The Vote By Mail for Tennessee campaign got two big boosts today!

The first came from the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR), which recommended that the state "consider making early voting and voting by mail more accessible" and that the state "consider a Vote By Mail pilot program."

The second came from Brook Thompson, director of the Tennessee Division of Elections, who told us after the meeting that he would be open to setting up a trial of the program. Thompson's support and the TACIR report were two big steps toward bringing Vote By Mail to Tennessee, but there's still lots of work to be done yet.

We're hoping to get legislation yet this session that would enable the trials. If we're unsuccessful, it goes on the agenda for next session.

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"It was awesome!"

That was the reaction of one of the Tennessee activists at the end of the two-day DFA Training Academy held in Knoxville last weekend.

Many of those who filled Karns Middle School had not worked on a campaign before or were not familiar with the sophisticated techniques outlined by DFA trainers. During breaks they peppered instructors with more questions and began making plans about how they would use the information in future efforts.

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On Easter weekend, close to 80 progressives from Memphis to Knoxville and all points in between attended Democracy for Tennessee’s Convention ’07 in Nashville throughout the day on Saturday.

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I'm pleased to say that the Green Tennessee (GT) Campaign is off and running with a great start! First of all, a huge thanks to everyone who attended the workshop and campaign launch: You all made the workshop a big success and a real pleasure to host. The diversity of ages and backgrounds represented was quite heartening, and exactly what I think is needed to get the kind of legislation enacted we want in order to protect our environment. So again, to everyone there, thank you!

After presenting a brief overview of the GT campaign, I handed things off to Seannalyn Brandmeir, presenter for the Climate Project. She provided an excellent overview of the goals and structure of Climate Project presentations, leading us through many great examples and explaining how the presentation builds its argument from start to finish. Next, Jeff Barrie, filmmaker and creator of Kilowatt Ours explained why he made the film, and how the Kilowatt Ours film and project seeks to show people how they can practically and dramatically reduce their energy usage without nearly as much effort or sacrifice as one might think.

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Democracy for Tennessee's Candidate Forum for Nashville's mayoral candidates at the DFT Convention was a huge success, the only downside being that it wasn’t longer. The best part: that we were able to incorporate some of the issues we had been working with earlier in the day into the questions asked of the five wannabes. As we have in the past, we asked audience members to submit questions and selected some to ask the candidates after their three-minute speeches.

One campaign manager commented afterward it was the first forum where the candidates didn’t have the questions beforehand. Sorry, but the teacher in me doesn’t want to dumb down the test. If they haven’t even thought about the issues we care about without being told to prepare, that’s something we need to know about them. For the most part, I was pleased with what they said. The four audience-submitted questions were about the right to organize and earn a living wage, Vote By Mail, LEED, also known as "green building" standards, and also one about education.

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On March 22, I made a presentation on Vote by Mail to the Joint Study Committee on Voter Confidence, a subcommittee of the State & Local Government Committee. This committee is composed of six state Senators and six Representatives and is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Their task is to look at the proposed bills dealing with voting issues and to recommend those bills that they feel should go forward to the full committee for consideration.

To read the rest of this story, visit the Vote By Mail for Tennessee website.

WHAT IS VOTE BY MAIL?

Malfunctioning machines. Confused voters who can't read the complex ballot. Computer code that is kept secret by private corporations. Whole elections with no verifiable paper trail. Long lines and voter suppression tactics on election day.

It hasn't yet been getting much play, but there is a proven process to address all of these problems. That's right - a proven process. One that's been working in parts of the United States for over 20 years. The process is called Vote By Mail, or "VBM", and Democracy for Tennessee is getting ready to put its resources behind bringing this system to our state.
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Five members of Democracy for Chattanooga have stepped up to take over leadership of the group from Susan Mosely and Pam Love, both of whom are stepping down to take care of personal and business responsibilities.

Mike Bascom, Donna Carey, Alan Foster, Matthew Hine and Kitty Messler will begin planning the group’s future agenda which is likely to focus on issues such as curbside recycling, health care and the statewide Vote By Mail initiative.
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The cold and snow of northeast Tennessee didn't stop close to two dozen people from attending Democracy for Tennessee's first Citizen Journalism 101 workshop. The place was the Democratic Resource Center in Johnson City and the plan was to educate and inspire regular progressive activists to understand journalism, framing, and the tools available to get a progressive message out to a conservative community.

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Democracy for Tennessee officially launched its Vote By Mail for Tennessee campaign this weekend when Democracy for Cumberland County sponsored the first Vote By Mail Town Hall Meeting on Saturday, January 20, in Crossville. Carol Kemp, Chair of DFCC, and DFCC members warmly welcomed the approximately 50 attendees from across the community who braved Saturday’s cold to attend the group's first meeting of the new year.

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