[Seattle-editorial] FEATURE PROPOSAL: brandon's election feature

Mon Nov 11 18:50:45 PST 2002

Thanks for the great link reorg susan, it's much better.  I made some
additional cuts to the links list, and included my shorter article below.

Susan: Since your edit lacked <a> links, now my edit does as well. Can you
add back those links via the wiki page, or just email me your version that
includes those <a> tags? confused? :)

New revision below, thanks also to kay and jonathan.
brandon
---------------------
preview and/or group edit here:
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/SeaEdBrandfElection2002
----------------------

Subtitle: SEVENTY PERCENT OF SEATTLE VOTERS STAY HOME 
Title: Seattle a Leader in National Mandate of Apathy and Distrust

<img align="right"
src="http://docs.indymedia.org/twiki/pub/Local/SeaEdBrandfElection2002/vote2.jpg"
border="0">Seventy percent of Seattle registered voters - a staggering
300,000 - did not cast a ballot in last Tuesday's general
election. The nation's voter turnout hit a <a
href=http://tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6700>record low</a> compared to
established democracies worldwide.

Corporate media spinmeisters, however, focused on
<a href="http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/politics/4455549.htm">
a slight increase</a> in turnout nationally, and
<a
href="http://www.wsrn.com/apps/news/art.xpl?id=5507994&f=NEWS&s=DIS">scrambled</a>
to fill airtime on election night without volumes of exit-poll data to
overanalyze. As <a
href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1105-04.htm">international
election observers</a> depart Broward County, Florida,
America's entrenched political powers continue to casually <a
href="http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14465">thwart</a> meaningful
reform as America's silent majority, the
<a href="http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=216130">chronically
absent</a> voter, remains afixed in a
<a href="http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14506">trance</a>.

<!--
link tags must be added to the text below before posting
-->

<p><b>Indymedia Election Coverage:</b>  Hawaii | Houston | Los Angeles |
Maine | Minnesota | Portland | St. Louis | Twin Cities - 1, 2<br>
<b>Irregularities:</b> Seattle - 1, 2 | Missouri | New York - 1, 2 | Twin
Cities

<p><b>Election Analysis & Discussion:</b>  To Vote or Not to Vote? |  Low
Turnout; No Mandate | Democracy is Hard Work / Democracy is Dead | Third
Party Results - 1, 2 | Additional discussion - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Additional Resources: Center for Voting and Democracy | FEC
Info | Democracy Now! coverage

Susan said:
> hi all,
>
> with consideration to comments made by Walt and Jonathan, I've worked up
> a  version of Brandon's excellent feature.  for easier visualization,
> I've  removed the bulk of the link addresses from the feature below
> (they're  still listed further below), but of course they'd be part of
> the uploaded  content.  i put two separate paragraphs together, and
> reorganized the link  listings.  as a result, we have a shorter feature.
>  several of the links  were either duplicated or not needed for this
> feature (i.e., a link to the  Living Wage victory).  still haven't found
> a replacement for the Washington  Post story (written by a staff writer
> there, and it looks like they may  have written several stories about
> "soft money" since the summer).
>
> can we get a thumbs up from two more folks?
>
> thanks, again, Brandon, for hustling to gather an impressive array of
> links!!   --- Susan
>
> ===========================================================
> subtitle: SEVENTY PERCENT OF SEATTLE VOTERS STAY HOME
> title: Seattle a Leader in National Mandate of Apathy and Distrust
>
> Seventy percent, a staggering three hundred thousand, of Seattle
> registered voters did not cast a ballot in the November 5th, 2002
> general election. Statewide non-participation was not as prominent but
> tallied a solid fifty-five percent. Non-voters hold a clear national
> majority when you consider the significant numbers who, although
> eligible, choose not to register. Last Tuesday's election turnout was
> reported to be
> <a href= http://tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6700>the lowest ever</a>
> among the world's established democracies. The corporate media, however,
> <a href="http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/politics/4455549.htm">
> reported a "slight rise"</a> in turnout nationally, and scrambled to
> fill airtime  without volumes of
> VNS exit poll data to over-analyze.
>
> <p> Democracy is about <a
> href="http://commondreams.org/views02/1106-07.htm"> "government that
> draws its power and legitimacy from its citizens,"</a> making it nearly
> impossible to position present day America as the world's leading
> democracy. With big money running America's two-party political machine,
>  the public's trust in government continues to erode. The day after
> soft-money became effectively illegal in federal campaigns, leaders of
> both  major parties were <a
> href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19207-2002Nov6.html">
>  reported to agree</a> on specific ways to legally circumvent the spirit
> of  the law.
>
> <p><b>Indymedia Election Coverage:</b>  Hawaii | Houston | Los Angeles |
>  Maine | Minnesota | Portland | St. Louis | Twin Cities - 1, 2
>
> <p><b>Election Analysis & Discussion:</b>  To Vote or Not to Vote? |
> 2002  Elections and the Case for Reform | Low Turnout; No Mandate
> |  Post-Election Survey [satire] |  Third Party Election Results - 1, 2
> |  Republicans are Wrong-Headed |  Democracy is Hard Work / Democracy is
>  Dead | Additional discussion - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
>
> <p><b>Election Irregularities: </b> Seattle - 1, 2 | Missouri | New York
> -  1, 2 | Twin Cities
>
> <p><b>Additional Resources: </b>  Center for Voting and Democracy | FEC
> Info | Democracy Now! coverage
>
>
>
> ================================
> links from original version of feature:
>
> <p>
> <a href="http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=214895">To Vote or
> Not to Vote?</a>
> <p>
>
> <a
>
> href="http://portland.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=32028">Portland</a>
> -
> <a href="http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=215225">direct
> action</a> |
> <a href="http://twincities.indymedia.org:8081/index.php3">Twin
> Cities</a> | <a href="http://stlouis.indymedia.org/">St. Louis</a> |
> <a href="http://la.indymedia.org/">Los Angeles</a> |
> <a href="http://houston.indymedia.org/">Houston</a> -
> <a href="http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2002/11/5265.php">post
> election poll</a> |
> <a
> href="http://twincities.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#5817">Minnesota</a>
>
>
> |
> <a
> href="http://maine.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=2709">Maine</a>
> <p>
> <a href="http://www.fairvote.org">Center for Voting and Democracy:</a>
> <a href="http://www.fairvote.org/e_news/election2002.htm">The 2002
> Elections and the Case for Reform</a> |
> <a
> href="http://www.seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19814">Why
> Don't We Vote</a>
> ,
> <p>
> <b>Election Reports / Irregularities:</b>
> <a href="
> http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19496">1</a> | <a
> href="
> http://www.seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19716">2</a> | <a
> href="
> http://www.seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19725">3</a> | <a
> href=" http://indyhawaii.org/news/2002/11/96.php">4</a> |
> <a href="http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=38027">5</a> |
> <a href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19704">6</a>
> | <a
> href="http://twincities.indymedia.org:8081/front.php3?article_id=8124">7</a>
> |
> <a href="http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=38047">8</a> |
> <a href="http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=215225">9</a> |
> <p>
> <b>Discussion:</b> <a
> href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19708">1</a> |
> <a
> href="http://twincities.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=8205">2</a>
> | <a
> href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19686">3</a> |
> <a href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19592">4</a>
> | <a
> href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19548">5</a> |
> <a href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19543">6</a>
> | <a
> href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19509">7</a> |
> <a href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=19116">8</a>
> | <a href="http://la.indymedia.org/news/2002/11/21906.php">9</a> |
> <a href="http://utah.indymedia.org/news/2002/11/3209.php">10</a> | <a
> href="http://austin.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4129">11</a> |
> <a href="http://austin.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4129">12</a>
> | <a
> href="http://twincities.indymedia.org:8081/front.php3?article_id=8165">13</a>
> |
> <a
> href="http://twincities.indymedia.org:8081/front.php3?article_id=8140">14</a>
> |
> <a
> href="http://twincities.indymedia.org:8081/front.php3?article_id=8143">15</a>
> |
> <a
> href="http://portland.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=31733">16</a>

Brandon Faloona
http://inlet.org