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Even though most Democrats are aware of the commonly held idea that when more Votes are cast, more Democratic candidates win, the Gerrymandering of our nation's Congressional Districts has depressed the value of Democratic votes so far that headlines and stories like this one from The Nation, published Nov 7, 2014
Republicans Got Only 52 Percent of the Vote in House Races. How did they end up with 57 percent of the seats?We’ve already released our projections for 2016—that’s two years away, folks—and picked sure winners in 373 districts, leaving only 14 percent of the House even potentially in play. To win a majority of 218 House seats, we project that Democratic candidates would need to win ten million more votes than Republicans.
[emphasis added for clarity]
have been rampant over the past few years.So yes, more votes in general means more Democrats will win their races, but not always.
In addition, the 2020 election cycle will be upon us faster than you can blink, and THAT cycle is going to be the one that matters in ways large and small. Because the makeup of our Statehouse Congresses in January 2021 will determine which Party is in charge of most of the Redistricting that takes place that year.
Can you image what those carnival barkers on the right will do if they are still the ones running the show in 2021? It'll be like Robert Heinlein's Future History stories about Nehemiah Scudder. The Lunatic Religious Right will be voting in a National Religion (guess which one), overturning the Windsor SCOTUS decision with an Amendment to prohibit same sex marriage, and a lot more. A lot more.
I don't even want to ponder the heinousness which will ensue in the Capitol Building and in the Statehouse Congresses if that is the future which awaits us.
So why not do something to alter the course of history and change our fate?
What we need, and I'm not exaggerating one whit here, is a MASSIVE national voter registration drive starting in the spring of 2016. What would that look like? Guess what, there's already a group at work to put that idea into motion.
90for90.org is a Voter Advocacy group which has been working their tails off in the State of Virginia all year this year. They have already registered over 100,000 new voters and their goal of "a Quarter Million for the Old Dominion" by November of 2016 is within their grasp, because they are ON TARGET to meet or exceed their goal!
What is the single idea which has propelled the amazing results in Voter Registration in Virginia this year?
More Voters is a GOOD idea
That's it. It's not complicated or hard to understand or explain.
You don't have to believe me, listen to the words of these wonderful people who all believe it, too:
90 for 90 Initiative: Honoring Dr Ferguson Reid, SrSo please consider becoming a Voter Advocacy Activist in your state. You don't have to contribute a lot of money or even a lot of time. You can even start your work right here at Daily Kos, on the Group I've just started Voters R US. Our goal is: The campaign to add more new registered voters in every state in the Union. All year, every year. Because where better to start a national movement to build the biggest ADD NEW VOTERS drive in history? Please add a comment asking for an invite to the group. Strategies and actions will be laid out in the coming weeks.
Because in my own state of Washington, we could add as many as 560,000 newly registered voters, which I covered in detail in this WA State Open Thread diary.
If we do this in all 50 states, we could add as many as 15 to 25 Million newly registered voters across the nation. We could throw nearly the entire Republican Party out of office with those numbers.
As Virginia has shown us this year? It's entirely within our grasp to achieve.
Will you join me and help us turn the direction of our nation around? Your contribution by participation has never been more needed.
as always...
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