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Donaldson Announces for Comptroller, Democratic Candidates for County Executive and Comptroller Speak at UCDW Annual Meeting
Kingston, NY – April 15, 2008
David Donaldson, Chairman of the UC Legislature, officially announced his candidacy for Comptroller. County Administrator Mike Hein and Legislator Susan Zimet were both on hand to speak about their bids for the County Executive position. Comptroller candidate Elliott Auerbach, though unable to attend due to a budget hearing, sent a message outlining his qualifications and vision for the position.
Read full UCDW Press Release
NOTE: Ulster County Democratic Women (UCDW) is an independent, grassroots organization devoted to bringing more Ulster County Democratic women into the political process and electing well-qualified Democrats to public office at every level. Women and men are welcome as members. UCDW does not endorse candidates during primaries.
UCDW IN THE NEWS
APRIL 16, 2008 Ulster County Legislature Chairman David Donaldson, D-Kingston, officially announced his candidacy for his party's nomination for comptroller at UCDW's Annual Meeting April 14, 2008.
Freeman article: Donaldson Joins Race for Ulster Comptroller
Susan Zimet told Ulster County Democratic Women at the group’s annual meeting Monday night that she would formally announce her candidacy on April 21. She will face fellow Democrat Michael Hein, the current county administrator, for the new top job.
Mid-Hudson News story: Zimet Jumps into Ulster Executive Race
Cabaloosa Club
58 Main Street, New Paltz (next to Muddy Cup)
Students $5 / Community members $8
Music by: Tulula, the Virginia Wolves and other bands
Speakers: Dan Ahouse for Congressman Hinchey
Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, Legislator Susan Zimet and others
Calling Dems of all ages: help the Ulster County Young Dems kick off
the hottest election year in American history
For more info contact: UCYoungDems@gmail.com
See Online Flyer
The Republican's control of the New York State Senate is slowly coming to an end. Now that Democratic Assemblyman Darrel J. Aubertine won the 48th Senate District seat, we need only one more Democrat elected to give Lt. Governor Patterson his right to break a 31-31 vote tie. Our majority in Albany includes the Assembly and State-wide offices. The Senate is definitely within reach.
Contributed by Patti Candelari
THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTION WILL BE HELD IN NEW YORK STATE ON FEBRUARY 5th, 2008.
Help get fellow Democrats out to vote: contact Vic Work for a phone sheet at vicwork@ulster.net
New Yorkers for Verified Voting Report Empire State will vote on paper ballots, not DREs
Read more.
UPCOMING PUBLIC FORUMS
Marlborough Democratic
Presidential Candidates Night
Friday, Jan 25. at 7:30 pm
Christ Episcopal Church,
Route 9W, corner of Old Post Rd. in Marlboro, NY
Hear representatives of the three leading candidates:
- Hillary Clinton
- John Edwards
- Barack Obama
Congressman Maurice Hinchey will be speaking for Hillary Clinton.
All registered Democrats are welcome.
For more info: Marlborough Dems
FREE SCREENING AND PUBLIC DISCUSSION:
HOW TO SAFEGUARD OUR VOTES FROM FRAUD
SUNDAY, JANUARY 27
at 2:00 pm
THE MUDDY CUP
305 Main Street, Poughkeepsie
FEBRUARY 6
6:00 pm
ULSTER COUNTY OFFICE BUILDING
6th floor Legislature Chambers
244 Fair Street, Kingston
Learn what is needed to prevent secret vote counting in New York. All of us must write and call our legislators. We don't want touchscreen DREs - we need paper ballots, but not counted by secretly programmed optical scanners.
Sign the Hand Count Every Vote Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/hndcount
Read more about the events and get more dates to take action.
THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN COMES TO BARD COLLEGE!
Bertelsmann Campus Center, Weiss Cinema, Bard College
Saturday, February 2, 2008
2:30 PM to 5:00 PM
A chance for New Yorkers to have the kind of interaction and up-close look at the candidates! Hear representatives of each candidate:
- Hillary Clinton
- John Edwards
- Dennis Kucinich
- Barack Obama
Ask questions, Get information about each campaign, Vote in a straw poll.
All are welcome! Sponsored by Red Hook Democrats, Rhinebeck Democrats, and Bard Democratics. Refreshments.
For information, call Vicky Perry at 845 532-3055
Directions:
At Intersection of Route US-9 and Route 199 on the center of Red Hook (4-way traffic light).
Turn left at W. Market St/RT-199 1.8 mi (3 mins, ) Then Turn right at RT-9G 0.9 mi (2 mins.)
Then Turn left at Annandale Rd.
295 ft. Then Slight right to stay on Annandale Rd 0.6 mi (1 min)
Then left at Ravine Rd. into parking area. Walk past Fisher Studio Arts Building towards Bertlesman.
WHERE THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES STAND ON ISSUES
Dec 27, 2007 New York Times - Brief overview of candidates' stances on the Iraq, abortion and Roe vs. Wade, Universal Healthcare, and Global Warming. While Democrats and Republicans' stances are compatible on some issues -- abortion and the rights afforded by Roe vs. Wade continues to be a defining difference between the 2 parties. With the exception of Rudy Giuliani, all GOP candidates want to overturn Roe vs. Wade. All Democratic candidates say they support a woman's right to choose.
IRAQ
HEALTHCARE
ABORTION
CLIMATE CHANGE
Rep. Rush Holt to Push for Paper Ballots and Vote Count Audits for 2008
By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted December 27, 2007.
New legislation, if passed, would spend millions to replace controversial all-electronic voting systems before the 2008 presidential election.
A new effort to ensure the 2008 presidential election is held using verifiable paper ballots and random audits to ensure accurate vote counts is underway in Congress.
Early next year, Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., will introduce the "Confidence in Voting Act of 2008," which would provide $500 million to counties and other election jurisdictions to replace controversial paperless electronic voting systems before the 2008 presidential election. The bill envisions voters using paper ballots that are marked by hand, or ballots that are printed on Election Day after voters use a computer to make their choices. An electronic scanner, like a standardized test, would then tally the ballots.
READ Full Article http://www.alternet.org/election08/71608
UCDW SIGNS ON TO AMICUS BRIEF
DEC 6, 2007 Andi Novick is filing an Amicus Brief in the case of whether or not NYS will be compliant with HAVA (Help America to Vote Act) voting machine federal law. Dem Women have signed on to the breif. GET DETAILS ABOUT THE AMICUS BREIF ON UCDW'S BLOG. Read more about voting machine issues across the country below.
HOSPITAL MERGER IN THE NEWS
Kingston gets plan for abortion clinic
By Paul Kirby, Freeman staff 11/22/2007
Add your comments about the article on UCDW's blog: Dem Women NY
Get more informtion about the merger on UCDW committee news page.
VOTING MACHINE ISSUES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Contributer - Rokki Knee Carr
OHIO - GIVING THE SLIP THE SLIP - More than 20% of touch screen votings in Cuyahoga County were unreadable in the most recent elections. This came to light as officials tried to do a recount of an election in two races, covering only 17 of the county's 1,436 precincts. If this happens in 2008, an Ohio recount could be jeopardized. http://www.cleveland.com/news/
NEW YORK - PAPER, GET YOUR PAPER - Madison County supervisors are taking their own set of actions to comply with HAVA. They have approved a resolution which favors adoption of an Optical Scan/Paper Ballot system. http://www.oneidadispatch.com
ELECTION DAY REGISTRATION
NATIONAL - COULD WE GET EDR NATIONWIDE? - Last week hearings were held on a bill introduced by Representative Keith Ellison (D- Minn) that would require states to allow Election Day Registration for federal elections. Predictably, Democrats on the House administration Subcommittee on Elections supported the measure, while GOPer flacks kept yelling "fraud, fraud, fraud" with no proof that EDR leads to increased election fraud. Even opponents had to agree that EDR improves voter turn out.
http://www.examiner.com
VOTE BY MAIL
MONTANA - THE VOTE IS IN THE MAIL - Election officials in Helena Montana are thrilled with the results of their first mail in balloting. The experiment yeilded the highest voter turnout rate for a city election in three decades. The 61.5% turnout was almost double that of the last off-term election, when the voter rate was only 30.9%. Town officials will be looking at using this method for future municipal elections. http://www.helenair.com
VOTER IDENTIFICATION
NATIONAL/INDIANA - VOTER ID LAWS DO SUPPRESS THE VOTE - The headlines shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has been following the Voter ID debate, but this week we got quantitative evidence. In a friend of the court brief filed by the Brennan Center and others as part of the Supreme Court's review of the Indiana Voter ID case, there is empirical evidence that the voter ID laws is likely to disproportionately affect African Americans, low income voters, students and senior citizens who are least likely to to have valid voter ID. http://www.brennancenter.org
VOTING MACHINES
COLORADO - OH, WHO NEEDS TO TEST VOTING MACHINES? - Budget issues are causing legislators in Colorado to question whether they need to test and certify voting machines or simply rely on federal certification. The movement to take the Secretary of State out of the process ignores the fact that Colorado's standards exceed those of the federal regulations.
Unfortunately, you can't read this article without signing up and loging in. http://www.gjsentinel.com
CALIFORNIA - WE'LL SEE YOU IN COURT - The City of San Francisco is suing Election Systems and Software for their failures in ES&S' Auto Mark system and failure to notify the California Secretary of State of changes made to the marking devices.
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com
NATIONAL - SEQUOIA SOLD - Voting machine manufacturer Sequoia Voting Systems has been sold to a group of private US investors. This move puts Sequoia under American ownership, which was an issue that had been raised in the last election cycle.
http://www.sequoiavote.com
VOTE COUNTING
NATIONAL - ALL VOTES COUNT, EVEN PROVISIONALS - Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced another piece of voter protection legislation last week. This bill, the Provisional Ballot Fairness in Counting Act of 2007, H. R. 4145, aims to make sure that provisional ballots are counted, and would require ballots cast in a state to be counted in statewide races if the voter is registered anywhere in the state, and ballots cast in the correct Congressional district to be counted if the voter is registered anywhere in the Congressional district, regardless of whether or not the ballots were cast in the correct precinct.
http://www.votetrustusa.org
UCDW SUPPORTS ULSTER COUNTY LEGISTURE CHAIR, DAVE DONALDSON
Read the UCDW letter of support
To support Dave - contact or email your legislator(s). See district information here to find your legislators.
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