[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bob Brigham

While the California Republican Party is busy defending tax breaks for yacht owners, Democrats are busy working to decrease barriers to voting and increase participation in democracy. The California Democratic Party Platform even talks about increasing participation:

"To promote honest leadership and open government, California Democrats will:
[...]
• Increase voter participation by advocating for extended voting hours and/or days, scheduling elections on weekends, or by declaring Election Day a holiday."

While I agree that would be great, the current perspective of the CDP Platform is to seek increases in the percentage of participation among registered voters. Yet there is even greater potential to increase voter participation by reforming barriers to voter registration. This is the premise behind recent national legislation by Democrats in Congress and a bill by Assemblyman Curren Price for California.

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

While the California Republican Party is busy defending tax breaks for yacht owners, Democrats are busy working to decrease barriers to voting and increase participation in democracy. The California Democratic Party Platform even talks about increasing participation:

To promote honest leadership and open government, California Democrats will:

[...]

• Increase voter participation by advocating for extended voting hours and/or days, scheduling elections on weekends, or by declaring Election Day a holiday

While I agree that would be great, the current perspective of the CDP Platform is to seek increases in the percentage of participation among registered voters. Yet there is even greater potential to increase voter participation by reforming barriers to voter registration. This is the premise behind recent national legislation by Democrats in Congress and a bill by Assemblyman Curren Price for California.

These are two pieces of legislation that deserve to be followed closely, which means you'll probably need to follow on the blogs as so far both reforms have been largely ignored by traditional media.

by sfpelosi [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Hello Everyone,

The California Democratic Party Platform Committee, including Calitics' own Dante Atkins, is beginning our work putting together the 2008 Platform. 

In order to start the process, the Committee crafted a draft Blueprint for the Golden State and encourages all to participate in sending testimony. 

We invite all Democrats to help shape our Blueprint for 2008. Please share your values and priorities at cali4us@cadem.org.

The Regional Directors will be convening regional meetings in October 2007 that will include platform hearings.  Please stay tuned for a full calendar of events.

Look forward to working with everyone.  To read the 2006 Platform, please follow this link:

http://www.cadem.org...

Best, Christine

Christine Pelosi
CA Democratic Party Platform Chair