Last updated on 2014.01.21
Among my simple pleasures: seeing blogger-turned-patronage beneficiary Pat Powers celebrate the receipt of federal government handouts. The Secretary of State's operations chief sent out a press release Friday trumpeting the arrival of nearly one million dollars from the Federal Voting Assistance Program for South Dakota to use in developing electronic absentee voting systems for overseas citizens.
This federal money will help Secretary Jason Gant and his people develop more secure online voting systems that will ensure exchange students, soldiers, and other globetrotters won't see their sacred votes waylaid by roadside bombs, volcanic ash, and other supply-line disruptions. Secretary Gant will also spend some of this money on advertising, just to let people know the system exists. (Hey, where's my cut?)
And we couldn't do it without the federal government doing its job and protecting our Constitutional rights. Thanks, Uncle Sam!
Below is the original press release from Sec. Gant's office:
SECRETARY OF STATE JASON GANT AWARDED GRANT TO
IMPROVE MILITARY ABSENTEE VOTING SYSTEMLeading a joint venture between South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and North Dakota, Secretary of State Jason M. Gant announced today that South Dakota has received a nearly $1 million grant from the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) for electronic absentee systems for elections.
The competitive grant, which will be awarded by the Federal Voting Assistance Program in conjunction with the Department of Defense, had South Dakota competing among several other states on proposals to improve absentee voting by military servicemen and women and citizens residing overseas.
"Our proposal was based on a concept of simplifying the process; to allow an overseas citizen to apply for an absentee ballot, receive their ballot, cast their vote, and return their ballot all in one highly secure on-line session," Gant said. "Based on our grant application, we will be entering into negotiations to receive and disburse a portion of the overall $16 million grant for the development and security testing for a new system for military and overseas citizens to vote absentee."
As part of the grant application, applicants for the grant proposal were asked to explain how they would:
- Establish and operate successful, sustainable and affordable electronic tools that will improve voting systems for voters protected by Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).
- Increase the percentage of ballots successfully returned by UOCAVA voters to be either equal to, or greater than, the percentage of ballots returned by the general absentee voting population.
- Reduce the failure rates for UOCAVA voters experienced in each of the various stages of the absentee voting process (such as voter registration, absentee ballot request, blank absentee ballot delivery, absentee ballot marking, absentee ballot tabulation, and absentee ballot return verification). The standard for such reductions is to reduce these failure rates to be equivalent to the level of the general electorate for similar stages in the voting process, and for similar demographic populations.
- Establish and maintain a pipeline of ideas, techniques and best practices of election officials and their services for UOCAVA voters.
Gant said, "South Dakota's portion of this grant is directly related to how such a system would maintain the security of the electronically marked ballot."
"This gives South Dakota the opportunity to have a hand in the creation of new and innovative election technologies to help our servicemen and women overseas with voting" Gant said.
I don't know about you, Cory, but something about the thought of having Mr. Powers being the one counting our votes just sent a little shiver up my spine. (Deep breaths, Bill... in...out... in.... ahhhh. Ok, all better.)
Hmm... Mr. Powers does have a disturbing history of deleting important public information submitted online. Let's share a shiver. ;-)
CH,
Employers do things for their employees all the time to help them overcome certain hardships. As much as you might want to spin this to your charge of hypocricy of conservatives, we need to celebrate those moments as Americans when we are on common ground. All you are doing is sowing seeds of discontent and division.
For this conservative, a very legitimate role of government is to be willing to take extra-ordinary measures to protect the legitimacy of elections and give everyone an opportunity to vote. Using technology to overcome situations where the traditional election day voting and absentee ballots are impossible seems wholly appropriate. And since the primary users are federal employees, it seems wholly appropriate they should fund the bulk of the expense.
Celebrate commonality with your conservative neighbors every once in a while! Otherwise, we will get the impression you think we have cooties or worse. And, you will force me to not celebrate those issues on which we agree (ala opposition to the death penalty).
Pat Powers accrued a record of malicious omissions and commissions on his blog, which he tried to erase when he deleted that record. He did not entirely manage to delete all of the evidence, which some of the offended have copied. I join Bill Fleming in a gasp or two for fresh air. A smarmy press release is not an act of expiation for the misdeeds that cause much distrust and suspicion in the office where he now works.
At least we aren't joining other Red States in disenfranchising voters with new ALEC inspired voter laws.
Say, didn't Sec. Gant announce that he had started a PAC devoted to giving money to Republican candidates on the old Pat Powers run SDWC? Does he still have that PAC?
Have to agree with Bill and Cory. Pat Powers is an example of how the GOP says one thing, but behind the scenes pushes an opposite agenda. The last thing the GOP establishment wants is smaller government. They simply want the limited government conservatives to vote for their candidates based on false promises.