prince George&#039;s County, the Board of Elections inexplicably went home early yesterday morning without counting all the primary ballots. And Montgomery County endured not only the morning fiasco with inoperable machines but also chaos at night as election officials ran out of paper ballots for extended voting.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Baltimore Sun&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/elections/bal-vote0912,0,1406145.story&quot;&gt;adds&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;In Baltimore, voters turning out early found locked doors and absent workers at polling places from Highlandtown to Mount Washington. Those workers who did report for duty on time &lt;em&gt;struggled with a balky new electronic voter list&lt;/em&gt;, which at times erroneously declared a voter had already cast a ballot.  It was unclear how many voters were turned away, or &lt;em&gt;gave up when faced with long lines and computer glitches.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In Montgomery County, the problems and voting delays were even more widespread, as election workers failed to distribute ATM-sized key cards needed to operate the touch-screen voting machines. It took up to three hours to get the necessary cards distributed.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Post&lt;/em&gt; includes a helpful Q&amp;amp;A of  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091302231.html&quot;&gt;what went wrong in Montgomery&lt;/a&gt;.  Computer Science professor Avi Rubin, who volunteered at the polls, gives us a &lt;a href=&quot;http://avi-rubin.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-day-at-polls-maryland-primary-06.html&quot;&gt;detailed account of problems with Diebold&lt;/a&gt; on election day.  And as usual, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3459&quot;&gt;BradBlog has more&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What happens when voting machines and processes break down?  In &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201720.html&quot;&gt;The Mess in Montgomery&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, the Washington Post notes, &lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;With important local, state and federal offices at stake, some were questioning the legitimacy of the election even before the polls closed.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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 <pubDate>Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:30:09 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Rev. Jesse Jackson endorses Bonifaz</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060913-jessejackson</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060913-jessejackson&amp;amp;title=Rev.%20Jesse%20Jackson%20endorses%20Bonifaz%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060913-jessejackson&amp;amp;title=Rev.%20Jesse%20Jackson%20endorses%20Bonifaz%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In February, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/endorsements&quot;&gt;endorsed&lt;/a&gt; John Bonifaz.  Today, his father the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.johnbonifaz.com/files/pressrelease20060913.pdf&quot;&gt;Reverend Jesse Jackson joined in endorsing Bonifaz&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;&quot;The right to vote is the foundation stone of our democracy, and John has fought, time and time  again, to make a fair and equal vote for everyone a reality. John Bonifaz is a fighter for justice.  The voters of Massachusetts have a rare privilege next Tuesday, September 19th.  They can cast  their votes for a true freedom fighter. I encourage them to vote for John Bonifaz for Massachusetts Secretary of State.&quot;&lt;/div&gt;
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 <pubDate>Wed, 13 Sep 2006 23:44:55 -0400</pubDate>
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 <title>Phoenix Endorses Bonifaz</title>
 <link>http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060913-phoenix</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;blogtools&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?v=3&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060913-phoenix&amp;amp;title=Phoenix%20Endorses%20Bonifaz%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;files/delicious.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt; del.icio.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnbonifaz.com%2Fblog%2F20060913-phoenix&amp;amp;title=Phoenix%20Endorses%20Bonifaz%20%7C%20John%20Bonifaz&quot;&gt;post to reddit&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Add the &lt;em&gt;Boston Phoenix&lt;/em&gt;.  Today, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thephoenix.com/Article.aspx?id=22550&amp;amp;page=2&quot;&gt;The Phoenix endorsed&lt;/a&gt; John Bonifaz for secretary, along with Deval Patrick for Governor, Deb Goldberg for Lt. Governor, Phil Dunkelbarger for Congress, and Sonia Chang-Diaz for state senate.  Here&#039;s what they had to say &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thephoenix.com/Article.aspx?id=22550&amp;amp;page=2&quot;&gt;about Bonifaz&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;blog-blockquote&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Phoenix&lt;/em&gt; urges you cast your ballot for John Bonifaz in the Democratic primary for secretary of state, a key constitutional office that supervises elections and helps regulate the local securities industry. &lt;strong&gt;If ever there were a natural-born reformer, it is Bonifaz.&lt;/strong&gt; He is perhaps the only person ever to seek office in Massachusetts who is also the winner of a MacArthur &quot;genius&quot; fellowship for his pioneering legal work in voting-rights and campaign-finance reform. Where others see process, Bonifaz sees policy. &lt;strong&gt;He has the rare political ability to see life not as it is, but as it should be.&lt;/strong&gt; He has &lt;strong&gt;the idealism and the energy&lt;/strong&gt; to try to make our government better by making politics accessible to all, not just to the well connected and the well financed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you think politics is plagued by cynicism and corrupted by cronyism, then a vote for Bonifaz is a vote for hope that the system, and society, can be made better.&lt;/div&gt;
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 <pubDate>Wed, 13 Sep 2006 14:46:00 -0400</pubDate>
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