Our Plans for 2008
In 2006, the SoS Project raised $500,000 for seven low-visibility but high-impact Secretary of State races. Every battleground state with a chief elections officer position at stake was contested. Dollar for dollar, we proved to be one of 2006's smartest political investments, winning five of our seven campaigns in battleground states.
Our efforts ensured that Democrats dedicated to clean elections became the chief elections officers in the following states: Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico. Our candidates lost in Colorado and Michigan.
Did our work make a difference? Take Jennifer Brunner, for instance, our winning candidate for Ohio Secretary of State. We raised over $200,000 for Brunner, helping her replace Ken Blackwell. This equaled nearly 10 percent of her budget and close to the $220,000 fundraising advantage she achieved over her Republican opponent. Since taking office, Brunner has:
• Fired the corrupt Cuyhoga County election board that botched the 2004 and recount
• Replaced Cuyahoga County's DREs with paper ballot machines
• Made it possible for any Ohio voter to request a paper ballot in the 2008 election
• Ordered Ohio's public universities to provide utility bills for all students – an easy form of ID to make sure students are not turned away from the polls as they were in 2004
Having proven in 2006 that the SoS Project model works, we are looking to build on our success by supporting candidates committed to reform in 2008. Our targeting is still in process, but we are monitoring races in Oregon, Missouri, Washington, Montana and West Virginia. We are also researching a few county election official races in 2008 battleground states.
We invite suggestions for additional races of interest. Send us an email with your ideas to secstateproject-at-gmail-dot-com.
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