TREK TO THE ELECTIONS OFFICE (2)

This morning I got on my scooter and went to our local elections office, which is two or three blocks away from my home. The elections administrator is a friend of mine, as her family attends my church.

The voting machines we use are from Hart, a small notebook-like gizmo about the size of a legal-sized pad. The voter controls his answers by way of a disk he spins with a finger. I had voted several times this way, and once had been an election clerk with these machines. I asked her how this kind of setup would handle a write-in.

She said that write-in candidates would be posted on a card in every voting booth, and the system would bring up either an alphabet or a "QUERTY" (I don't know which) on the screen where the name could be could be spelled out using the disk.

As for spelling, she said that she would give the voter "the benefit of the doubt"; however I suspect that many counties would not be as understanding, so we need to remember "Alan has one "L" and an "A", and Keyes has two "E's".

She told me that they had run write-in elections on a local basis before--one of the write-in candidates had actually won.

We talked somewhat at length about the Hart machines being "hacker proof". She was a bit miffed that people were always wanting to go back to paper ballots when the paper ones were a lot easier to cheat on than the new machines.

While I was there I signed by oath to be a deputy registrar until the end of December. I decided that it would be better for my retirement community, as many might forget to mail it in.

TREK TO THE ELECTIONS OFFICE (1)

The best way to start a write-in campaign is to visit the elections office of your particular county. We need some education, and we need to be familiar with the people we will be working with.

Elections officials are supposed to be non-partisan, and this trek will prove whether your own elections people really are. It's best to find a particular individual to work with throughout the campaign.

Your first objective will be educational--learning how to find Alan Keyes on the write-in ballot. Yes, he may be on the ballot, especially in counties with electronic voting machines. He will be in a place that is hard to find, however. And it's your job to tell people how to access him when they vote.

Then, you will need to be sworn in as a deputy registrar, which will oil the hinges of your registration campaign which ends a month before Election Day. If the elections office isn't too accessible from your home, though, forget about this step, for you will be required to turn in the voter registration cards within a very short period of time. The availability of parking needs to be factored in.

The only reason you will need to be a registrar is to collect the cards yourself instead to having the voter mail them in. I will need to be a registrar because I live in a senior community and people around here tend to forget things like mailing cards in.

In any case, you may need to pick up a supply of the blank cards. Unless you live in a very uncooperative county, they will be readily available.

Since this is Sunday, I will have to go over to the voter office sometime nest week. I will post my own results then.

HEAD 'EM UP! MOVE 'EM OUT!

If this looks like a blog used in the Alan Keyes ballot access petition campaign, it is meant to be that way. We changed the name and URL of the blog, but that is all.

The question is, how do you run a write-in campaign, especially for President of the United States? Name recognition is the key. We want to plaster Alan's name, his picture, his voice, and especially his ideas all over Texas.

Tall order, you say? We want to prove that a grassroots campaign will work, tied together with internet posts, a web site, emails, and a lot of conference calls with the candidate and with his helpers (You notice I didn't say "handlers". Alan can not be handled, and if anything, he handles us!)

It's a big job for a big state, and we Texans will do it big, as we always do.