but I just finished this, and am sending it to everyone I know, and would like to post it so anyone could use it if they want to (not that I'm a big fan of chain letters).
There was a crime committed against the American people and democracy on November 2, 2004.
It began more than 6 years ago when many misguided officials, in an effort to “fix” an inefficient voting system, played right into the criminals’ hands. For the most part, the voting machines the American people vote on, and that your votes are counted on, are owned by four companies; Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia, and SAIC. Some, but not all, of these machines produce a “paper trail”—a way to assure that the votes entered into the machine can be checked by hand. Diebold chief Walden O’Dell is a top Bush fund-raiser. All four of these companies have verifiable ties to the Bush campaign and family.
There were signs that this crime was imminent. Nationwide, people requesting voter registration cards, absentee ballots, overseas ballots—even our military personnel—did not receive them in a timely manner. Voters arriving at polling places where they had voted for years found that their names had been inexplicably removed from the rolls, or that their polling place had changed, and they had not been notified. States with the greatest numbers of reported problems are states whose election officials have strong Republican Party ties. Voting machines during early voting in several states registered the wrong candidate when touch-screens were pressed, or did not register votes for some candidates at all. “Machine glitches”, “lost in the Mail”, or carefully programmed theft?
On Election Day, there is evidence that voting machines were not placed where they were needed the most. High traffic areas like the inner cities were allocated fewer machines per polling place than the suburbs and rural areas. In Ohio the long lines were not just due to voter interest and enthusiasm---there were fewer machines available. There were over 100 machines warehoused and unused in Ohio that could have been allocated to help correct this problem. In the poorer neighborhoods of our country where illness, jobs, and family responsibilities did not allow a voter to stand in long lines for hours, it is impossible to estimate how many Americans were unable to vote at all. And the same problems occurred again as had taken place during early voting---voters’ names missing from the rolls, and machine malfunctions that are too numerous to count. The Boards of Elections in the various states are calling these incidents “irregularities”. American voters were disenfranchised!
Then there is the matter of the exit polls---the exit polls were overwhelmingly in John Kerry’s favor. As election night wore on, and more returns were publicized, the network media consistently remarked that it was unusual that the exit polls and precinct returns did not coincide—but no one questioned the precinct returns.
There has been a great deal of media attention given to the Ukraine. Our government, particularly Secretary Colin Powell and Senator Lugar, have gone on record to say that the exit polls in the Ukraine put that election in doubt, and say that some kind of fraud took place there.
What about the election in this country? Do you know if your vote counted?
There are investigations going on now in Ohio, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico that have received very little attention. They are being conducted by the Government Accountability Office, the Cobb-Badnarik campaign, the Kerry campaign lawyers, and citizens’ groups. The House Judiciary Committee has asked Kenneth Blackwell, Secretary of State in Ohio, to address the many problems that occurred in that state. Recounts of votes are occurring, or scheduled to occur, in many states.
And how many American citizens know that this is going on?
I hold the mainstream media responsible---the election in the Ukraine, the Laci Peterson case, the possibility that Barry Bonds may have taken steroids---all these are more important than what occurred on November 2, 2004.
There is information available at verified voting.org,
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf,http://www.votecobb.org/, and at many other sites on the web.
There was a crime against the American people committed on November 2, 2004.
Do you know if your vote was stolen?
Did your vote count?
An American Citizen in Galveston, Texas