Monday, September 30, 2013

NYC Mayoral Candidates Address M/WBE Forum



New York City mayoral candidate, Independence Party's Adolfo Carrion Jr, spoke at City and State’s annual New Agenda Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprise forum on Tuesday September 24, 2013.


Adolfo's talk ends at 16:25.

I first met Adolfo in December 2012 at the Independence Party Anti-Corruption Awards event.  He was one of the potential mayoral candidates we heard from that night.


We invited him to speak at the 2013 National Conference of Independents, Independents Rising, that took place on Saturday, February 16, 2013 at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.  Over 400 independent voter activists attended the day long conference which opened with a video tribute to their work publicizing the need for nonpartisan structural reform of America's political process in local and national media over the last 2 years.  He was the afternoon guest speaker.

As part of the party's selection process he spoke with each of the Executive Committee members, my phone call was on a Sunday afternoon.

The Independence Party of New York City endorsed Adolfo Carrion as its 2013 Mayoral candidate.

Through this campaign, I have been so impressed with his growth as a candidate and his ability to articulate his future for this city.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NYC Mayoral Candidate Adolfo Carrion Unveils A FUTURE FOR HIGH-TECH NYC



I took part in this press conference that took place in City Hall Park this morning.


Independence Party mayoral candidate, Adolfo Carrion Jr., announced the launch of his Campaign for New York's High-Tech Future and the new integrated mobile application called, MyCity Pass, available on IOS and Android platforms. Carrion said "this will revolutionize the way New Yorkers live, work, and communicate with the City and each other."

His plan called, "The Campaign for a Smart NYC" incorporates two main strategies:

Technology Improving Daily Interaction with NYC Government

- Establish city-wide high speed internet access.  A comprehensive approach using public-private partnerships and existing public infrastructure to improve the economic growth across all five boroughs.

- MyCity Pass - a free downloadable App.  Use it to ride the subway, pay your parking meter, report a pot hole, check your kids' test scores, apply and check your business applications and permits.

Accelerating the Growth of Emerging Industries

- Deputy Mayor for Technology and Innovation - a cabinet-level position tasked with updating outdated hiring laws; draft a smart procurement plan to ensure NYC takes advantage of best practices, prices and contractors; ensure that each city agency is using the technology efficiently and cooperating to solve cross-agency challenges.

- Emerging Industries Legal Council - This Council will recommend updates to archaic city laws and ordinances that do not reflect the existence of newly created industries.

- NYC Start-Up Center - a one stop shop that minimizes the cost, time, and difficulty to opening businesses in NYC.  The effort will standardize licensing and application process and show NYC is open for business.

CLICK HERE for more information about The Campaign for a Smart NYC.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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DOJ to Sue North Carolina Over Voter ID Law and Voting Restrictions


The Justice Department is planning to sue the state of North Carolina over its voter ID law and voting restrictions today.

"Today's action marks another step forward in the Justice Department's continuing effort to protect the voting rights of all eligible Americans," Attorney General Eric Holder said at the time. "We will not allow the Supreme Court's recent decision to be interpreted as open season for states to pursue measures that suppress voting rights."

The lawsuit being filed today seeks to block North Carolina four provisions of the voting law, known as House Bill 589 from:

- Eliminating the first seven days of early voting

- Eliminating same-day voter registration during the early voting period

- Requiring voters to have a valid North Carolina driver's license, U.S. passport, military ID, or state-issued ID from the Department of Motor Vehicles to cast a ballot.

- Prohibiting the counting of provisional ballots that are cast in the right county but the wrong precinct.

DOJ will also ask a federal judge to force the state to seek permission from the Justice Department or in federal court to make changes to its voting laws and procedures, using the bail-in process under Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Friday, September 27, 2013

Inequality for All: Coming To A Theater Near You



Today, opening in theaters across the country is a new documentary "Inequality for All" that explores the widening income gap in America.  Narrated by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, the film profiles people from different walks of life – Costco employees, wealthy venture capitalists, and middle class professionals – to demonstrate how our economy is set up to work for the wealthy few but not for all of us.

From the movie:

Inequality today is as extreme as it was right before the Great Depression.  The valley in between those two peaks of inequality, which shows up repeatedly on screen in Inequality For All, represents a time of broad prosperity from which the country can draw lessons.  The Great Recession has not produced the same kind of policy shift Reich points to as a key to that prosperity, and inequality is only getting worse.  Eroding investments in education and children undermine the future workforce, low union membership undermines present-day workers, and weak financial industry oversight allow the sector that drives inequality and creates economic crises to regain its footing while leaving the middle class behind.



From YouTube:

A passionate argument on behalf of the middle class, this film features Robert Reich-professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member-as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy.  The film is an intimate portrait of a man who's overcome a great deal of personal adversity and whose lifelong goal remains protecting those who are unable to protect themselves.  Through his singular perspective, Reich explains how the massive consolidation of wealth by a precious few threatens the viability of the American workforce and the foundation of democracy itself.  In this INCONVENIENT TRUTH for the economy, Reich uses humor and a wide array of facts to explain how the issue of economic inequality affects each and every one of us.

Facts on Income Inequality

- The top 5 percent made $191,157 or more in 2012, while the bottom fifth made $20,599 or less.

- The top 10 percent of earners took home half of the country’s income, the largest amount on record.

- The gap between the employment rate for the highest income Americans and the lowest income ones is the widest in a decade.

- Income for households in the top five percent of American earners have grown by more than five percent over the past three years.

- From 2009 to 2012, income for the 1 percent grew by 31.4 percent, while everyone else only saw it grow by 0.4 percent.

- The top 10 percent now has 15.9 times the income of the bottom.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Independents Make Their Voices Heard in Ohio


As a political activist and a member of IndependentVoting.org, these types of participation is what we all have to take part in, if we wish to take back the "People's House".

Several days before President Obama’s Commission on Election Administration hearing in Ohio, the Canton Repository published Independent Ohio leader Cynthia Carpathios' letter to the editor:

Obama Commission Should Study Barriers to Independent Voting

President Obama’s Commission on Election Administration has been holding public hearings around the country.  The 10-member body is tasked with presenting recommendations to the president about how to “improve the voter experience.”  Independent voters have a lot to say about the topic.

Representatives of independent voter groups from around the country have attended hearings in D.C., Miami, Denver and Philadelphia and submitted testimony.  Independents from the Midwest, including a number of independents who are part of Independent Ohio, a group of independent voting activists in Ohio who are under the umbrella of IndependentVoting.org, a national association for independent voters, will be attending and testifying at the hearing scheduled in Cincinnati on Sept. 20.

Independents are deeply concerned that America’s political process is in crisis and agree this deserves serious attention.  But the commission has carved out a narrow mandate that we believe falls short of the public debate we need to have.

There are specific defects affecting independent voters that the commission doesn’t seem prepared to address.

For example, here in Ohio, independents can vote only on issues, not on candidates, in the primaries unless they choose to join one of the parties and vote on their ballot.  With 40 percent of Americans now identifying as independent, looking at these process issues should be a commission priority.  We urge the commission to address them in the report it produces from these hearings.

Independents believe that reform won’t come from the political parties themselves — they have too much to lose — but from outside of it and from the bottom up.  We are working to expose the barriers to fully participating in the electoral process that independents face.


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On September 20 2013, independents from Ohio and Kentucky made presentations to the President's Commission on Election Administration at their final public hearing in Cincinnati.  Independent Ohio leader Rick Robol reported that when Commission Co-Chairman Ginsberg asked our team to condense their presentations because they had "previously heard from the independents," we made it clear we would be heard!  Robol, Mark Ritter (Independent Kentucky), Sadie Stewart, Jonathan Lippincott and Mary Rook each shared their unique perspectives on the barriers to participation faced by independent voters.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Thursday, September 26, 2013

MN Ranked Choice Voting



Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to rank candidates on the ballot according to their preference - 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, etc.  Voters cast their vote for their favorite candidate knowing that if he or she doesn't gather enough votes to win, their vote will count toward their second choice.  In a single-winner election, votes cast for the least popular candidate are not "wasted", but rather redistributed to more popular candidates, based on the voters' second choices, until one candidate wins with a majority of votes.

Minneapolis voters approved a charter amendment in 2006 by a nearly two-to-one margin mandating the use of Ranked Choice Voting for municipal elections.  The first opportunity for Minneapolis voters to use RCV was in the November 2009 elections. The implementation was a huge success, with 95 percent of polled voters and 97 percent of people of color reporting they found it easy to use. This year will be the first time the city has used RCV for a wide-open mayoral contest with multiple contenders.


This Nov. 5, Minneapolis voters will use ranked choice voting to elect a mayor, City Council members, members of the Park and Recreation Board, and the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

St. Paul is preparing for its second election using Ranked Choice Voting, after the highly successful 2011 implementation, and voters in the city’s Ward 1 will have the chance to rank city council candidates on their ballots.  Often called “the heart of St. Paul,” Ward 1 includes the Thomas-Dale (Frogtown) and Summit-University neighborhoods.


Voting for Saint Paul City Council has changed since the 2011 election.  Instead of the traditional voting method, voters will use Ranked Choice Voting to elect members to the city council.

MULTIPLE SEAT ELECTIONS


How Instant Runoff Voting works 2.0: Multiple winners.

Some say these methods will save tax payer's money by removing the need for run-off elections.

What do you think about these methods of voting and how they are counted?










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

National Voter Registration Day


Today is National Voter Registration Day.


Congratulations to all the newly naturalized American citizens!  NYC Votes is helping them register to vote at their naturalization ceremony.



CLICK HERE to register to vote.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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UN Conference: Millennial Generation Factivism



I attended this conference called Millennial Generation Factivism: People-Powered, Technology-Facilitated Activism at the United Nations with an invitation from the ONE organization.  I have been a member of ONE since 2004.

The conference was sponsored by:

      

Factivism - Fact-Based Activism

A commitment to fighting extreme poverty through well-tested policies and programs inspired by concrete evidence and driven by technology; an approach marrying information with passion; a rejection of purely ideological or emotional approaches to advocacy in favor of seeking contrary evidence in order to check a policy's assumptions and impact.

Conference 2 and 3 have the same layout.

Moderator

Femi Oke is an Al Jazeera journalist, social media curator, moderator, and television and radio correspondent. Femi is currently based in Washington D.C. where she hosts “The Stream”, Al Jazeera English’s hit social media and interactive current affairs show. Femi also writes for the social media platform Upworthy. Femi was also named Nigerian media personality of the year in 2007 and picked up the Interaction media award in 2008 for her commitment to broadcasting the complex issues of Africa.

Panelists

Boniface Mwangi is a Kenyan activist who uses traditional and new technologies to drive social change in his country.   Boniface organized the “Occupy Parliament” campaign in Kenya to protest pay rises for parliament.

Japheth Omojuwa is a Nigerian social activist and blogger on socio-economic and political issues such as governance and corruption.  Japheth is also the Editor of AfricanLiberty.org and the founder and curator of www.omojuwa.com, one of the most popular web pages in Nigeria.  With a large Twitter following, he is one of the most influential Nigerians on social media and a thought leader among his peers.  Japheth was also voted the Best Nigerian Political Blogger in 2011.

Tarik Nesh-Nash is a Moroccan social activist and hi-tech CEO who uses online tools to bridge the gap between citizens and government. Tarik launched the Arab world’s first online crowdsourcing platform to solicit recommendations for the new Moroccan constitution and is now focusing on creating more tools for citizens to engage in the country’s political process. Tarik helps average citizens move beyond simply voicing long-held frustrations to actually taking part in the political decision-making process.

Taiye Selasi is a writer and photographer of Nigerian and Ghanaian origin.  She is producing a documentary film that aims to bring more African voices into the development process and ensure that they are active in shaping the next development agenda.  She coined “Afropolitans”, combining African and cosmopolitan to describe a contemporary generation of Africans, popularized in her essay, “Bye-Bye, Babar (Or: What is an Afropolitan?)”  In 2013, she released her critically acclaimed novel, Ghana Must Go.

Juan Elias Chebly is PHD Candidate in Sustainable Development at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela.  He currently works for the United Nations Millennium Campaign as a Global Youth Advocate fighting against poverty.  In 2009 he founded Voipebox.com, a telecom start-up introducing innovative and pioneering VOIP telephony solutions in South America and the US.  He also helped create:


CLICK HERE to take the survey.

Bright Simons is president of the mPedigree Network, a system that empowers consumers to instantly verify with a free text message whether their medicines are safe and not counterfeit.  He is the former Director of Research at the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education in Ghana, where he helped steer the organization’s award winning research activities.  Bright is a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils and Technology Pioneers.

Gbenga Akinnagbe is an actor best known for his roles on HBO’s The Wire and USA’s Graceland.   He has contributed to both the New York Times and Huffington Post Live.  Gbenga is a global activist and founder of Liberated People, an apparel company aimed at inspiring action for social change.

We discussed how to use open-source technology and social media networking to make a real difference in peoples' lives and extreme world poverty.  How to develop the needs and use crowd-sourcing to pay for the results.  The need for governments to have better transparency and accountability.

My questions: How to take technology solutions to local communities and convert them to the available ways to distribute them?  Everyone has their own facts, how do we validate and then combined them before they are distributed?










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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