Vote, and you can count on change in El Paso

Often times people on the coasts speak of Austin being Texas' sole oasis of progress, culture and decision making.

My brothers call from the east periodically badgering me –- something about El Paso being voted the sweatiest city or the most illiterate city or some such nonsense.

They don't know our city. I recently learned that El Paso/Juarez is the biggest border city in the world. We are looked at by other world leaders as a crucible of study as they attempt to improve their own border issues. We are home to the Glory Road gang. We have had as many as five New York Times best selling authors living here, including Abraham Vergese, Janice Windle, Cormac McCarthy and Dagoberto Gilb and the award-winning Cinco Puntos Press. My kids have been learning not one, but two beautiful languages since kinder.

There may be regrets in my life -– as there are in all of our lives –- but choosing to live and raise a family in El Paso isn't one of them. Not even close.

This goes down as a watershed week in our city's voting history, we are proud to say.

I called my brothers to let them know.

In the Bush-Kerry 2004 election, El Paso recorded early voting totals of 96,465. You shattered that early vote total last week with 114,765.

In the same election 2004, your total vote count was just under 174,000. You shattered that as well with a new record 185,899 getting to the polls and America electing its first African-American president.

Congratulations El Paso.

Many were surprised that the local newspaper chose this past election cycle to endorse Sen. John McCain. It did seem counterintuitive that in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, the local paper would disregard the face of the enthusiasm that the city has shown for Sen. Barack Obama. That is their right as an editorial board. Some agree, that with private ownership, comes the right of endorsement. Others feel strongly that the voice of the local paper should better reflect the voice of the local community, which was unambiguously clear:

Sen. Obama garnered 121,589 votes last week 65.72 percent, and Sen. McCain 61,598 at 33.30 percent.

Whatever the case, I approve of any vigorous discussion that improves the level of public discourse. It's the loyal opposition that makes this country so great.

John McCain is a genuine American hero. I went to see him at the airport on his stop through. His McCain-Feingold legislation has led the way to very positive campaign reform and takes a huge step in getting soft money out of politics. It inspires the folks who didn't think their mattered, to vote again.

Of the newspaper dailies in this country (per research done by Greg Mitchell of "The News") 305 endorsed Obama and 152 endorsed McCain. Just as an FYI, the Electoral College results were 367-171.

What had numbers of El Pasoans so upset was not the endorsement itself. It was the rest of the endorsement and what was said that reeked of the worst McCarthyite fear mongering, so painfully out of step with our normally very tolerant border community.

The Times wrote, "McCain's economic policies, including reducing the corporate tax rate, will stimulate the economy. It will help keep jobs in this country rather than farming them out overseas. Obama's economic ideas, including the redistribution of wealth, reek of socialism and a tax-and-spend philosophy that is a burden this country cannot bear, particularly in these tough economic times. He often sounds more like Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez than a U.S. presidential candidate. What's down the road, nationalization of oil companies, health -care providers and more?"

I do not believe John McCain would approve of that message.

"If Barack Obama is Hugo Chavez, just call me Fidel Castro," I heard one El Pasoan say.

Let's relax a second and study the situation and the statement from the Times and discuss this. Obama's advisors include Warren Buffet, Bob Rubin, and President Ronald Reagan's Fed Chairman Paul Volker.

Wild-eyed nationalizers?

Probably not. Maybe this wasn't an endorsement from the Times, but rather, just a simple mistake. There is another El Paso County up in Colorado Springs, Colo. Maybe it was a simple mistake made in the back office and it was meant for that paper.

It reminded me exactly why I've devoted so much time and energy to the non-profit organization, El Paso Counts. The goal is a simple one: to help El Paso, Texas become the No. 1 voter turnout city in the country using state of the art technology.

Because of our historically low voter turnout, it's been all too easy for elected officials –- and by extension Washington DC -- to ignore our needs and put us on the back burner. It might be all too easy for the El Paso Times to put out this type of language that felt like a community-wide slap in the face. But a little controversy is good -– gets more people interested and more people engaged, and more people voting.

As one community leader recently told me, If our voter turnout was closer to 100 percent and we strived to be the No. 1 voting city in America, our city could not be ignored –- especially with the emergence of Texas as a 2012 battleground state (you read it here first).

If we are going to be No. 1 in the country by any metric, it probably needs to be something that,

does not take a lot of money,

does not take a lot of water,

and is not dependent on a decision by someone in Austin or Washington.

El Paso Counts is free for any company, private or public, any organization in any sector, and it is a game changer.

It requires no decision by someone in Austin.

It demands no decision by someone in DC.

It quite simply takes a lot of good people that love their city.

You sign up your company on the El Paso Counts website and list your employees who want to take part. That's it. That is all you have to do.

It also takes no water in our beautiful desert community, except for the H2O that goes into the coffee pot in the work place. It actually is what's next to the coffee pot that makes the change. That's where your company El Paso Counts employee list is hanging.

Each day during early voting, the previously determined company leader comes into work and goes to the El Paso Counts website and because of the technology set up with the courthouse, they can tell who kept their promise to vote and who did not. The company leader sends out an email to those who did not get it done that first day of early voting.

This is the "coffee pot peer pressure at work" and it really moves those employees to vote the next day of early voting. In point of fact they have about two weeks to vote early and they will continually receive that friendly or (not so friendly) email from the company leader until they get it done .

Achieving a 100 percent voting company builds a terrific esprit de corps.

It's fun.

There have been many GOTV efforts across America back to the days of John Jay and the founding fathers, when only white land owners were permitted to vote. We have come a long way with the recent election of our first African American as president.

But not far enough on the GOTV metric. Last year, in the October 2007 elections, our city was just above single digit voter turnout -- quite common for most cities across America in a non presidential year election.

El Paso Counts technology works. The stats bear that out.

Companies and organizations that signed up and used EPC software averaged above 85 percent voter turnout. Those who achieve 90 percent or greater are honored by El Paso Counts.

Should every company and organization that has a coffee pot and a computer sign up for El Paso Counts, this city may be on the way to being the No. 1 voting city in America.

For any small business that does not have a computer, EPC has access to a grant that can help close that digital divide.

And it's worth saying that when you are a high voter turnout city, the ricochet effects are unquantifiably positive.

Pride, engagement, and a sense of community come to front burner.

This country is screaming out for these values and that's why most believe Obama was elected: because we want to feel connected to one another in ways we currently, and tragically, are not. That's the dynamic you want in your city as well and the one El Paso Counts hopes to create. Good things are happening here. I'm going to call my brothers.

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Steve Yellen is a president of the board of El Paso Counts.