A democratic home is the foundation of a democratic state.
~ Agnes E. Benedict

Progress Report: Democratizing Elections

On the weekend of November 9-11th several hundred people gathered in Washington, D.C. to attend Claim Democracy 2007.  Liberty Tree played a key role in planning and organizing this exciting event, which brought together key activists from local, state and national electoral reform and voting rights organizations.

The main purpose of the conference was to convene a space for these groups to share best practices, strategies and tactics, so we can build a more unified electoral reform movement, especially as we head into the 2008 election season. 

David Cobb was a featured plenary speaker, delivering a call-to-arms speech titled “Looking to the Future: The Future of our Democracy.”  Democratizing Elections Fellows Patrick Barrett, Brandon Lacy Campos and David Cobb also presented a workshop titled “Beyond Elections: Building a U.S. Democracy Movement.” Executive Director Ben Manski joined our friend Karen Dolan of the Institute for Policy Studies in conducting a workshop titled “Local Democracy: Citizen Initiatives & Referenda, Voting Rights, and Municipal Foreign Policy.”

In related news, Free Press has asked Liberty Tree to help create a “Democracy Day” at the upcoming National Media Reform Conference in Minneapolis, the premiere gathering of the media democracy movement.  The Democracy Day will provide a golden opportunity to make links between media democracy advocates and pro-democracy efforts in other areas (elections,education communities, etc).  The Democracy Day will take place on the first day  of the conference, scheduled for June 6-9, 2008.  Check out www.FreePress.net for details.

In September, Fellow Patrick Barrett participated in “Making Democracy Work,” a Wisconsin statewide summit convened to focus energy on key electoral reform issues:  Campaign finance, government ethics, voting rights, judicial independence, and redistricting.  If you want to help convene a similar event in your state, we want to help you!  Contact us at Elections@LibertyTreeFDR.org

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