In RedState’s posting rules, written by Erick Erickson, the opening paragraph includes RedState’s mission (in bold):

We have an established community at RedState that we value greatly. At the same time, we keep registration, comments, and diaries open to the public. In order to support and promote our mission of educating, motivating, and activating conservatives, we have site rules…

Sometimes, we get so embroiled in discussing everything that can be discussed in the political realm that we forget that the main mission of RedState is to “educate, motivate, and activate conservatives.” With these thoughts in mind, I hope the following information will assist those who want to get more involved in influencing the political process.

As I reported in the weekend open thread, I attended the first Unite IE Conservative Conference on Saturday. The conference was held in Riverside, CA and was a fantastically organized meeting to bring together numerous conservative organizations operating in and around Southern California. I promised to highlight at least part of the information-packed event and will share about two conservative projects in today’s Watercooler.

The first one is called, “Citizen Ninja,” and offers workshops on “How to Become a Citizen Ninja.”:

The framers of our Constitution knew that to preserve our blessings of liberty, the Republic would require self-governing citizens.

We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government. ~James Madison

Do you worry about being marginalized if you express your opinion in public?
Have you been bullied in a public forum or town hall meeting?
Do you wonder if civil discourse is even possible?

How to Become a Citizen Ninja is a workshop designed for Free Range Americans who recognize they have a duty to engage in the civic process but are unsure how to go about it or are fearful of bully tactics being used against them.

The site has many testimonials from people who were transformed into civic-minded ninjas through the training.

The second project was really interesting. It is California’s version of “True the Vote,” and, in fact, the founder, Linda Paine, who calls the California version, “Election Integrity Project,” founded the organization after the True the Vote model. Founded in 2010, the all-volunteer organization is doing a fantastic job of exposing just how vulnerable elections in California have become. In their first report, the EIP sent out Poll Observers to monitor the 2012 election:

Overview

On November 6, 2012, Election Integrity Project deployed Poll Observers to polling places throughout California. This report is an analysis of 1,740 incidents recorded that day by 469 of EIP’s Poll Observers who observed over 650 precincts in in the following 21 counties: Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Orange, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Kern, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Monterey, Placer, Shasta, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Solano, Tulare and Nevada.

Interestingly, in a state of over 100,000 poll workers, 25,000 precincts and over 13 million ballots cast, California’s Secretary of State Debra Bowen deployed just eight poll observers to seven counties. The report of their findings can be found here. Its finding that, “… only a few problems were encountered by voters and poll workers on election day” conflicts with EIP’s general finding suggesting that there were “many” as opposed to “few” problems encountered by voters and poll workers.

Note that while California’s Secretary of State Democrat Debra Bowen deployed just eight poll observers to monitor 25,000 precints, the EIP sent out 469 Poll Observers across the state. Follow the link above to see a detailed account of specific election errors and election law infractions they uncovered.They are doing a fantastic job of exposing how poorly managed the electoral process has become, as well as documenting many errors and evidence of intentional fraud.

Hooray for volunteers who care.

The Watercooler is always an open thread.