SLUDGE (drudge) mobilized votes on debate questions, YOU should vote too! 29SEP16

THE SLUDGE (drudge) Report is mobilizing republicans, tea-baggers, right wing fanatics, drumpf/trump-pence supporters to vote for Open Debates questions reflecting their agenda (just check out the vote totals so far on the 2nd Amendment and voter ID compared to Social Security and citizens united below). True BOLD PROGRESSIVES, those concerned about women's issues, Social Security, health care, campaign finance reform, wall street reform, criminal justice reform,  Hillary Clinton - Tim Kaine supporters, all are being called to action, called to vote for questions reflection our concerns, our priorities, the pressing issues facing our nation by the PCCC / Pregressive Change Campaign Committee. Click the links on the left side of the e mail below to vote for questions on our issues. If you need to check your voter registration or if you need to register to vote for click here. And remember to vote on 8 NOV 16 because democracy is not a spectator sport! 
Click HERE for the question I submitted on 1 OKT 16 to vote for it if you want.

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The ideas with the most votes have the best chance to be asked at the next debate. VOTE NOW!

SIREN! The conservative Drudge Report flooded the Open Debates voting process with thousands of right-wing voters. This could skew questions asked in the Oct. 9 presidential debate.

ABC and CNN debate moderators have agreed to receive and consider the top 30 questions on this important voting site.

Will we let questions favoring gun leniency and voter suppression win? Or will we vote up progressive priorities like expanding Social Security benefits and overturning Citizens United? Vote here for...

Expanding Social Security

Campaign Finance Reform

Public Option for Health Insurance

Wall Street Reform

Criminal Justice Reform

The Atlantic reports, "The second presidential debate will try something new. Ordinary Americans will be able to submit -- and vote on -- questions to be considered when the candidates meet again."

Voting takes just a few seconds. 

Over 600,000 votes have already been cast on 6,000 questions. Add your votes -- or your own questions.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

-- Keith Rouda, PCCC organizer

P.S. You can also make a tax deductible donation of $10 or more toward the Progressive Change Institute's pro-democracy work like Open Debates.

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Want to support the Warren wing? Senator Elizabeth Warren says, "When PCCC members donate millions in small-dollar donations and make millions of phone calls for progressive candidates, leaders in Washington, they take notice." Chip in $3 here.

BIG NEWS: The next presidential debate 29SEP16

ULTRAVIOLET is committed to human rights, civil rights and civil liberties with emphasis on women's issues. They are a member of the Open Debate Coalition and are asking for your vote for the questions below. Please vote for the questions you want to be asked in the next debate by clicking on them. And if you are not sure if you are still registered to vote , or you need to register to vote click here. REMEMBER, democracy is not a spectator sport so VOTE on 8 NOV 16 !
Click HERE for the question I submitted on 1 OKT 16 to vote for it if you like....

Huge news--for the first time ever, the public can vote on which questions to ask at the next presidential debate.¹

That means YOU and other UltraViolet members have a huge opportunity to make sure moderators ask the candidates questions actually important to women in real time.

Equal pay, paid family leave, child care--we need clear answers on these issues, and this is our chance to make sure voters hear them.

So far, none of the top questions touch on issues that impact women. But UltraViolet members have already submitted dozens of questions they want the presidential candidates to answer--and if we want questions about issues that impact women included in the debates, we've got to vote on the new, official forum. Can you cast your vote today?

Click on the question below to cast your vote.

• As President, will you commit to keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers? What specifically will you do to address domestic violence against women, including keeping guns away from abusers?
• Quality child care is increasingly unaffordable, especially for Black and brown families, what will you do to fix that?
• Should politicians have the power to ask doctors to give medically inaccurate information regarding abortion to women?

This isn't by coincidence--the commission that runs the debates finally gave in to public pressure. Together with progressive allies, UltraViolet has been clamoring about the fact that the debates leave out issues most important to women, including 46,500 members who named over a thousand questions they want asked during the debates.

And it's about time that the debate commission listened. Out of the 700-plus questions that have been asked in the countless number of debates this election, only SIX had been about issues that impact women.² Now here is our chance to make sure the potential next President answer questions that women are asking--questions about abortion, child care, equal pay, and more.

Thanks for taking action.

--Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Karin, Adam, Holly, Kathy, Onyi, Susan, Anathea, Audine, Shannon, Megan, Libby, and Emma, the UltraViolet team

Sources:

1. The Second Presidential Debate Will Try Something New, The Atlantic, September 27, 2016

2. What's Next For Women in this Election?, The United State of Women, July 5, 2016

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Want to support our work? UltraViolet is funded by members like you, and our tiny staff ensures small contributions go a long way.Chip in here.

OPEN DEBATES, VOTE FOR THE QUESTIONS ASKED IN THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE 9 OKT 16

OPEN DEBATES. This is a non-partisan organization open to everyone to submit questions to be asked to the presidential candidates at the next debate, a town hall forum, moderated by ABC and CNN on 9 OKT 16. THERE IS ONE RULE,  No naming candidates. Both candidates must be able to answer. You must register to submit a question or vote on a proposed question, those with the most votes will be considered by the debate moderators. Click on the Open Debates link above to submit a question and / or to vote for a question. MANY organizations of the political left and right, environmental, religious, social activism, human rights, humanitarian, civil rights and civil liberties to list a few, are also encouraging their members and supporters to submit and / or vote on questions. Their links still require you to register with Open Debates to do so. IF you are passionate about this election, your candidate and the future of America you should go to the Open Debates website or respond to e mails from organizations you belong to or support and submit a question and / or vote on questions said organization is supporting because the reflect concerns about their agenda. REMEMBER, Democracy is not a  spectator sport! AND don't forget to make sure you are registered to vote, click here. 
Click HERE to see my question (just submitted 1 OKT 16) and vote for it if you want.

Open Debate Coalition

We are a coalition of people and organizations from across the ideological spectrum urging that political debates be made more “of the people” by bringing them fully into the Internet age.

Specifically, we endorse this Open Debate principle: The public should be empowered to conceive and select debate questions – so that questions addressed by candidates represent the will of the people.

This is not a matter of right versus left, but new versus old. Participatory democracy is a driving principle of the open Internet. The best ideas rise to the top, and the wisdom of crowds prevails.

Moderators can choose from among the top questions proposed and voted on by the public – and have discretion to ask follow-up questions. Many formats can be experimented with, some typical and others so innovative they have yet to be conceived.

As voter participation declines, voter-driven Open Debates that embrace the Internet’s bottom-up ethos could breathe fresh air into our democracy – and attract more young people to participate.

The members of the Open Debate Coalition don’t agree on every issue. But we agree that by bringing together the power of the Internet with the voices of voters, we can ensure that debates are truly “of the people.” We urge candidates, political parties, the media, and debate hosts to work with us and the public to transform our democracy through Open Debates. This represents the future of democracy, and we can make great strides together in the 2016 election.

Signed,

Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor (Co-Founders, Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Progressive Change Institute)

Grover Norquist (Founder, Americans for Tax Reform)

Jimmy Wales (Co-Founder, Wikipedia)

Craig Newmark (Founder, craigslist)

Cindy Cohn (Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Chris Kelly (Former Chief Privacy Officer, Facebook; Founder, Kelly Investments; Chair, Organizer Inc.)

Terry O’Neill (President, National Organization for Women)

Ralph Reed (Founder & Chairman, Faith & Freedom Coalition)

Mindy Finn (Former Digital Strategy Director, Mitt Romney; Former Senior Digital Advisor, RNC; Founder, Empowered Women)

Tim O’Reilly (Founder, O’Reilly Media)

Rashad Robinson (Executive Director, ColorOfChange.org)

Adam Brandon (President & CEO, FreedomWorks)

Paul Rieckhoff (Executive Director, Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America)

Michael Turk (Former eCampaign Director, Republican National Committee and Bush/Cheney '04)

Anna Galland and Ilya Sheyman (Executive Directors, MoveOn.org Civic and Political Action)

Ilyse Hogue (President, NARAL Pro-Choice America)

Shepard Fairey (Artist known for iconic Obama “Hope” poster)

Heather McGhee (President, Demos)

Albert Jacquez (Deputy Executive Director, National Council of La Raza Action Fund)

Jon Henke (Former New Media Director, U.S. Senate Republicans and Fred Thompson for President; Strategic Director, TechFreedom)

Cenk Uygur (Host, The Young Turks)

Nita Chaudhary (Co-Executive Director, UltraViolet)

Ed Martin (President, Eagle Forum)

Ben Rattray (Founder and CEO, Change.org)

Chris Shelton (President, Communications Workers of America)

Michael Brune (Executive Director, Sierra Club)

Markos Moulitsas (Founder, DailyKos)

Glenn Reynolds (Founder, Instapundit)

Joichi Ito (Director, MIT Media Lab)

Matt Nelson (Executive Director, Presente)

Louis Elrod (President, Young Democrats of America)

Gene Karpinski (President, League of Conservation Voters)

Cory Doctorow (Author, blogger, journalist)

David Moore (Executive Director, AskThem.io, Participatory Politics Foundation)

Ethan Zuckerman (Director, MIT Center for Civic Media)

Jared Friedman (Founder, Scribd; Partner, Y Combinator)

Marvin Ammori (Lawyer, Technology Strategist)

Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej (Co-Founders, Personal Democracy Media, Civic Hall)

Jim Dean (Chair, Democracy for America)

May Boeve (Executive Director, 350 Action)

Jose Antonio Vargas (CEO, Define American)

Roy Beck (President, NumbersUSA)

Jeremy Ben-Ami (President, J Street)

Joseph Bast (President & CEO, The Heartland Institute)

Alex Lawson (Executive Director, Social Security Works)

Alexandra Flores-Quilty (President, United States Student Association)

Christopher Long (President, Intercollegiate Studies Institute)

Ana María Archila (Co-Executive Director, Center for Popular Democracy Action)

Heather Hargreaves (Vice President, NextGen Climate)

Greenpeace

David Segal (Executive Director, Demand Progress and Rootstrikers)

Ashley Thorne & Peter Wood (President & Executive Director, National Association of Scholars)

Kenneth Roth (Executive Director, Human Rights Watch)

Murshed Zaheed (Political Director, CREDO Action)

Rea Carey (Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund)

Crowdpac

Robert Greenwald (Founder, Brave New Films)

Marissa Brown (Executive Director, Democracy Initiative)

Karen Hobert Flynn (President, Common Cause)

Dennis M. Kelleher (President and CEO, Better Markets)

Mark Riddle (President, New Leaders Council)

Robert Weissman (President, Public Citizen)

Jodi Jacobson (President and Editor-in-Chief, Rewire)

David Donnelly (President and CEO, Every Voice)

Nick Nyhart (President and CEO, Every Voice Center)

Mary Rickles and Eric Thut (Communications Director and Interim Executive Director, Netroots Nation)

Robyn Thomas (Executive Director, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence)

Dean Baker (Co-Founder, Center for Economic and Policy Research)

Stosh Cotler (CEO, Bend the Arc Jewish Action)

Deepak Pateriya (Executive Director, Center for Community Change Action)

Rhea Suh (President, NRDC Action Fund)

Akshat Tewary (President, Occupy the SEC)

Arianna Huffington is also a member of the Open Debate Coalition.

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