Election Day - the Senator Jim Dyer Newsletter

["Some Guy" <someguy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Welcome to the Senator Jim Dyer Newsletter

October 29, 2004

Election Day

Dear Friends,

Today marks the end of early voting in Colorado. It is also the last day 
to apply for an absentee ballot if the ballot is not going to be mailed in 
to election officials. By all accounts, we are experiencing a record 
participation through mail ballots and early voting. This is a trend that 
started a couple of election cycles ago and has been building in 
popularity. This election seems to be emerging as the watershed in voting 
options.

What is also becoming clear is that our traditional voting system has not 
been up to the task of dealing with so many new registrants, the 
increasing mobility of our population, and the callous circumvention of 
procedures that were established to screen for fraudulent activities. 
Colorado has historically had one of the cleanest and most ethical 
election systems in the country, and we have been fortunate that the 
voters of Colorado have consistently acted in good faith. Of course there 
have been aberrations and the occasional fraudulent act, but for the most 
part the process has worked well on the honor system.

Now, tragically, we are seeing the encroachment of actors who want to win 
or profit so badly that they engage in all sorts of corrupt and nefarious 
activities to further their self-serving objectives. Just yesterday the 
Denver District Attorney's office brought criminal charges against two 
individuals for falsely completing voter registration forms to increase 
their compensation as agents in a paid voter registration drive. The two 
worked for ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform 
Now), a group that has drawn scrutiny in several states for voter 
registration fraud.

When the dust from this election has settled, and the election records 
have been scrutinized, there will be calls for stricter regulation of the 
election process. It is far from clear that more regulation is the 
prescription for curing these creeping viruses. In fact, they may be in 
large part the unintended consequences of over regulation, and more 
regulation of the regulations will not eradicate such viruses.

In addition to the insidious creep of voter registration fraud is the 
unbridled and unaccountable character assassination ads that have been run 
against candidates of both parties all over the state. Character 
assassination ads go beyond being a pesky virus that irritate us to being 
an actual cancer that eats away at the integrity of the election process. 
American politics has always been hardball, and our history is replete 
with vicious attacks on great leaders like Abraham Lincoln, James Monroe 
and many others. Somehow the voters were able to see past the slander and 
libel and not be swayed by the corruptors. While we may detest the trend 
toward more character assassination, the correction does not lie in more 
heavy handed governmental regulation of free political speech.

It is my belief that the cure is to deregulate all political speech. 
Speech by candidates, political committees, issue committees, 527 
committees, nonprofit organizations, unions, corporations and citizens 
should not be muzzled or restricted. Let them all say whatever they wish - 
but hold them up to the sunlight of public disclosure. When speech is in 
the open, it is available to everyone to critique. Lies, innuendo and 
half-truths will be exposed by other sources exercising their rights to 
free and unfettered political speech. Much has been said and written about 
the proliferation of 527 committees. The reason we have 527 committees 
operating as they do is because of ill-advised regulatory efforts. A very 
good argument could be made that the founding fathers who were responsible 
for the publication and distribution of the Federalist Papers would be 
considered to have used a 527 committee by today's regulatory standards.

The 1st Amendment is predicated on the concept of unfettered free 
political speech. The political arena should be a free market of ideas. 
The best way to have a free market provide the quality of the products 
that we want is for informed consumers to select the products with value 
and to ignore the deficient products. The same model holds for political 
ideas and speech. We need informed voters to look at the value and 
credibility of the product and to support the valid and the valuable while 
committing the untrue and distorted to oblivion.

Over the past few weeks, I have shared my thoughts with you on various 
ballot issues and other issues of interest. I have tried to communicate 
the research that I did that led me to the votes that I will cast as a 
citizen. I hope that you have found those comments useful as you have 
tried to decide how you will vote in this election.

Voting for issues and candidates that you believe in is the best way to 
inoculate society from political corruption. If you have already availed 
yourself of early voting or mail voting, thank you for your participation. 
If you have not yet voted, please go to your polling place on Election Day 
- with more than 500,000 voters having voted by mail, through provisional 
ballots or through early voting, the lines at the polling place should not 
be too long.

May God Bless America,


Senator Jim Dyer