Last Saturday’s DemocracyFest provided a well-needed morale booster for San Diego Democrats in the midst of campaigning. The event, hosted by San Diego State University, offered panels, seminars and keynote speakers to rally campaigners and voters for November elections.

An enthusiastic crowd welcomed former presidential candidate Howard Dean, a featured speaker at the event. Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee, is aiming to make the Democratic Party competitive in every race and district across the country.

“We are done with 20 state campaigns,” Dean said. “We’re going to be in Mississippi and Alabama and Utah because we can win in Mississippi and Alabama and Utah.”

Dean’s speech introduced a new national Democratic platform, promising that with congressional changes, America could also change.

“The president has won his elections by dividing America,” Dean said. “Have you ever noticed it’s ‘those people’ for the president? In 2002, it was African-Americans and quotas. In 2004, it was gay and lesbian Americans. In 2006, it’s Mexican-Americans and immigrants. I know we need immigration reform, I know we need to strengthen our borders. But we don’t need to scapegoat a group of people to do that.”

The platform Dean introduced centered on social reform, including education, retirement, job security and health care.

“We need health insurance that works for everyone. If 36 other countries in the world can do it, we can do it,” Dean said as he smiled at the crowd. “I know you know I can name all those countries, but I’m not allowed to do lists anymore after Iowa.”

Locally, the Brian Bilbray/Francine Busby race was a hot topic in support of voter reform.

“Republicans believe that we’re better off with the fewer people that vote. And they’re right – for Republicans,” said Dean. “The problem is the more people that vote, the better it is for America. I would rather lose an election with 100 percent of people voting than win one with 25 percent of people voting.”

The Bilbray/Busby congressional election has been under attack by some members of the legal community, who accuse San Diego Registrar Mikel Haas of violating election law by allowing voting machine “sleepovers,” where voting machines are kept at pollster’s houses overnight.

Local Democrats are criticizing Haas for his lack of action in the matter.

“The problem is our registrar of voters here have a very relaxed attitude about this because they used to use punch-card ballots,” said Jess Durfee, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party. “The registrar is saying that the process that has always been used for the mechanical [devices] is still OK with computer devices, and we’re saying ‘No, that’s not OK.’

“The voting machines sat in living rooms or garages or trunks or who knows where for as much as 10 days before the opening of the election on June 6,” he said.

But the concern over the voting machines extends far past the 50th Congressional District.

“This affects the entire county. All voters used these machine unless you voted by mail,” Durfee said. “Even scantrons were still fed into a computer.”

The CA-50 Action Committee, a coalition formed to organize legal action against the registrar, wishes to invalidate the congressional election results until a hand count can take place – although that result is unlikely, if not impossible.

“Mikel Haas has arbitrarily decided to charge $150,000 for this recount, which equates to a dollar a vote,” said Brad Friedman, political blogger of bradblog.com and member of the coalition. “In neighboring Orange County, the registrar is a lot kinder. He believes in accountability and has only charged 14 cents a vote.”

The coalition admits that without financial and legal resources, the hand-count campaign has little hope of success. Durfee said the San Diego County Democratic Party aims to correct voting security and tighten pollster policy for the November elections, when all voting will be done on computerized touch screens.