It makes no sense at all for states to be registering people to vote online, but then not using that same system to make it easy for voters to sign ballot access petitions.
Andrew Straw articles
Andrew Straw is a Virginia lawyer who writes for Democracy Chronicles from the Philippines. Straw grew up in Indiana, where his brother, twice a veteran of Afghanistan, ran for sheriff of Hamilton County in 2018. He was born at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, where his father was training as a U.S. Marine for his Vietnam duty.
Straw has served as corporate counsel for billionaire Alan M. Voorhees, who designed the Interstate Highway System and the Metro in Washington DC. Straw then worked for the Chief Justice of Indiana and was the assistant dean in charge of the International Programs at Indiana University-Maurer School of Law.
He started a group called Children of Camp LeJeune for people born or poisoned there. Straw also founded Disability Party and it has thousands of followers in over 40 countries.
Straw has visited 16 countries and has lived in the United States, Italy, New Zealand, and the Philippines. He has provided services to the Italian Foreign Ministry as a contractor and passed the written U.S. Foreign Service Officer Test. For more information, Straw’s CV can be found here.
Docsmit: New Tool Helps Regular People Access the Legal System
Sometimes, when a person wishes to file a lawsuit to have their rights enforced, the Court requires paper filings through the U.S. Mail. In 2018, this seems like an archaic method of filing documents, and it is archaic. Enter Docsmit.
How ADA Reform Legislation Can Expand American Democracy
When the ADA and Rehab Act can be used to expand democratic inclusion, that’s the moment when people with disabilities can make that great leap forward into public office, even if they are poor and disabled.
Disability, Democracy and Mixed-Member Proportional Representation
New Zealand’s Mixed-Member Proportional election system would be good for disabled people in the United States because disability concerns could be heard in Congress more easily.
On Restoring the Right to Appeal to the Supreme Court
The easiest way to change this system is for Congress and the president to repeal the Judiciary Act of 1925 and give us back the right to appeal to the Supreme Court. That’s the system given to us by James Madison.
Postal Benefits for Blind Voters Can Improve Democracy For All
If you are a candidate and want to make sure that all your blind voters get to the polls early or vote early, you can mail a free no-postage postcard primarily in braille and provide a URL to your website that also is accessible to blind individuals.
Petitioning by Mail and State Voter Registration Webpages
States need merely take the inexpensive step of creating an e-signing page that only registered voters can use, with a dashboard showing how many signatures each candidate has at any given time.
Can Democracy Hold the Military Accountable for Poisoning Its Own?
Camp LeJeune is where I was born. It is currently an EPA Superfund site, and one author has described it as a “toxic hell,” the worst water poisoning disaster in U.S. history, worse even than Love Canal or rivers catching fire in the 1970s.
How Democracy is Thwarted For the Disabled Citizen
Frivolous is the word that judges and lawyers use to shut down disability rights, including the right to vote and the right to be a candidate, not to mention the right to walk on a sidewalk without it being full of snow and ice piles.
ADA Accommodations Could Mean Everything to Disabled Candidates
There are so many ways in which a state can make it easy to sign and help someone get on the ballot. For instance, states could let disabled candidates collect their signatures with the absentee ballots.