This does not end Jan 6 or Jan 20.

[cindyw]

I just wanted to send out a reminder for those of us here at the DU who feel like Thursday is a breaking point. There are those I have seen who make the mistake that this is about Kerry and Bush. They seem to suggest that to support Conyers, you must believe that there is some magic piece of evidence that Kerry won. This is far beyond Election 2004 now. Our very rights to Democracy and free and fair elections have been taken from us.

There can be no justice, when poorer communities are given less machines that richer ones. Any action that discourages people from voting or throws away their applications submitted in good faith or says that a company can have a secret code that makes a computer default a vote for one candidate when the other is pushed is evidence of election fraud. Small or large it damages our democracy. Does not a small affair damage a marriage? Does not a single punch damage a child as much as a few? The answer is yes.

Those who fought for civil rights, voting rights, womens voting rights, freedom from slavery and the very lives of those in concentration camps did not stop when they lost elections? They fought on because they understood that that fight was not political in nature, but cultural. Bush will be inaugurated, but our fight against him and those who support him moves on. It must continue or it will be all of us who are responsible for the end of Democracy. We will be come the Chamberlains of the world. Careers be damned when Democracy is in danger.

When a small group of powerful people choose our leaders and not the American people as a whole, then we are not free.

Do not allow your fear stand in the way of what is right. Fight for Democracy.

[liberal N proud]

1. I see it as about Democracy and Fair Elections

It is about the future of this country and our children.

[cindyw]

2. you are exactly right.

Our children will not be free in an American where the powerful can affect the outcomes of elections.

[In Truth We Trust]

3. We must take it to another level after the 6th!

I agree with your post Cindy. We should be conducting all kinds of civil disobedience and peaceful protest!!! Hit em where it hurts. Boycott! Protest! Burn the damn machines!!!!

[cindyw]

5. Ive thought about this a lot lately. I am in a process of grief since Nov2

What I am coming to is realizing that those who talk about national standards for elections are on to something. It is a loss of freedom at its basic level when you can turn your registration into someone who throws it away. Those criminals who did this to people took away their freedom.

[StephanieMarie]

4. if we don't fight now

we have and endless number of bush's to look forward to--Jeb, George P. , maybe they'll even run Neil "I-didn't-steal-from-Silverado" Bush. We have to solve this NOW. We can't give up, even if Jan 6 and 20 don't go they way we want.

[dandrhesse]

6. yep!

I learned something this morning that for me is mind boggling! I am 43 years old, with a BA and feel I am reasonably informed, in other words an average, citizen who is a college grad. I did not realize until I researched this morning that all US citizens do not have a legally protected right to vote.

Only miniority and disabled citizens fall under the voting rights act, and miniority is defined in racial terms. So "college students" don't fall under that protection. This issue is not covered for us under the newer HAVA either.

As long as this is the situation, each election cycle all that needs to be done is to find out which groups of people are likely to vote which way and then dicriminate against them by whatever means it takes, which is exactly what took place in many communities this past November. "poor" vs "rich" precincts were targeted as were college students, and the list goes on and on. Those polling places identified as democratic can be abused and there is no federal recourse.

The american public does not know this information. Even if you decided to sue the state or county, you have the burden of proof, they don't have to prove they held fair elections, you have to prove they didn't and that they broke the law in doing so.

If for no other reason, a Senator should stand and state this obvious information. Sometimes elected officials forget how little the public really knows about their protections or lack of them.

This is the issue and Jesse Jackson Jr. stated it plainly at the Ohio Forum, I guess I just didn't realize the impact of what he was saying at the time. This charade of fair elections must be brought to the attention of every american, and it will take well past the 6th of January to make that point.