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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 07:03 AM
Original message
Thursday 1/6 /05 Election/Fraud/Recount Thread
In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to the recounts/fraud. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

Please help us. (I expect today to be a busy day with information coming in regularly.) If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. Thanks to everyone who is helping with this project.

Link to the thread from yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=236777
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 07:09 AM
Response to Original message
1. very late article from NYT website on challenge


Election Results to Be Certified, With Little Fuss From Kerry

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/politics/06elect.html
<snip>
Federal law requires both a member of the House and the Senate to object for a formal challenge to be considered. The 2000 race between President Bush and former Vice President Al Gore produced objections in the House, but none in the Senate. On Wednesday, an aide to Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, said Mrs. Boxer was contemplating raising an objection.

Some House Democrats will almost certainly object. On Wednesday, Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, issued a report saying there were "ample grounds for challenging the electors from the state of Ohio."

Mr. Kerry said he would draw on the Conyers report to make voting rights one of his "top agenda items" this year.

A formal challenge would not affect the outcome of the election, because both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans, who promise to certify Mr. Bush as the winner. But it would force lawmakers to abandon the ordinarily polite ritual, which takes place in the House chamber. Instead, the House and Senate would retreat to their own chambers, on opposite sides of the Capitol, for a two-hour debate and a formal vote on the objection.

Such a debate could prove uncomfortable for Democrats, who do not want to be viewed as sore losers. But Republicans seemed eager for it.

Thanks to steve2470 here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x243399
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:17 AM
Response to Reply #1
9. Wednesday 01/05 Highlights
Recap of stories from Wednesday 01/05
(and from previous days)
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Al-CIAda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 07:43 AM
Response to Original message
2. Kerry urges supporters to swamp GOP leaders with calls
Kerry urges supporters to swamp GOP leaders with calls
By Noelle Straub
Thursday, January 6, 2005


WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday launched a Capitol Hill switchboard assault on two top Republicans, urging backers nationwide to call to demand election voting reforms.
     In an e-mail to nearly 3 million supporters, Kerry wrote, ``Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.
     ``But that does not mean we should abandon our commitment to addressing those problems that happened in Ohio. We must act today to make sure they never happen again.''
     On the eve of today's certification by Congress of the 2004 presidential election results, Kerry blamed Republicans for ignoring calls for election reform even after the 2000 debacle. The e-mail listed the phone numbers of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=62067
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 07:48 AM
Response to Reply #2
3.  Support Senator Boxer in Counting Every Vote (convienient email form to
your Senators:-)

reposted from earlier thread to this summary thread:

Support Senator Boxer in Counting Every Vote



I got this email newsletter just now. You can email your senators from their website: http://now.org/

January 5, 2005
Support Senator Boxer in Counting Every Vote

Please take a minute to urge your senators to stand up with Sen. Barbara Boxer and support Congressional debate on the Ohio vote count. Take Action!....
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 08:39 AM
Response to Original message
4. NOW says BOXER HAS AGREED!!!
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 08:40 AM by MelissaB



rodeodance got the scoop at NOW's web site, and posted it here at at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=245677#245717

To see it for yourself, go to:

http://www.capwiz.com/now/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6789491

It says:

"Thanks to our friend and leader, Sen. Barbara Boxer, that (scene in "F 9/11") will not happen in 2004. Thus far, she is the only senator who has agreed to join in the challenge - and of course only one senator is required - but that will make her the target of a nasty smear campaign and she needs our support."

NOW asks for our help in coming smears of Boxer.

(Edited to add)
Thanks to Peace Patriot here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x245734
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 08:43 AM
Response to Original message
5. Harry Reid revealed that at least one Democratic senator WILL stand up wit
BREAKING NEWS!
On Thursday's "Morning Sedition," the Rev. Jesse Jackson told hosts Marc Maron and Mark Riley that, at a meeting last night, Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid revealed that at least one Democratic senator WILL stand up with Rep. John Conyers
to oppose the certification of Ohio's vote, thus forcing a Congressional debate on the state of America's voting system!

Rev. Jackson did NOT deny that Reid named Sen. Barbara Boxer as the Democrat expected to stand up today. And her office wants to know whether you support her in doing so. LET HER KNOW YOU DO!

Numbers for Sen. Boxer:
Washington -- 202 224-3553
Inland Empire -- 909 888-8525
Sacramento -- 916 448-2787
San Diego -- 619 239-3884
San Francisco -- 415 403-0100

http://www.morningsedition.com /


Thanks to Twist_U_Up here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x245840
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Coexist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 08:45 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. C-Span was just discussing what would happen
If a Senator did stand up!
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 08:49 AM
Response to Original message
7. The Nation: Dems Should Object Today


American elections never play out perfectly. But the dramatic imperfections in the 2004 presidential election in Ohio, as detailed in a series of letters and reports (http://www.house.gov/conyers/) circulated over the past month by Representative John Conyers, D-Michigan, deserve a more serious response than they received from the majority of Congressional Democrats. When Ohioans began to raise concerns about troublesome irregularities in the approach of Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell -- a Bush campaign apparatchik -- to conducting the November 2 election and counting the votes in the contest that ultimately decided the race between Bush and Democrat John Kerry, they initially got more encouragement from Greens and Libertarians than from national Democrats. But Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, took the complaints seriously enough to go to Ohio. There, he and minority staffers for the Judiciary Committee conducted hearings and investigations that cut through the hyperbole and got down to two basic conclusions: first, voting and vote counting procedures in Ohio were so flawed that they created circumstances where citizens were disenfranchised and, second, that legitimate questions about the problems with the Ohio election had not been resolved at the point when the state's electoral votes were cast for Bush. Accordingly, Conyers has announced that he will object to the certification of the results from Ohio when Congress is scheduled to review and approve Electoral College votes this afternoon.

Conyers has found a handful of allies among House Democrats in recent days, mostly members of the Congressional Black Caucus. But as today approached, he had received little encouragement from Democrats in the Senate. (The staff of California Senator Barbara Boxer says she is "considering" going along with Conyers, and Wisconsin's Russ Feingold is reportedly doing the same. But neither had signed on as of this morning.) Barring a last-minute show of solidarity by Boxer, Feingold or another senator, the failure of Senate Democrats to side with Conyers appeared likely to block his formal objection, as federal rules require that a challenge to the counting of electoral votes from a particular state must be backed by at least one member of both the House and the Senate. Conyers, who has served four decades in Congress and been a central player in every major voting rights debate since the 1960s, wrote last week to all 100 senators asking that they sign on to his objection. Yet, even when he distributed materials itemizing and analyzing what he described as "the many irregularities we have come across as part of our hearings and investigation into the Ohio presidential election," he no response from most. It was an eerie echo of what happened in 2001 when members of the Congressional Black Caucus tried to object to the certification of electoral votes from Florida only to be ruled out of order because no senator had backed their complaint. The scene of African-American members being gaveled into silence was one of the most powerful and poignant moments in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11, and it was impossible to imagine that it would ever be repeated. Yet, as the moment of truth approached this year, Conyers, the senior African-American in Congress was forced to plead for an opportunity "to debate and highlight the problems in Ohio which disenfranchised innumerable voters."

It is important to note the language Conyers has used. He was not calling for overturning the election of President Bush. Rather, he was suggesting that, based on the evidence of voter disenfranchisement, flawed or corrupted voting machinery, and inappropriate procedures for counting and recounting votes in Ohio, it was inappropriate for Congress simply to rubber stamp the decisions of Secretary of State Blackwell and other officials in Ohio to award the state's electoral votes to Bush. Ultimately, that objection has little chance to get beyond the debating stage, as both the Senate and the House would have to agree to the objection in order to block the counting of Ohio's electoral votes -- and that is not going to happen in either of those Republican-controlled chambers. But Conyers is right to argue that a formal objection needs to be made, and that objection should be broadly supported by Democrats -- and, frankly, honest Republicans -- in both the House and the Senate. That it has not received that broad support is a sad statement about the seriousness with which most Democrats take their party's pledge to "count all the votes this time" -- and about the prospects for reform of erratic, unequal and unreliable voting systems that, as Conyers and his aides have ably illustrated, are prone to abuses that undermine democracy.

http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/index.mhtml?bid=1&pid=2105
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texpatriot2004 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 09:22 AM
Response to Original message
8. kick
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:21 AM
Response to Original message
10. RNC: What They're Saying About Ohio Election Challenges
(The GOP BS Report...)

1/6/2005 9:36:00 AM

RNC: What They're Saying About Ohio Election Challenges




RNC: What They're Saying About Ohio Election Challenges

1/6/2005 9:36:00 AM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: National Desk, Political Reporter

Contact: Brian Jones of Republican National Committee, 202-863-8614; Web: http://www.gop.com

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Republican National Committee Released the following today:

"Democrats are wondering why they are losing electoral ground among African-Americans, Hispanics, women and urban voters. The answer is pretty simple. As the President and the Republican-led Congress work to lower health care costs by reducing the number of medical malpractice suits, begin a dialogue on how to preserve Social Security for future generations and formulate plans to simplify the tax code, liberal Democrats are focused on sour grapes politics and an election they lost more than two months ago." -- RNC Spokesman Brian Jones

---

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT OHIO

ELECTION CHALLENGES

Kerry/Edwards Officials:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.): "Despite Widespread Reports Of Irregularities, Questionable Practices By Some Election Officials And Instances Of Lawful Voters Being Denied The Right To Vote, Our Legal Teams On The Ground Have Found No Evidence That Would Change The Outcome Of The Election." (Sen. John Kerry E-mail, "Counting On You to Make Sure Votes Get Counted," 1/5/04)

Kerry's Ohio Legal Counsel Dan Hoffheimer: "None Of These Problems (In Ohio) So Far Adds Up To Conspiracy Or Fraud Or Enough Votes To Change The Outcome" (Mark Niquette, "Kerry's Supporters Continue Challenge," The Columbus Dispatch, 1/4/05)

Hoffheimer: "No Evidence Of Confirmed Fraud" And "It Would Have To Be A Virtual Miracle" For Kerry To Win. (Jules Witcover, Op-Ed, "Recount In Ohio," The Baltimore Sun, 11/26/04) Kerry Spokesman David Wade: "We Haven't Seen Any Evidence To Suggest That The Outcome Of The Election Would Change" (Steven Thomma, "Results In Ohio Still Contested," Akron Beacon Journal, 12/2/04)

Kerry Adviser Jack Corrigan: "But Unlike 2000, There Is No Doubt That They Actually Got More Votes Than We Did, And They Got Them In The States That Mattered." (Rick Klein, "Internet Buzz On Vote Fraud Is Dismissed," The Boston Globe, 11/10/04)

Other Democrats:

Franklin County Democrat Party Chairman William Anthony: Fraud Accusers "A Band Of Conspiracy Theorists" And Asked "Why Would I Disenfranchise Voters In My Own Community." (Jon Craig and Robert Vitale, "Ohio Ballots, Jackson Will Join Call For Vote Probe," Columbus Dispatch, 11/27/04)

Ohio Democrat Party Chair Dennis White: "We Do Not Necessarily Expect The Results Of The Election To Change." (Ohio Democratic Party, "Ohio Democratic Party Participates In Ohio Recount," Press Release, 11/22/04)

DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe: Overall Election Results "Undisputed." (Carl Weiser, "For Some, Ohio Still Is Not Decided," The Cincinnati Enquirer, 11/13/04)

Democrat Strategist Jenny Backus: "George W. Bush Did Win This Election And I Don't Think The Recount Is Going To Change The Impact Of This Vote." (CNN's "Inside Politics Sunday," 11/28/04)

Michigan Democrat Party Chair Mark Brewer: "I Have Not Seen Any Evidence That There Was Fraud" In States Like Ohio. (MSNBC's "Hardball," 11/30/04)

DNC Spokesmen Jano Cabrera: "The Simple Fact Of The Matter Is That Republicans Received More Votes Than Democrats, And We're Not Contesting This Election." (Manuel Roig-Franzia and Dan Keating, "Latest Conspiracy Theory - Kerry Won - Hits The Ether," The Washington Post, 11/11/04)

---

Editorials:

Akron Beacon Journal: "George W. Bush's Win In Ohio, Which Gave Him A Majority Of Electoral College Votes, Is Safe." (Editorial, "Still Chasing Conspiracies," Akron Beacon Journal, 12/24/04)

-- Akron Beacon Journal: "The Allegations Being Thrown Around Are Of The Flimsiest Nature." (Editorial, "Still Chasing Conspiracies," Akron Beacon Journal, 12/24/04) -- Akron Beacon Journal: "Not One Shred Of Evidence Has Been Presented To Show That Ohio's Strictly Bipartisan System Of Running Elections Was Manipulated. There Isn't Any." (Editorial, "Still Chasing Conspiracies," Akron Beacon Journal, 12/24/04) The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: "Memo To Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones And The Rev. Jesse Jackson: The Election Horse Is Dead. You Can Stop Beating It Now." (Editorial, "Please, Let It Go," The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, 1/4/05)

-- The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: "Ohio Has Counted And Recounted: President George W. Bush Received 118,775 More Votes Than Sen. John Kerry." (Editorial, "Please, Let It Go," The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, 1/4/05) The Columbus Dispatch: "Ohio's Effort Was Pretty Close To The Mark. The Recount Proved It." (Editorial, "Ohio's Validation," The Columbus Dispatch, 1/4/05)

The Cincinnati Enquirer: "A Dispassionate Look At The Numbers Reveals That George W. Bush Beat John Kerry By A Clear Margin In Ohio, And Won With Majorities In The Popular And Electoral Vote Nationally." (Editorial, "Electors Vote, Protesters Fume," The Cincinnati Enquirer, 12/14/04)

---

Paid for by the Republican National Committee

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=41294
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Liberty Belle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:22 AM
Response to Original message
11. I just heard from a Washington insider...
He says Feingold and Leahy have added their names to the challenge, along with Boxer.
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:24 AM
Response to Original message
12. Sparks to Fly in Congress Today

Sparks to Fly in Congress Today

Current Editorials: Sparks to Fly in Congress Today
Posted by spatula on Jan. 06, 2005


There will be a challenge to the certification of the electoral vote in Ohio today...

"There were more irregularities in this election than the half-off rack at Marshalls"
-- Randi Rhodes
Remember that scene in Fahrenheit/911 where a number of representatives came to the Senate hoping to challenge the electoral vote in the 2000 Presidential election, but couldn't because they couldn't get one single Senator to object? That was during the certification vote, which is normally a routine procedure. Had the Senate at the time objected, it could have put Al Gore, who was still president of the Senate, in the unenvyable position of having to cast the deciding vote in a tie. But not one single Senator would agree to object.

Times have changed, but the election won't. This time, California Senator Barbara Boxer has reportedly agreed to object to the electoral results in Ohio. This automatically forces a minimum two-hour debate in each house of Congress followed by a vote as to whether the electoral vote should be certified.

Since Republicans control both houses of Congress by a comfortable majority, you can expect that the electoral vote will be certified anyway, and Bush will undoubtedly be the President again. This will not change. So why is Boxer (or any other Senator) doing this?

Because there's ample evidence that voting irregularities in Ohio exceeded the normal problems one might expect in an election, and it exceeded them disproportionately in precincts that are predominantly populatated by the poor and minorities, traditional Democrat strongholds. Of course evidence is not proof, and correlation doesn't identify causation...

And that's why Boxer's doing this: if these sorts of shenanigans are to be prevented in the future, somebody has got to say something in a big way to draw attention to the problems and demand investigation. Why are people standing in the cold rain for up to 8 hours in precincts with an inadequate number of voting machines while machines sit idle in warehouses? Why weren't there enough provisional ballot affirmation forms? Why don't totals match up?

Sure, these things may have reasonable explanations or may be more attributable to stupidity than to malice, but how are we going to know that if nobody investigates or makes a correction? How can those responsible be held accountable if nobody objects?

The Republicans are probably going to try to spin this to accuse Boxer of being a sore loser. This is, of course, silly. Boxer isn't stupid. She knows she has no prayer of preventing the electoral vote from being certified. What she's doing is dropping a procedural bomb in an effort to draw attention to a vote that was not fair or right, not in the hope of doing anything about it now, but in the hope of preventing it from ever happening again.

If you've got CSPAN, you can tune in and watch the fun at 10 AM PST, 1 PM EST.

---Nick


link
http://web.morons.org/article.jsp?sectionid=2&id=5866
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:27 AM
Response to Original message
13. AP and FOX say that Boxer will sign
bj2110 (260 posts) Thu Jan-06-05 02:42 PM
Original message

AP: Boxer Has Signed!

Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 02:43 PM by bj2110
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/2005...


DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x246109


saddemocrat (109 posts) Thu Jan-06-05 03:31 PM
Original message

Fox News


Fox just reported that Barbara Boxer will contest!

I kid you not...Fox News..

DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x246480
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:28 AM
Response to Original message
14. Live coverage of the Rally for Investigation into Vote Suppression
Twist_U_Up (622 posts) Thu Jan-06-05 03:29 PM
Original message
Live coverage of the Rally for Investigation into Vote Suppression


TODAY on Radio Left - Live coverage of the Rally for Investigation into Vote Suppression in Washington at noon Eastern time today

Listen on the Internet

http://blog.radioleft.com/blog

Congress meets in joint session on January 6th to certify the 2004 Presidential election. Grassroots activists and nationally recognized figures will join voices to inspire members of the House and Senate to object to the certification of the November 2nd 2004 vote, forcing Congress to address the problems in our current election system.

Speakers at the rally will include Rev. Jesse Jackson, Medea Benjamin (invited), John Bonifaz, David Cobb, Congressman John Conyers(invited), Alysia Fischer (Progressive Democrats of America), George Friday, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (invited), Rev. Lennox Yearwood (Hip Hop Caucus) and others.

At the conclusion of the rally, participants will march to the Capitol Building to support those Congress members who contest the certification of vote.



DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x246457
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:29 AM
Response to Original message
15. WATCH / LISTEN TO THE EXCITEMENT ONLINE HERE
meganmonkey (1000+ posts) Thu Jan-06-05 02:40 PM
Original message
WATCH / LISTEN TO THE EXCITEMENT ONLINE HERE

Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 03:34 PM by meganmonkey
Just because we're stuck at work doesn't mean we have to miss the drama! (Oh how I wish I was in DC today... )
I recommend picking your source and linking to it now, because I am sure all of these will be overloaded, especially for the Electoral Ballot Count at 1pm. WHAT AN EXCITING DAY!!!!!!

C-Span will be showing Attorney general Confirmation hearing, starting now, and the Electoral College Ballot Count at 1pm EST

http://www.c-span.org /
(Scroll down near the bottom to choose your live feed preference for the main C-Span feed)

Pacifica Radio is also streaming both of these events live

http://www.pacifica.org /
(Scroll down about 2/3 and see options on the left side - there are several particular stations you can link to to listen live. Along the right hand side there are options to listen to old shows, but for the LIVE feed, scroll down.)


DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x246101
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:32 AM
Response to Original message
16. ACTION ALERT - Call your Democratic Senators


Call your Democratic Senators

January 06, 2005
Greetings!

PDA has received a tremendous amount of feedback regarding the Democratic Party's lack of concern for adequately protecting our electoral rights. We have also heard from many supporters who say they will not vote Democrat in the future if the Party leadership does not fight for us today. Now is the time to tell that to our representatives. Call your Senators, especially if they are up for re-election in 2006 (see below) and let them know how important today's vote is to you. Call Minority Leader Reid and tell him how the Party's future is on the line. Act now, we can still make the Democratic Party our party, but we have to work for it. This is an important step. The Senate switchboard opens at 9:00 A.M. EST. The vote is at 1:00 P.M. EST. Call early and often.

Sen. Harry Reid- Phone: 202-224-3542 Fax: 202-224-7372
Democratic Senators up for Re-election in 2006

CALIFORNIA: Dianne Feinstein (D)
CONNECTICUT: Joe Lieberman (D)
DELAWARE: Thomas R. Carper (D)
FLORIDA: Bill Nelson (D)
HAWAII: Daniel K. Akaka (D)
MARYLAND: Paul S. Sarbanes (D)
MASSACHUSETTS: Edward M. Kennedy (D)
MICHIGAN: Debbie Stabenow (D)
MINNESOTA: Mark Dayton (DFL)
NEBRASKA: Ben Nelson (D)
NEW JERSEY: Jon S. Corzine (D)
NEW MEXICO: Jeff Bingaman (D)
NEW YORK: Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
NORTH DAKOTA: Kent Conrad (D)
WASHINGTON: Maria Cantwell (D)
WEST VIRGINIA: Robert C. Byrd (D)
WISCONSIN: Herbert H. Kohl (D)

For more PDA information visit our website.
In Solidarity,


Tim Carpenter, Director
Progressive Democrats of America

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

email: info@pdamerica.org
phone: (877) 368-9221
web: http://www.pdamerica.org


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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:41 AM
Response to Original message
17. ALERT - Coalition Against Election Fraud DC Lobbyists - CALL SENATORS!!!

January 06, 2005

From The Coalition Against Election Fraud DC Lobbyists:

CALLS URGENTLY NEEDED

Eleven members of Coalition Against Election Fraud have been lobbying Senators since Tuesday. Based on their meetings with Senators and aides and on what they're hearing around the Hill, they've put out this request:

Call the offices of these senators:

First, Sen. Barbara Boxer, CA (D) and Sen. Feingold, Wisconsin (D);

then these senators:

Sen. Bill Nelson, Forida (D);
Sen. Joe Biden, Delaware(D);
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California (D);
Sen. Robert Byrd, West Virginia (D); and
Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan (D).

The capitol switchboard numbers are:

1/800/839-5276
1/877/762-8762

The switchboard is open all night, seven days a week. Maybe some of the senators' voice mailboxes will still be open.
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:48 AM
Response to Original message
18. ALERT - New Word Out of Conyers Office - calls are now urgently needed
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 11:48 AM by dzika

January 06, 2005

New Word Out of Conyers Office


Late last night the Coalition Against Election Fraud DC Lobbyists heard from the office of John Conyers that calls are now urgently needed to

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
Call Reed and tell him we want a Senator to object.

USE ALL FORMS OF COMMUNICATION: CALL, FAX, EMAIL



The point is that Reed should give other Senators the go ahead to object if they want to.

IMPORTANT: KEEP CALLING UNTIL THE END OF THE DAY. DON'T STOP AT 1:00 PM.




link:
http://nostolendemocracy.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/new_word_out_of.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:51 AM
Response to Original message
19. Boxer Will Object

January 06, 2005

Boxer Will Object
Barabara Boxer Takes A Stand For Democracy



I just spoke with Sheila Parks from the Coalition Against Election Fraud. When she and other CAEF members walked into Senator Boxer's office this morning, the staff members handed them a statement from Boxer that she will object.

The news is also just out on the AP. From Boxers Statment:

"I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio's election," Boxer wrote in a letter to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, a leader of the Democratic effort.



link
http://nostolendemocracy.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/boxer_will_obje.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:55 AM
Response to Original message
20. More News From Rivers Pitt: Clinton, Obama and Dodd to Support Boxer Chall

January 06, 2005

More News From Rivers Pitt: Clinton, Obama and Dodd to Support Boxer Challenge


William Rivers Pit, always scrupulous about his information says this:

Right now, several other Senators are preparing statements of Support for the Boxer/Tubbs-Jones challenge, and a number of House members will also rise in support. There is every expectation that Senators Clinton, Obama and Dodd will be among those offering statements of support.

Reps. Waters, Conyers and Kucinich will be among the House members who stand. Though Rep. Conyers was the main impetus behind this process, it was decided that Rep. Tubbs-Jones should be the one to make the official challenge, as she is a representative from Ohio, where the dispute is centered.

There is a rumor floating around that one of the Senators to rise in support will be a Republican. That is not in any way confirmed.


KEEP THE CALLS COMING! THE MORE SENATORS SUPPORTING, THE MORE EFFECT YOUR CALLS CAN HAVE ON OTHERS—ESPECIALLY HARRY REID.
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:56 AM
Response to Original message
21. Today I Am Proud To Be An American

January 06, 2005

Today I Am Proud To Be An American
Thank you, dear fellow citizens.

We, The People have made this happen.




link
http://nostolendemocracy.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/today_i_am_prou.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:59 AM
Response to Original message
22. Activists Want Feingold To Challenge Election College Certification


No Stolen Elections! Delivers Petitions To Feingold
Activists Want Feingold To Challenge Election College Certification

POSTED: 9:07 am EST January 5, 2005
UPDATED: 11:53 am EST January 5, 2005

MADISON, Wis. -- A delegation from the local coalition No Stolen Elections! will deliver more than 800 letter petitions to U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold's Middleton office today, asking him to take a stand against alleged election fraud.

The local activists are asking Feingold to join with a group of U.S. representatives who will reportedly challenge the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6.

"We will gather with large posters with versions of our petitions, and a logo based on Feingold's signature backbone image, as we ask him to show his courage and backbone at this critical moment," organizers said. "Our votes nationally should be protected, encouraged -- determined and counted."

Organizers said they are focusing on Feingold because of his votes against the Patriot Act and against the war.

"But so far we have been disappointed on the cornerstone issue of protecting the sanctity of our votes," said Said Phyllis Hasbrouck, a No Stolen Elections!. "He says that in 2000 he didn't stand up and challenge the vote because Al Gore asked him not to. We don't care if Kerry asks him not to this time, it's his duty as an American to protest when he sees fraud. His symbol is a backbone. This issue will prove how strong his is."

continue
http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/4049320/detail.html
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low_phreaq Donating Member (362 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 12:42 PM
Response to Reply #22
27. More from the original press release
"Reportedly, Sen. Feingold has been inundated with
communications about election fraud from people around
the country, and is now looking for Wisconsin
residents to make their opinions known."

http://feingold.senate.gov/contact.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 12:02 PM
Response to Original message
23. Other senators are preparing statements of support to deliver when Sen. Ba
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 12:03 PM by dzika


rawstory (901 posts) Thu Jan-06-05 03:58 PM
Original message

Raw Story: Other senators may support Boxer, but won't sign



What we're hearing...

Sources on Capitol Hill have told RAW STORY that other senators are preparing statements of support to deliver when Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) challenges Ohio’s electoral votes today.

Several sources indicated that additional senators are not likely to sign the challenge, possibly at the request of Sen. Boxer and Rep. Tubbs-Jones. MSNBC’s Countdown program suggested as many as half a dozen senators might join Sen. Boxer.

Only one member of the Senate and one House member needs to sign a challenge to open discussion on the electoral vote tally. Boxer has agreed to joined at least 24 other House members in challenging Ohio’s electoral votes over election irregularities.

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=531


DU Thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x246759
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 12:05 PM
Response to Original message
24. Kennedy won't challenge
whalerider55 (884 posts) Tue Jan-04-05 09:07 PM
Original message
Kennedy won't challenge


Just got off the phone from Senator Kennedy's office. I am a constituent.

I encouraged him to stand with Conyers.
His aide told me that Kennedy expects that the election will be certified.

when I asked him whether Kennedy intends to stand up and make the challenge, he said NO. No as in, NO. No as in go with the flow NO.
NO as in MLK you do things because they are right, not expedient, NO.
NO as in NO. NO as in the Liberal Lion of the Senate follows up his refusal to challenge '00 vote, then get snookered on no child left behind so he knows what a lyin' thief pippy is, NO.


I told him i was disappointed.
Also asked why they had not responded to two e-mails. he told me they get tens of thousands a week, and that nthey rarely respond to them. then he told me they were spammed and lost my e=mail with a raft of credit card offers.

whalerider55

DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x233245
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 12:09 PM
Response to Original message
25. Will Pitt FYI - The Boxer Rebellion


The Boxer Rebellion


Thursday 06 January 2005 @ 11:06


A wee bit of history to start with.

The last time Congress was forced to interrupt the joint session to certify the Electors was in 1969, when a "faithless" Nixon elector broke ranks and threw his vote to George Wallace. After about twelve seconds of discussion, the vote was allowed to go for Wallace. Before that, we have to go all the way back to 1877, during the disputed election between Rutherford Hayes and Samuel Tilden. Hayes eventually won.

In short, what is happening here in Washington today has almost never been seen in the history of the republic.

This is the latest as I have it: Senator Boxer made the decision to stand and support the challenge to the Ohio electors. She transmitted a letter to Rep. Tubbs-Jones this morning which stated, "I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio's election."

Right now, several other Senators are preparing statements of Support for the Boxer/Tubbs-Jones challenge, and a number of House members will also rise in support. There is every expectation that Senators Clinton, Obama and Dodd will be among those offering statements of support.

Reps. Waters, Conyers and Kucinich will be among the House members who stand. Though Rep. Conyers was the main impetus behind this process, it was decided that Rep. Tubbs-Jones should be the one to make the official challenge, as she is a representative from Ohio, where the dispute is centered.

There is a rumor floating around that one of the Senators to rise in support will be a Republican. That is not in any way confirmed.


more at Will Pitt's Blog
http://truthout.org/fyi/
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 12:21 PM
Response to Original message
26. BreakForNews - REBIRTH OF THE U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
BreakForNews (151 posts) Thu Jan-06-05 08:49 AM
Original message
REBIRTH OF THE U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT - Thur 6th Jan, 2005


Thur 6th Jan, 2005

REBIRTH OF THE U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

By now, the Election Fraud issue has helped crystalize
a broad-based coalition of opposition --with election
reform objectives beyond the recent election fraud.

Win or Lose on Thursday, this political movement of
Progressive Democrats, Alternative Green/Lib politics,
disillusioned Black Congressional Caucus members and
grassroots opponents of Bush-era policies and war crimes,
will only gain in strength and momentum.

Any level of win will embolden the opposition.
Any level of defeat will broaden support and deepen determination.

The best kept secret has been the scale of the current opposition.
Many more than 1 Senator and 1 Rep will challenge.

Another largely unnoticed aspect is that the House Judiciary
Report -despite the public face of not challenging the outcome
for Bush, uses language that clearly questions his reelection.

Already in China, media have realized the significance.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-01/06/content_406409.htm

The election fraud was the bridge too far.
A sleeping giant is awakening.

Listen to BreakForNews.com Audio Report
12:00am Thursday 6th Jan, 2005

REBIRTH OF U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT mp3 13mins
http://www.kathymcmahon.utvinternet.com/mrn/InsideTrackNews050106-0000est.mp3



See Also:
Judiciary Cmte Report Clearly Questioning Bush Reelection
http://www.breakfornews.com/articles/ElectionOutcomeUncertain.htmOn examination, the language used by the House Judiciary Cmte.
Report shows that its authors stand ready to potentially fully
question the reelection of George Bush --against the backdrop recent
fateful events in the Ukraine.



DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x245499
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low_phreaq Donating Member (362 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 12:50 PM
Response to Original message
28. Just Ohio?
Will the challenge debate just be limited to Ohio? Will they be allowed to bring up problems in other states like Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, etc.? I think they get 2 hours when they challenge a state's electoral vote. Can we show Congress what it's like to have to wait 4, 6, 8 or more hours to vote by challenging on more states? Or is it too late for this?
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:09 PM
Response to Original message
29. Kucinich To Join Challenge To Ohio's Electoral College Vote On House Floor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 6, 2005
10:18 AM
CONTACT: Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Doug Gordon, 202-225-5871(o)
202-494-5141(c)

Kucinich To Join Challenge To Ohio's Electoral College Vote On House Floor Today


WASHINGTON -- January 6 -- Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) will join with Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, today, in challenging the certification of Ohio's Electoral College vote.

Citing numerous voting irregularities in his home state of Ohio, Kucinich will take to the House floor to highlight problems with our electoral process, and call for real election reform.

During this afternoon's Joint Session of Congress to count the Electoral College ballots, Kucinich will join with the Congressional Black Caucus in objecting to Ohio's ballot. If the House members are joined by a Senator they will force a two hour debate on both the House and Senate floor on their objection.

"While I do not seek to over turn the results of the November elections, I do believe that the great number of voting irregularities in Ohio need to be brought to the nation's attention," stated Kucinich. "Our nation needs real election reform to ensure that the cornerstone of our democracy, the right to vote, is protected for all Americans."

Today's Joint Session of Congress will begin today at 1pm.


###
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:13 PM
Response to Original message
30. From Countdown Jan. 6. Newletter - Boxer stood to Reps. to Challenge Ohio
* A challenge to OHIO. Senator Barbara Boxer of California stood with the members of the Congressional Black Caucus to challenge the electoral vote from Ohio.
(AP)
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:21 PM
Response to Original message
31. DLC - Avoiding Election-Reform Amnesia

DLC | New Dem Daily | January 6, 2005

Avoiding Election-Reform Amnesia


Today a group of Congressional Democrats intend to challenge the counting of Ohio's electoral votes when the Electoral College formally ends the 2004 presidential election. They know, of course, that this protest will not change anything, but they say it's the only way they can draw attention to the irregularities and partisan mischief that affected election procedures in Ohio and other states last year.

Actually, there is another way to avoid amnesia about an electoral system that not only made voting much harder for some voters than for others, but nearly produced a second straight presidential election decided in the courts. Democrats can and should immediately challenge Congress to undertake a serious and immediate election reform initiative designed to create, at least for federal elections, an even playing field in terms of the basic rules for registering to vote, casting ballots, and having those ballots counted.

If this sounds familiar, it's because leaders of both parties talked about election reform in the wake of the 2000 debacle in Florida. But the ultimate product of that talk, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, did little to spur uniformity -- within states or across state lines -- while creating a whole set of new problems, exemplified by the total confusion and widely varying rules about how to deal with the "provisional" ballots the legislation required when the eligibility of voters came into question at the polls. Moreover, HAVA had virtually no affect on the vast number of simple breakdowns in election procedures -- some caused by incompetence, some by partisan malice, and some by both -- that ranged from obsolete registration lists, to last-minute changes in voting precincts, to inconvenient and inadequately staffed polling places, producing long and discouraging lines.

It's time, right now, for a HAVA II that goes as far as our constitutional system allows in providing intrastate uniformity and interstate standards, backed up by the federal funds to make sure states can provide a uniformly competent and efficient electoral infrastructure. And while they are at it, Congress should impose serious federal criminal penalties, including time in the hoosegow, for partisan operatives who try to deny Americans the right to exercise the most fundamental privilege of democracy.

continued
http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=131&subid=192&contentid=253101
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
32. Democrats to Force Debate on Ohio Results

Democrats to Force Debate on Ohio Results

WASHINGTON Jan 6, 2005 — A small group of Democrats agreed Thursday to force House and Senate debates on Election Day problems in Ohio before letting Congress certify President Bush's win over Sen. John Kerry in November.

While Bush's victory is not in jeopardy, the Democratic challenge would legally compel Congress to interrupt tallying the Electoral College vote, which was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. EST Thursday. It would be only the second time since 1877 that the House and Senate were forced into separate meetings to consider electoral votes.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., signed a challenge mounted by House Democrats to Ohio's 20 electoral votes, which put Bush over the top. By law, a protest signed by members of the House and Senate requires both chambers to meet separately for up to two hours to consider it. Lawmakers are allowed to speak for no more than five minutes each.

"I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio's election," Boxer wrote in a letter to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, a leader of the Democratic effort.

more
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=389779
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:29 PM
Response to Original message
33. ACTION - easy "Thank You " link for Barbara Boxer
Capn Sunshine (1000+ posts) Thu Jan-06-05 05:41 PM
Original message

easy "Thank You " link for Barbara Boxer


Here's an easy form ready to go.
http://capwiz.com/fmf1/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6790091


DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x248244
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:39 PM
Response to Original message
34. Press Conf Video - Rep. Tubbs Jones and Sen. Boxer will contest Ohio

Jan. 6 2004

Press Conference Video Clip - Rep. Tubbs Jones and Sen. Boxer will contest Ohio Electoral Votes


Real Media:
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/Boxer_050106-01.rm
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 03:57 PM
Response to Reply #34
43. Screen shot from press conference
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 03:59 PM by dzika
I meant to post this with the video



(real media)
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/Boxer_050106-01.rm
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:53 PM
Response to Original message
35. FOX NEWS Reports Electoral Challenge on Front Page
Jan. 6 2005 @ 1:45 PM ET
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:56 PM
Response to Original message
36. Election 2004: Congressional Democrats to Force Debate on Ohio Results

Election 2004: Congressional Democrats to Force Debate on Ohio Results


1/6/05 - 1:25pm EST

Led by Michigan Representative John Conyers, Jr., a small band of congressional Democrats is challenging the 2004 Electoral College results, specifically Ohio's 20 Electoral votes that put George W. Bush over the 270 required for the Presidency.

Unlike Election 2000, where Democratic House members raised objections but were not joined by a senator, this time, Senator Barbara Boxer from California has joined the house Democrats in objecting. Yesterday, Re. Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee drafted a report claiming 'numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election. 'intentional misconduct and illegal behavior' by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio. Senator Boxer agreed, 'I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio's election,'

This action by congressional Democrats comes in the midst of several court battles raging in Ohio courts regarding the conduct of the election. Many of the issues raised by Democrats in the congress come directly from the legal filings in the courts. This reporter concluded an interview late yesterday with a Professor Dan Tokaji, an oft quoted source on Ohio election law from Ohio State University Law School. The information from that interview and a subsequent interview with Kerry/Edwards counsel Dan Hoffheimer will appear here at Elites TV in the next 24 hours.

Steven Leser, sleser001@yahoo.com

link
http://www.elitestv.com/pub/2005/Jan/EEN41dd80d56b63c.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 01:58 PM
Response to Original message
37. As predicted, an objection to the electoral vote in Ohio has been recorded
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 01:59 PM by dzika

Random: Objection to Ohio's Electoral Vote Recorded
Posted by spatula on Jan. 06, 2005
(0 comments from readers)

As predicted, an objection to the electoral vote in Ohio has been recorded...


Today as the votes from the electoral college in each state were certified in a joint session of Congress, when they reached Ohio in alphabetical order, Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of the 11th Congressional District of Ohio stood to voice her objection to the electoral vote. The written objection was also signed by Senator Barbara Boxer and said that the two "object to the counting of the electoral votes of the state of Ohio on the grounds that they are not under all the known circumstances regularly given."
The objection forced an immediate withdrawl of the two houses to their own chambers and a two-hour debate on the Ohio election results.

At the start of the debate Representative Jones made it clear that she had no hope or intent of overturning the election, but rather wished to object to force a debate about the irregularities of the Ohio vote, on behalf of the thousands of Ohio voters who were unable to vote or whose votes were not counted.

Senator Boxer questioned why voting machines were withheld, with a large percentage of those machines withheld missing from predominantly black precincts. She also questioned why so many people had to stand in lines for countless hours and how George Bush managed to get thousands of votes more in precincts than there were registered voters and why there were shortages of voting machines in downtown areas but plenty available in the suburbs. Boxer also made it clear that her intention was to force a debate about ensuring the right to vote, not to show disrepsect.

The debate will continue for two hours and end with a vote on whether to confirm the Ohio electoral vote. It surely will be confirmed, but not without a discussion about election irregularities first.

---Nick

link
http://web.morons.org/article.jsp?sectionid=7&id=5867
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 02:06 PM
Response to Original message
38. Noam Chomsky - The Non-Election of 2004; Campaigns run by PR industry


The Non-Election of 2004

The electoral campaigns were run by the PR industry
By Noam Chomsky



The elections of November 2004 have received a great deal of discussion, with exultation in some quarters, despair in others, and general lamentation about a “divided nation.” They are likely to have policy consequences, particularly harmful to the public in the domestic arena, and to the world with regard to the “transformation of the military,” which has led some prominent strategic analysts to warn of “ultimate doom” and to hope that U.S. militarism and aggressiveness will be countered by a coalition of peace-loving states, led by—China (John Steinbruner and Nancy Gallagher, Daedalus). We have come to a pretty pass when such words are expressed in the most respectable and sober journals. It is also worth noting how deep is the despair of the authors over the state of U.S. democracy. Whether or not the assessment is merited is for activists to determine.

Though significant in their consequences, the elections tell us very little about the state of the country, or the popular mood. There are, however, other sources from which we can learn a great deal that carries important lessons. Public opinion in the U.S. is intensively monitored and, while caution and care in interpretation are always necessary, these studies are valuable resources. We can also see why the results, though public, are kept under wraps by the doctrinal institutions. That is true of major and highly informative studies of public opinion released right before the election, notably by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) and the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland (PIPA), to which I will return.



One conclusion is that the elections conferred no mandate for anything, in fact, barely took place, in any serious sense of the term “election.” That is by no means a novel conclusion. Reagan’s victory in 1980 reflected “the decay of organized party structures, and the vast mobilization of God and cash in the successful candidacy of a figure once marginal to the ‘vital center’ of American political life,” representing “the continued disintegration of those political coalitions and economic structures that have given party politics some stability and definition during the past generation” (Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers, Hidden Election, 1981). In the same valuable collection of essays, Walter Dean Burnham described the election as further evidence of a “crucial comparative peculiarity of the American political system: the total absence of a socialist or laborite mass party as an organized competitor in the electoral market,” accounting for much of the “class-skewed abstention rates” and the minimal significance of issues. Thus of the 28 percent of the electorate who voted for Reagan, 11 percent gave as their primary reason “he’s a real conservative.” In Reagan’s “landslide victory” of 1984, with just under 30 percent of the electorate, the percentage dropped to 4 percent and a majority of voters hoped that his legislative program would not be enacted.

What these prominent political scientists describe is part of the powerful backlash against the terrifying “crisis of democracy” of the 1960s, which threatened to democratize the society, and, despite enormous efforts to crush this threat to order and discipline, has had far-reaching effects on consciousness and social practices. The post-1960s era has been marked by substantial growth of popular movements dedicated to greater justice and freedom and unwillingness to tolerate the brutal aggression and violence that had previously been granted free rein. The Vietnam War is a dramatic illustration, naturally suppressed because of the lessons it teaches about the civilizing impact of popular mobilization. The war against South Vietnam launched by JFK in 1962, after years of U.S.-backed state terror that had killed tens of thousands of people, was brutal and barbaric from the outset: bombing, chemical warfare to destroy food crops so as to starve out the civilian support for the indigenous resistance, programs to drive millions of people to virtual concentration camps or urban slums to eliminate its popular base. By the time protests reached a substantial scale, the highly respected and quite hawkish Vietnam specialist and military historian Bernard Fall wondered whether “Viet-Nam as a cultural and historic entity” would escape “extinction” as “the countryside literally dies under the blows of the largest military machine ever unleashed on an area of this size”—particularly South Vietnam, always the main target of the U.S. assault. When protest did finally develop, many years too late, it was mostly directed against the peripheral crimes: the extension of the war against the South to the rest of Indochina—terrible crimes, but secondary ones.

continued
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Jan2005/chomsky0105.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 02:10 PM
Response to Original message
39. Proposal for Electoral College Reform...


One Proposal for Electoral College Reform...

Should the U.S. Electoral College System be abolished, or does it just needs to be reformed?
By Bruno Racineux Jan 6, 2005


Finally, I have been watching a U.S. Presidential Election from the inside for the first time.

Because of the access provided by the Internet, I was happy to be able to watch the results entirely online, saving me the trouble of listening to political analysts and their flawed predictions. The PBS interactive Electoral College map even let me become my own political strategist. While looking at different live electoral maps and waiting for the results to come in, I also took the opportunity to learn more about the U.S. Electoral College system.

After Bush secured the popular vote, it was interesting during that election night (and even more so now with this Ohio recount idea) to watch the hypocrisy of some Democrats. The same Democrats who blamed the Electoral College in 2000 were suddenly eager to the possibility of John Kerry overcoming the election by winning the same Electoral College they previously qualified as illegitimate over the Popular Vote.

On the other hand, I read other statements such as: “We have used the Electoral College vote for 215 years, and the presidents who have been elected have been fine. So, why would anyone want to change the system now? Why didn't people want to change it centuries ago? Why should you change a system that all Americans know?”

The idea of reforming or abolishing the Electoral College has been around even as early as 1801. But since the 2000 electoral debacle, arguments have resurfaced as to whether the Electoral College system should be reformed. Backed by the support of the majority of Americans (according to all recent polls), voters seem to all be asking the same question again: “When is something going to be done about the Electoral College?"


continued
http://www.thesimon.com/magazine/articles/bias/0717_one_proposal_electoral_college_reform.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 02:25 PM
Response to Original message
40. Consortiumnews.com - Kerry's Last Flip-Flop


Kerry's Last Flip-Flop

By Sam Parry
January 6, 2005


John Kerry may have written his own political obituary with a pathetic letter to his supporters saying that he won’t back a protest by African-American House members against voting fraud in Ohio. Instead, he urges his supporters to call Republican leaders and demand that they reform the electoral system.

The letter reads like it was written by the caricature of John Kerry that George W. Bush portrayed during the campaign: the indecisive, flip-flopping politician who wants to be on every side of an issue.

“I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors,” Kerry wrote in an e-mail to 3 million supporters on Jan. 5. “Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.”

While rejecting the efforts of Rep. John Conyers and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus to demand a floor debate on the Ohio abuses at a joint congressional session on Jan. 6, Kerry then calls on his supporters to renew the fight for fair elections in the future.

“If you want to force real action on election reform, we’ve got to demand that congressional leaders hold full hearings,” Kerry wrote. “Make sure they hear from you and help hold them accountable.” He then listed the office phone numbers for Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.


continued
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/010605.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 02:54 PM
Response to Original message
41. Video - Rep. Dennis Kucinich speaks out during Ohio vote challenge
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 03:26 PM by dzika
(WOW! It's hard to choose which speech to post first!)

Dennis Kucinich speaks out during Ohio vote challenge




Real Media:
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/kucinich_050106-01.rm
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 03:25 PM
Response to Original message
42. Video - Reps. Jackson and Lewis speak out during Ohio Vote Challenge
Jan. 6, 2005

Reps. Jackson and Lewis speak out during Ohio Vote Challenge





Real Media
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/jacksonjr_050106-01.rm
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 04:27 PM
Response to Original message
44. LETTER - We Love You Barbara Boxer!

We Love You Barbara Boxer!

by somagcc at 11:50AM (EST) on January 6, 2005

Dear Sen Boxer,

I want to thank you so much for standing up and demanding debate on the irregularities in the vote in Ohio. I feel that there is fraud in the air, particularly involving Bush associate Mr. Feeney and off-shore bank accounts and electronic vote rigging. I don't know how exactly, but I feel, along with many other Patriotic citizens, that the vote was hacked: that this was aided and abbetted by Republican owned or controlled voting machine companies. ( Diebold, Sequioa, and Chuck Hagel's ES+ S )

Disenfranchisement of black American voting rights is not acceptable today, nor was was it in 2000. How can we be so interested in promoting "Democracy" in other countries when we do not support it in Florida, Ohio or New Mexico???

I do not support the Bush agenda abroad or here at home. I beleive the Bush administration is reckless, criminal and out of control. I want the Democratic party to be an opposition party again, and stop accommadating the rapture right wing.

Thank you again for having the courage to stand up and demand debate this afternoon. I wish there were more like you.


link
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 04:46 PM
Response to Original message
45. CBS NEWS/AP - Dems Contest Bush Win

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2005

Dems Contest Bush Win



AP) Democrats turned Congress' quadrennial counting of electoral votes on Thursday into a battle over Election Day problems in Ohio, forcing the House and Senate to consider a challenge to the presidential count for only the second time since 1877.

President Bush's re-election triumph over Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was not in jeopardy. But after Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., lodged a formal protest that the Ohio votes "were not, under all known circumstances, regularly given," the House and Senate recessed their joint session as required by law and held separate debates on the Ohio irregularities.

Democratic leaders distanced themselves from the effort, which many in the party worried would make them look like sore losers. Bush won Ohio by 118,000 votes and carried the national contest by 3.3 million votes, and Kerry himself — meeting with troops in the Middle East — did not support the challenge.

Even so, Boxer, Tubbs Jones and several other Democrats, including many black lawmakers, tried using the sessions to underscore the missing voting machines, unusually long lines and other problems that plagued some Ohio districts, many in minority neighborhoods, on Nov. 2.

more
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/06/politics/main665253.shtml
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 04:50 PM
Response to Original message
46. Yahoo Photos
(thanks to Stephanie)

___________________________




United States Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (R) wipes tears from both her eyes as she listens to U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones

___________________________




United States Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (news, bio, voting record) (D-OH) (L) and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (R) discuss their filing a formal objection to the certification of President George W. Bush

___________________________




U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), in red suit, protests the results of the official Certificate of Electoral Votes for Ohio after being read by U.S. Congressman Robert Ney (R-Ohio) to be entered as the official results from the Ohio Electoral College (news - web sites) from the 2004 U.S. Presidential election on the House Chambers floor on Capitol Hill, January 6, 2005.

___________________________




U.S. President Richard Cheney (L) postpones a Joint Session of Congress during the verification of the official Certificate of Electoral Votes from the 2004 U.S. Presidential election on the House Chambers floor on Capitol Hill, January 6, 2005.

___________________________




U.S. Senators walk out of the House Chambers after U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) protested the results of the official Certificate of Electoral Votes for Ohio from the 2004 U.S. Presidential election on Capitol Hill, January 6, 2005.

___________________________




Demonstrators react to a speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson

___________________________




Rev. Jesse Jackson (news - web sites) (L) and Rev. Bill Moss hold up their clasped hands as Jackson addresses a rally in Washington of social, political, and religious activists protesting the formal re-election of US President George W. Bush (news - web sites).(AFP/Nicholas Kamm)

___________________________



all are from Yahoo news:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?ei=ISO-8859-1&c=news_photos&p=election

DU Thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x254557
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 04:55 PM
Response to Original message
47. PDA - Grassroots Support Results in Historic Debate

Press Release
Source: Progressive Democrats of America

Progressive Democrats of America Say Grassroots Support
Is Resulting in an Historic Debate on Voting Irregularities
in the 2004 Presidential Election

Thursday January 6, 3:03 pm ET


LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2005--The Honorary Chair of Progressive Democrats of America Mimi Kennedy and PDA Executive Director Tim Carpenter say grassroots leadership has resulted in an historical challenge to the 2004 Presidential Election results. Urged by more than one hundred thousand emails and phone calls and backed by the discovery of facts through the House judiciary committee investigation into allegations of voter suppression in Ohio, California US Senator Barbara Boxer signed a challenge to the 2004 Presidential Election result. This action will result in a debate in both houses of Congress over the allegations of election fraud which were brought out in hearings in Washington D.C. and Ohio last month.

Actress/activist & Honorary Chair of PDA Mimi Kennedy says Californians must thank Barbara Boxer for her courage: "Our California Senator Barbara Boxer is supporting house member Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D) Ohio so that this crisis in America's election process can be debated out loud and not just on the Internet and pages of letters to the editors."

Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America Tim Carpenter says grassroots activists made this leadership possible: "PDA went to the minority leadership of the House Judiciary Committee and promised to bring voters into the process of calling for the hearings on voter suppression in Ohio. PDA helped create a big noise so that the sin of silence in the 2000 Presidential election would not be repeated in 2004."

Mimi Kennedy says PDA is leading: "The testimony heard before more than a thousand people who participated in hearings in Washington D.C. and Ohio of voter suppression must be debated. Millions of Americans now question the reliability of voting machines manufactured by partisan corporations dedicated to re-electing George W. Bush. The state by state partisan manipulation of the vote counting undermined the 2000 Presidential election and is now revealed in the allegations of voter suppression in this 2004 election. We know the joint session will certify the electoral vote. The outcome is not our focus. The process is in question and the moral imperative is to save our citizen vote."

Tim Carpenter can be reached in the Congressional hearings today at 413-320-2015.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
Icon Imaging PR, Beverly Hills
Sharon Jimenez, 310-385-8035
Cell: 310-409-3306
enzah@aol.com
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 05:12 PM
Response to Original message
48. Rep. Conyers interview by William Pitts



Interview: Rep. Conyers with Will Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Interview

Thursday 06 January 2005

I was able to interview Rep. John Conyers, ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, just before the Electoral hearings began.

PITT: How are you feeling about what is happening today?

CONYERS: We have come a mighty long way. It seems to me, as we began this adventure, to make the ballot as important as it is, and that it be counted, and that it be available to every single qualified American voter, that I had always suspected that it would be hard for the United States Senate to do, again, what they did in 2000. To close down any possibility of any debate, of any investigation, of any recount, and it turns out that my hunch was correct.

The fact of the matter is that we have everything to gain and nothing to lose by doing this. This isn't like there is a down-side to this. It is all up, because as everybody knows, all the phones are jammed, emails are coming in, faxes. People are coming in from all over. This is a test of American democracy, just as in 1878. They passed the law to deal with the presidential election of 1877. We have to, in 2005, pass some more election reform laws to deal with what happened in 2004.

Senator Boxer, in her press conference with Rep. Tubbs-Jones today, said that she regretted not having stood up in 2000. What do you think about that?

I'm sure that a lot of people have done some reconsideration of their silence from four years ago. It was totally uncalled for, but it was asked for by the then-candidate, Al Gore, and they went along.

A little while ago, there were some Republican Representatives denigrating the whole process, describing this as an attempt to overthrow the election. How do you respond to that? What do you see as being the main purpose of this event today?

Anyone opposed to us re-examining the balloting process in the state that had the most complaints and grievances and errors of any other state, they've got to have some kind of reason. This is not to change the outcome of the results. But I hasten to add that until we complete our investigation, I don't know if it will change the result or if it won't change the result.

More here: http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/010705W.shtml


Thanks to WilliamPitt here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x255567
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 05:22 PM
Response to Original message
49. Two court challenges filed in Wash. gov's election case
http://www.azcentral.com/

Two court challenges filed in Wash. gov's election case

02:12 PM PST on Thursday, January 6, 2005

By REBECCA COOK, Associated Press Writer




OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Two people have filed challenges to the governor's election with the state Supreme Court, firing the first shots in the anticipated legal battle over the amazingly close contest.

Both challenge the legitimacy of Gov.-elect Christine Gregoire, a Democrat who lost the first two counts but beat Republican Dino Rossi by 129 votes in a hand recount of 2.9 million ballots cast. Gregoire's inauguration is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Associated Press obtained copies of the election challenges from the Supreme Court on Thursday. Both seem to be the work of private citizens and neither bear obvious fingerprints of the state Republican Party. State GOP Chairman Chris Vance said he had nothing to do with the filings, and that party officials are still working on a possible court challenge of their own.


more
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0106washingtongovernor-ON.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 05:27 PM
Response to Original message
50. Pelosi: 'Today's Debate About Election Reform, Not an Election Result'


Pelosi: 'Today's Debate About Election Reform, Not an Election Result'



1/6/2005 5:09:00 PM



To: National Desk

Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both of the Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 /U.S. Newswire / -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke this afternoon on the House floor during debate on the challenge to Ohio's electoral votes. Below are her remarks:

"Mr. Speaker, today, we are witnessing democracy at work. This isn't, as some of our Republican colleagues have referred to it, sadly, 'frivolous.' This debate is fundamental to our democracy.

"The representatives of the American people in this House are standing up for three fundamental American beliefs: that the right to vote is sacred; that a representative has a duty to represent his or her constituents; and that the rule of law is the hallmark of our nation.

"And under the rule of law, today this House will accept the election of President Bush and Vice President Cheney as President and Vice President of the United States. There is absolutely no question about that. This isn't about in any way rejecting that outcome. So please, let's be respectful of each other and understand what it is about.

"Today's electoral challenge is not intended to overturn the results of the election. It is instead to discuss the real problems with our electoral system and the failings of the process in Ohio and elsewhere. It is about election reform, not about the election result.

"The Members of Congress who have brought this challenge are speaking up for their aggrieved constituents, many of whom may have been disenfranchised in this process. This is their only opportunity to have this debate while the country is listening, and it is appropriate to do so. If there were other venues of this caliber we would have taken that opportunity, but this is the opportunity. We have a responsibility to take advantage of it.

"The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy. As the Supreme Court noted: 'No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws, under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.' The principle of one person, one vote is sacred in our country, and we must do everything to uphold it.

"Yet more than 225 years since our founding, there are still legitimate concerns over the integrity of our elections and of ensuring the principle of one person one vote, that every person has access to voting and that every vote will be counted.

"Twenty years ago, I was the Chair of the California Democratic Party. It was our function, it was our purpose, to remove obstacles to of participation to voting. The greater responsibility, of course, was with the Secretary of State, in our state and in states across the country, who controlled the elections in the state. But we had a responsibility to remove, not throw up, obstacles to participating.

"I know that the issue is not just about counting votes, but what happens in all three phases -- before, during, and after the election. And, in all three phases, there were problems in this election in Ohio and elsewhere.

"Before the election, there were complaints about absentee ballots that were requested but did not arrive. There were reports of registration problems and of improper purging of the voter rolls. And the Ohio Secretary of State made decisions about provisional ballots, partisan poll watchers, and paper requirements for registration forms that some found questionable, leading to widespread confusion and possible disenfranchisement.

"During the election, we know that there were not enough voting machines in poor and minority areas. This is a fact. Yet, there were sufficient machines in wealthier areas. This led to appallingly long wait times of up to 10 hours in certain places. You Republicans can deny it all you want, but it is a matter of public record that this is a fact and that this is wrong. There are credible reports of voter suppression on Election Day through intimidation and misinformation. And the patchwork use of provisional ballots led to unequal treatment under the law.

"As for after the election, the American people must have every confidence that every vote legally cast will be legally and accurately counted. But constantly shifting vote tallies in Ohio, and malfunctioning electronic voting machines, which may not have paper receipts, have led to an additional loss of confidence by the public.

"As elected officials, we have a solemn responsibility to improve our election systems and its administration. We cannot be here again four years from now discussing the failings of the 2008 election. We must work with the Election Assistance Commission to further reform the election process, and we must pass legislation to improve the Help America Vote Act, including universal standards for provisional ballots and strong verification measures and paper trails.

"I want to commend Mr. Ney, the distinguished Chairman of the House Administration Committee, for his leadership in helping to pass the HAVA Act, which is really where we are pinning our hopes. And thanks to Mr. Hoyer who served in that capacity with you. Now a broader array of people is weighing in on that. Congress must seize the opportunity this year to reauthorize the Act and to make the needed reforms and improvements.

"Our very democracy depends on the confidence of the American people in the integrity of our electoral system. So my colleagues, please don't talk about this as a conspiracy theory. It's not about that. It's not about conspiracy. It's about the Constitution of the United States. George Bush and Dick Cheney are the elected President and Vice President of the United States, and the objection will be overruled today in that regard.

"It's never been about that. It has always been about the fundamental principle of our legitimacy of our electoral process. Congress will resolve this dispute today, and we will all abide by the result because we are a nation of laws.

"America is the beacon of democracy to the world. We must never forget the power of our own example to those who aspire for freedom throughout the world. So let's respect this debate today for what it is about -- ensuring the foundation of our very own democracy and sending a message to the world that we are truly protective of our Constitution and that we honor the oath of office that we take to protect and defend the Constitution.

"I urge my colleagues all to join together in a bipartisan way for electoral reform to follow on the good work of Mr. Ney and Mr. Hoyer, and to make sure that four years from now we will not have to have this kind of debate. But today's debate will serve the purpose it was intended to have for our country."


link
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=41339
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 06:21 PM
Response to Original message
51. Keeping our democracy alive - Did voters really count? by Steve Freeman

Thursday, January 6, 2005

OPEN FORUM

Keeping our democracy alive
Did voters really count in U.S. election?

by Steve Freeman

In three national elections over the past 13 months, the official count was sharply at odds with an independent national exit poll. As in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine, U.S. exit polls projected a clear victory for the challenger. John Kerry was projected to win the national popular vote by a 2 percent to 3 percent margin and was ahead in nearly every closely contested state. Of course, the official counts, as in the other nations, showed an almost mirror image victory for the incumbent party candidate.

The citizens of Georgia and Ukraine refused to accept the official tallies, protested vigorously and , with international support, overturned the election, but U.S. voters have passively accepted the results of their election and gone back to business, oblivious to the discrepancy and blind to the implications.


read more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/01/06/EDGOQAL6VA1.DTL


Steve Freeman is on the faculty of the Center for Organizational Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania. To view his 2004 election research, go to www.appliedresearch.us/sf/epdiscrep.htm.
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 06:30 PM
Response to Original message
52. Video - Press Briefing on Challenge to Ohio Electoral Votes
Jan. 6, 2005

Press Briefing on Challenge to Ohio Electoral Votes



Real Media:
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/blackcaucus_050106-01.ram
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 06:44 PM
Response to Original message
53. Statement by Barbara Boxer on Her Objection to the Certification of Ohio’s

January 06, 2005

Statement by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer on Her Objection to the Certification of Ohio’s Electoral Votes


For Immediate Release:
January 6, 2004

For most of us in the Senate and the House, we have spent our lives fighting for things we believe in – always fighting to make our nation better.

We have fought for social justice. We have fought for economic justice. We have fought for environmental justice. We have fought for criminal justice.

Now we must add a new fight – the fight for electoral justice.

Every citizen of this country who is registered to vote should be guaranteed that their vote matters, that their vote is counted, and that in the voting booth of their community, their vote has as much weight as the vote of any Senator, any Congressperson, any President, any cabinet member, or any CEO of any Fortune 500 Corporation.

I am sure that every one of my colleagues – Democrat, Republican, and Independent – agrees with that statement. That in the voting booth, every one is equal.

So now it seems to me that under the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees the right to vote, we must ask:

Why did voters in Ohio wait hours in the rain to vote? Why were voters at Kenyan College, for example, made to wait in line until nearly 4 a.m. to vote because there were only two machines for 1300 voters?

Why did poor and predominantly African-American communities have disproportionately long waits?

Why in Franklin County did election officials only use 2,798 machines when they said they needed 5,000? Why did they hold back 68 machines in warehouses? Why were 42 of those machines in predominantly African-American districts?

Why did, in Columbus area alone, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 voters leave polling places, out of frustration, without having voted? How many more never bothered to vote after they heard about this?

Why is it when 638 people voted at a precinct in Franklin County, a voting machine awarded 4,258 extra votes to George Bush. Thankfully, they fixed it – but how many other votes did the computers get wrong?

Why did Franklin County officials reduce the number of electronic voting machines in downtown precincts, while adding them in the suburbs? This also led to long lines.

In Cleveland, why were there thousands of provisional ballots disqualified after poll workers gave faulty instructions to voters?

Because of this, and voting irregularities in so many other places, I am joining with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones to cast the light of truth on a flawed system which must be fixed now.

Our democracy is the centerpiece of who we are as a nation. And it is the fondest hope of all Americans that we can help bring democracy to every corner of the world.

As we try to do that, and as we are shedding the blood of our military to this end, we must realize that we lose so much credibility when our own electoral system needs so much improvement.

Yet, in the past four years, this Congress has not done everything it should to give confidence to all of our people their votes matter.


After passing the Help America Vote Act, nothing more was done.
A year ago, Senators Graham, Clinton and I introduced legislation that would have required that electronic voting systems provide a paper record to verify a vote. That paper trail would be stored in a secure ballot box and invaluable in case of a recount.

There is no reason why the Senate should not have taken up and passed that bill. At the very least, a hearing should have been held. But it never happened.

Before I close, I want to thank my colleague from the House, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

Her letter to me asking for my intervention was substantive and compelling.

As I wrote to her, I was particularly moved by her point that it is virtually impossible to get official House consideration of the whole issue of election reform, including these irregularities.

The Congresswoman has tremendous respect in her state of Ohio, which is at the center of this fight.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a judge for 10 years. She was a prosecutor for 8 years. She was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002.

I am proud to stand with her in filing this objection.

###


link
http://nostolendemocracy.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/statement_by_us.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 06:53 PM
Response to Original message
54. Madsen

December 6, 2004

Special Report
Texas to Florida: White House-linked clandestine operation paid for "vote switching" software By Wayne Madsen

By Wayne Madsen | Online Journal Contributing Writer

December 6, 2004—The manipulation of computer voting machines in the recent presidential election and the funding of programmers who were involved in the operation are tied to an intricate web of shady off-shore financial trusts and companies, shady espionage operatives, Republican Party politicians close to the Bush family, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contract vehicles.

An exhaustive investigation has turned up a link between current Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney, a customized Windows-based program to suppress Democratic votes on touch screen voting machines, a Florida computer services company with whom Feeney worked as a general counsel and registered lobbyist while he was Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, and top level officials of the Bush administration.

According to a notarized affidavit signed by Clint Curtis, while he was employed by the NASA Kennedy Space Center contractor, Yang Enterprises, Inc., during 2000, Feeney solicited him to write a program to "control the vote." At the time, Curtis was of the opinion that the program was to be used for preventing fraud in the in the 2002 election in Palm Beach County, Florida. His mind was changed, however, when the true intentions of Feeney became clear: the computer program was going to be used to suppress the Democratic vote in counties with large Democratic registrations.



continued
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/120604Madsen/120604madsen.html

PDF Version
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/120604Madsen/12-06-04_Madsen.pdf
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 06:58 PM
Response to Original message
55. A Day of Reckoning for Democrats and Democracy

01/06/05

A Day of Reckoning for Democrats and Democracy

By Tom Ball


There seems to be a growing feeling of disdain in the progressive blogsphere toward the whole 'voter fraud' issue. It seems that a lot of people have simply had enough. Perhaps they're burned out. Perhaps they're fed up. Whatever it is, I'm sure the Republicans couldn't be more pleased. Nothing like kicking the snot out of a guy while he's down and watch the steam pour out of his ears in a final capitulation of spirit and will.

They can now take their final victory lap (for now).

Ideally, those tired of addressing voter fraud and the drawn-out nature of contemporary presidential elections would just deal with it and stand strong in support of those with greater fortitude. I know it's particularly tough when you're on the losing end of the situation. But despite the debilitating feelings that inevitably ensue, it is at this point that we must remain the most steadfast in our efforts. It is a painful cycle of loss that we must shake -- a difficult proposition after suffering an arguably unjust electoral and ideological loss.

more
http://www.politicalstrategy.org/archives/001036.php
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 07:09 PM
Response to Original message
56. The Auatrialian - Protest as Bush win certified

January 07, 2005

Protest as Bush win certified

By Joanne Kenen in Washington

THE US Congress today formally certified President George W Bush as the victor of the November elections after two Democrats symbolically stalled the event in protest at alleged voting irregularities in Ohio.

California Senator Barbara Boxer and Ohio Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones, formally lodged objections because of Ohio, although they said they recognised Mr Bush had won and were not trying to overturn the results.

They said their goal was to force politicians to heed problems that had been particularly evident in Democratic-leaning minority and urban neighbourhoods and to consider the need for more voting reforms including standard election rules in all states.


more
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11875526%255E1702,00.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 07:13 PM
Response to Original message
57. International Herald Tribune - Democrats challenge Ohio vote procedures

Friday, January 7, 2005

Democrats challenge Ohio vote procedures

By Brian Knowlton International Herald Tribune

Rare protest dismissed by Republicans


WASHINGTON A small group of Democrats on Thursday transformed the traditionally routine ritual of certifying presidential election results into a sharp partisan protest, forcing both the House and Senate to debate Election Day voting problems in Ohio, the state that gave President George W. Bush the votes needed for re-election.

With both houses under solid Republican control, the move, only the second of its kind since 1877, did not threaten Bush's victory over Senator John Kerry; indeed, some Democrats opposed it and the White House spokesman likened it to a pursuit of "conspiracy theories."

But its rarity underscored a lingering sensitivity to election irregularities like those that overshadowed the 2000 election. Democrats complained this time that Ohio election officials, headed by a Republican who led the Bush campaign in the state, had provided too few voting machines in some Democratic precincts.

The challenge also demonstrated a readiness among some Democrats, even with the party's diminished presence in the new Congress, to draw a line against a Republican Party that appears determined to make maximum use of its reinforced majority.


more
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/06/news/elect.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 07:29 PM
Response to Original message
58. 'Making waves' nothing new for fiery California Democrat

Posted on Thu, Jan. 06, 2005

'Making waves' nothing new for fiery California Democrat

by ERICA WERNER

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - When House Democrats needed just one senator to sign a challenge to Ohio's electoral votes, they knew who to ask - California's Barbara Boxer, among the fieriest liberals in a state full of them.

More than a decade after she led fellow congresswomen up the steps of the Senate to demand hearings into Anita Hill's sexual harassment claims against Clarence Thomas, Boxer staged her latest - and perhaps most dramatic - rebellion Thursday.

By joining Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, in lodging a formal protest against how Ohio's electoral votes were tallied, Boxer provided the needed Senate signature that forced the House and Senate to meet separately to debate the complaint.


more
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/10583718.htm
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 08:05 PM
Response to Original message
59. good press for DU
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 08:08 PM by MelissaB
This might not do much, immediately, to counter the "reports" from Fox and the NY Times, but thought I would pass along the good press DU just got in the Valley Advocate.....keep it up DUers!!



(note: this comes from the paper's year end wrap-up of the good, the bad, and the idiocy...."halos" are, obviously, a good thing.....)

http://valleyadvocate.com/gbase/Cover/index.html



HALO In the realm Our Great Leader has called "the Internets," the members of a site called Democratic Underground have been busy. Hardly a bunch of grousing liberals, the many DUers get down and dirty with matters democratic, plunging into the frustrating details of things like how a presidential election might be tampered with, or the specific ramifications of tortured legislative language. It's hands-on democracy at its finest, and a central meeting place for those who do more than talk the talk of opposing an undemocratic presidential administration.




Thanks to seabeyond here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x257518


This is also on the homepage. :)
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 08:09 PM
Response to Original message
60. A True Suppression of Democracy

A True Suppression of Democracy



I was watching C-SPAN (House of Reps) this afternoon as Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, and Senator Barbara Boxer, D-California, lodged a formal objection to the Ohio electoral votes in the 2004 Presidential Elections. I sat for an hour listening to the phone calls from battling Republicans and Democrats over the issue. The majority of the Republicans that called in were saying that the Democrats simply have "sour grapes" for losing the election and that these allegations were pointless and that we all "need to move on." I just can't agree with their ideals. The tenets of the democracy of our country were built on free and fair elections. Such a serious an allegation as voting irregularities, even if they would not change the outcome of the election, need not be taken lightly. They deserve to be looked into in order to arrive at the truth of the matter. If Republicans in Congress are certain things were done correctly, then they should prove it by agreeing to such an objection -- then the Democrats will shut up. I am very disappointed by the many Democrats who objected to look into the matter for fear of giving the democratic party a "bad rep" as complainers. Sometimes, in order to arrive at the truth, moral duty calls for a bad rep.

If the process in Ohio was done with the rules in mind as well as the value of integrity, then why not conduct an investigation into such claims? What would it hurt? What is there for the Republican party to hide? Why are 90% of Republicans objecting to the investigation? I want to know why those in congress aren't willing to take such critical claims seriously. This situation reminds me of how the claims of the congressional black caucus (to certify the 2000 election results) were treated back in 2000 (which is evidenced in Michael Moore's film "Farenheit 9/11"). If any congressman wanted to raise an objection, the rules insisted that he or she had to have the signed support of just one senator. Not one senator stood up for the black citizens of our nation. Not one. This absolutely appalls me. How much longer are we going to the let voices of the minorities, the impoverished, and those with logical concerns for the integrity of the freedom of our democracy -- go unheard? So long as this happens, the underprivledged will never have a say. As the leader of our country himself stated to a group at a luncheon, "This is an impressive crowd 'the haves and the have mores.' Some people call you the elite, I call you my base."

I am very disappointed.


link
http://hollylovebug.blogspot.com/2005/01/true-suppression-of-democracy.html
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 08:49 PM
Response to Original message
61. AFP: Senator defies party to make election protest
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 08:51 PM by MelissaB


WASHINGTON (AFP) - A lone Senate Democrat made a stand to force congressional debate on irregularities in the US presidential election, exactly four years after lawmakers did not challenge an even more contentious election.
...
Although several Democrats joined Boxer with floor speeches decrying election problems in Ohio, in the end Boxer voted alone, 1-74, to challenge the certification. Several Democrats abstained.

Boxer, who said she acted "out of conscience" said she felt Senate Democrats made a mistake four years ago that she did not want repeated.

"I realized that by not standing up back then, we couldn't take a deeper look at what happened in Florida," she told a press conference.

Film director Moore, plastered Boxer's photo on his website www.michaelmoore.com as a Senate heroine.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/afp/20050106/pl_afp/usbushvotepolitics

Thanks to Rose Siding here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x258372
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 08:55 PM
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62. The Nation: Keep Objecting on Michael Moore site


January 6th, 2005 5:55 pm
Keep Objecting


By John Nichols / The Nation

The decision of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, to sign on to the objection raised Thursday by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. and other House Democrats to the counting of Ohio's electoral votes from the 2004 presidential election sent a powerful signal that at least some -- though certainly not most -- Washington Democrats are listening to the grassroots of the party.

The challenge to the Ohio count, while it was based on legitimate concerns about voter disenfranchisement before, during and after the November 2 election, never had a chance to block the ultimate assignment of that state's electoral votes to President Bush. After a short debate, Republican majorities in the House and Senate were always expected to dismiss any objections and assure that President Bush would have a second term. And they moved quickly on Thursday to do precisely that. -- with the support of most Democrats.

But the lodging of a formal objection, and the debates in the House and Senate that followed it, focused attention on the mess that Ohio officials made of the presidential election in that state -- and on the lingering questions about the extent to which the problems were intentionally created in order to make it harder for supporters of Democrat John Kerry, particularly those in predominantly minority, urban and low-income precincts, to cast their ballots on November 2.

It also gave activist Democrats and their allies on the left a measure of the extent to which the party that relies so heavily on the votes of African Americans and Latinos will take seriously questions about minority-voter disenfranchisement, flawed voting systems and the partisan mess that local and state election officials frequently make of vote counting and recounting in states across this country.

more here: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=871
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 09:04 PM
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63. Video - Countdown: Olbermann reports on Electoral Challenge




Real Media:
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/olbermann_050106-01.ram
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 09:37 PM
Response to Original message
64. Boxer Has No Regrets About Electoral Challenge


(AP) - When House Democrats needed just one senator to sign a challenge to Ohio's electoral votes, they knew who to ask - California's Barbara Boxer, among the fieriest liberals in a state full of them.

More than a decade after she led fellow congresswomen up the steps of the Senate to demand hearings into Anita Hill's sexual harassment claims against Clarence Thomas, Boxer staged her latest - and perhaps most dramatic - rebellion Thursday.

>>snip


During more than a decade in the House and 12 years in the Senate, Boxer has taken on the Pentagon over a $7,600 coffee pot, led opposition to the ban on what opponents call partial-birth abortion and opposed virtually all of Bush's major proposals.

She regularly splits votes with Democrat Dianne Feinstein, California's senior, and more popular, senator.

Link: http://cbs5.com/news/local/2005/01/06/Boxer_Has_No_Regrets_About_Electoral_Challenge.html
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texpatriot2004 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 10:02 PM
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65. Kick it for the night owls
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 10:21 PM
Response to Original message
66. Pravada: Bush-s re-election is certified


05:14 2005-01-07
The US Congress formally certified President George W. Bush's re-election Thursday after voting to reject a challenge from a group of Democrats to the Ohio electoral vote count.
The House of Representatives and Senate met Thursday afternoon in a constitutionally mandated session to rubber stamp the result of the Nov. 2 election. But the confirmation was delayed by nearly four hours after some Democrats filed an objection to the result, citing voting problems.
The Republicans-controlled Congress voted in joint session to reject the challenge, which was just the second time since 1877, tells Xinhua.
According to Reuters, the U.S. Congress on Thursday formally certified President Bush as the victor of the November elections after two Democrats symbolically stalled the event in protest at alleged voting irregularities in Ohio.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer and Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, formally lodged objections because of Ohio, although they said they recognized Bush had won and were not trying to overturn the results.
They said their goal was to force lawmakers to heed problems that had been particularly evident in Democratic-leaning minority and urban neighborhoods and to consider the need for more voting reforms including standard election rules in all states.
"This objection does not have at its root the hope or even the hint of overturning or challenging the victory of the president," Tubbs Jones said. Boxer called it a matter of "electoral justice."
The rare objection to vote certification, the first filed in decades, forced the House and Senate to halt their joint session, usually a routine and ceremonial affair. Each chamber then debated the objection, and rejected it, the Senate by a 74-1 vote, the House 267-31. The state-by-state certification was completed a few hours later.

http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/01/07/57739.html
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 10:25 PM
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67. Seattlepi: A fair challenge (commentary)
Edited on Thu Jan-06-05 10:27 PM by MelissaB


SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

We hear from readers every day who want more coverage of the "fraudulent" election. They say the entire process has been a mess -- and the result is an election that should be tossed.

"We have found numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election," says a report from Rep. John Conyers, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. "There are ample grounds for challenging the electors from the state of Ohio."

If Ohio's electoral votes shifted from President Bush to Sen. John Kerry, the outcome of November's contest would change. The protest was officially debated yesterday. Nothing changed, but the process was allowed to play out.

That's the way the election system is supposed to work. Of course Bush still won, but at least those critical of the election had a chance to raise concerns and suggest election improvements.

Now that the congressional debate has concluded, the country will move on. Any lessons for Washington here? Absolutely.
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 10:33 PM
Response to Original message
68. The Standford Daily - Congress Should Investigate Elections

Thursday, January 6, 2005

Congress should investigate elections

By KAI STINCHCOMBE


I think Bush won Ohio in this year’s 2004 election. I would even say I’m pretty sure. But given our country’s current electoral system, it’s impossible for anyone to say he’s positive.

First, there are allegations of plain old voter fraud. Precincts in swing states across the country counted more votes than registered voters; voters described getting pre-punched ballots or seeing machines where the “default” choice was Bush.

In the most egregious potential fraud example in Ohio, Warren County officials cited an unnamed “security threat” and closed the doors on the press for several hours. It’s impossible to guess what went on in the vote-count headquarters, but studies have suggested that Warren County awarded around 40,000 more votes to Bush than should have been statistically expected.

Many potential-fraud problems revolve around new technologies. Electronic voting machines and tabulating computers for optical-scan votes are vulnerable to hacking, and counts from these machines could be inaccurate. Finally, the hard exit poll data have not yet been released, but statistical analyses based on what was released have suggested likelihoods of less than one in a million of the divergence we saw in this election.

Some of the stuff in the blogs and press is clearly based on statistical errors, but other stuff is credible. When official counts differed from exit polls in Ukraine, State Department officials declared the election fraudulent, but in the United States, the administration says we should ignore the exit polls.


more
http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=15543&repository=0001_article
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 10:44 PM
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69. Summary of Electorial Debate-Union view on "What Election Challenge Means
MODS - this is posted with permission of Swanson and ILCA (by the original OP here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x95635



http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1398

What Election Challenge Means

By David Swanson, ILCA -International Labor Communications Association, AFL-CIO / CLC

Thirty-three Members of the US House of Representatives, and one all-important Senator -- one more than four years ago -- voted not to accept Ohio's 20 electoral votes for George Bush. The votes were 33 to 260 and 1 to 72. The protesters lost. What does it mean?

First, it's worth noting that more than one Senator took action. Barbara Boxer announced her intention to challenge the election on Thursday morning. By midday Senators Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, and Barak Obama had let it be known that they would support Boxer. During the discussion in the Senate, Richard Durbin, Debbie Stabenow, Edward Kennedy, Ron Wyden, Frank Lautenberg, and Tom Harkin joined the others in speaking in support of Boxer's challenge. And in the House, numerous members spoke, one after another, until the time was up, and the number voting for the challenge jumped to 33 from the 8 that had been known early in the day.

Yet, those looking for as strong as possible a challenge were disappointed. Plenty of Democrats voted No, including Senators who had spoken in support. And one Democratic Senator, Mark Dayton, actually rose and spoke against the challenge. Several Senators and Congress Members spoke in support of the challenge but said they were not questioning Bush's victory. (The election system is broken, but the election system worked -- a notion that makes political sense to some if logical sense to few.) Not a single Republican joined the Democrats in either chamber. The certification of the vote was not stopped. Nothing was changed.

Or was it? I would suggest that the following things have been changed:

1. The topic of election fraud has been forced into the corporate media. Reporters wanting to write about it now have a "hook." They can report on it now in the way they could have two months ago if Senator John Kerry hadn't crawled under his bed to hide. Sure, much of the media today treated the story as one of "political theater" and "grandstanding Democrats," but until now the story had not been there at all.

http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1398

Now the Democrats have the opportunity to explain why fighting for Democracy is the only decent thing to do, even when success seems unlikely.

2. We now have solid evidence that a political party can challenge a stolen election without causing national trauma of the sort Kerry tried to protect us from by conceding. Most Americans are not now in agony over the tensions felt on January 6th in Congress.

3. We have demonstrated that a grassroots movement of minorities and progressives can mobilize around an issue completely blacked out of the media and move US Senators to act. The reason Barbara Boxer stood tall today, while not even Paul Wellstone would do so four years ago, is that four years ago there was no massive grassroots lobbying effort. Nobody was holding "Boxer Rebellion" demonstrations at Boxer's offices four years ago. There were no hearings and bus rides, telephone and fax campaigns, nothing like what we've seen for the past two months. We also lacked the leadership that Congressman John Conyers has shown, but Conyers will be the first to say he couldn't have done this without a movement behind him. The rally Thursday morning across from the White House (report and photos here:

http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1445

was a celebration of success against the odds, of accomplishment in the face of scorn and ridicule with only justice and determination to keep people going. There will be momentum coming out of this for supporters of democracy all over this country.

4. A coalition has begun to form and to feel its power. Cliff Arnebeck of Alliance for Democracy and Common Cause Ohio told me Thursday morning that the way the Cleveland AFL-CIO worked with the white public interest crowd and the black civil rights folks on this issue is matched by the way the Ohio state AFL-CIO is working with these groups in opposition to a Republican proposal in Ohio to eliminate campaign finance limits. Labor, Arnebeck said, is one of the three key parts of a coalition that must be built nationally.

"Labor has to be viewed as a public interest organization," he said. "Every organization has its own selfish interests. But the labor union movement stands for democracy and not for benefiting a small elite, but for the vast majority - not for this CEO club. It's going to come together…This will revitalize all three movements."

5. The Democratic Party has put its toes into the water of actual opposition to the Republicans. Today ended any remaining credibility for another presidential nomination for Kerry -- and probably for any other senators who did not voice their support for Barbara Boxer's challenge. Those who did not speak today will have to campaign against that record, as Kerry campaigned against his vote for Bush's war. The Democrats have begun to emerge as a second party in what has often seemed a one-party or duopolistic system. More power to them. It's up to us to keep this ball rolling by urging aggressive action on election reform and all other issues. The Democrats have started to copy Republican brashness. If they can cease copying Republican policy positions, there may be hope for them yet. Reid announced that he would introduce an election reform bill in a few days.

Call Reid's office. Thank him for what he did today. Ask him to think big and write the bill he wants, not the bill he thinks the Republicans will accept.

International Labor Communications Association, AFL-CIO / CLC
888 16th St. NW Suite 630
Washington, D.C. 20006
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FreepFryer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:14 PM
Response to Original message
70. kick
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:35 PM
Response to Original message
71. Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Objects to Certification of Ohio Electoral Votes

January 06, 2005

Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Objects to Certification of Ohio Electoral Votes


For ImmediateRelease
January 6, 2005
CONTACT: Nicole Y. Williams
(202) 225-7032

Washington, D.C. –Today, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, along with Senator Barbara Boxer (CA), entered a formal objection to the certification of the State of Ohio's Electoral Votes. Her prepared floor statement, in part, was as follows:

"I, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a representative from Ohio, and Ms. Boxer, a Senator from California, object to the counting of the electoral votes of the State of Ohio on the ground that they were not, under all of the known circumstances, regularly given.

"I, thank God, that I have a Senator joining me in this objection. I appreciate Senator Boxer's willingness to listen to the plight of hundreds and even thousands of Ohio voters that for a variety of reasons were denied the right to vote. Unfortunately objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate avenue to bring these issues to light.

"While some have called our cause foolish I can assure you that my parents, Mary and Andrew Tubbs did not raise any fools and as a lawyer, former judge and prosecutor, I am duty bound to follow the law and apply the law to the facts as I find them.

"It is on behalf of those millions of Americans who believe in and value our democratic process and the right to vote that I put forth this objection today. If they are willing stand at the polls for countless hours in the rain as many did in Ohio, then I can surely stand up for them here in the halls of Congress.

"This objection does not have at its root the hope or even the hint of overturning or challenging the victory of the President; but it is a necessary, timely and appropriate opportunity to review and remedy the most precious process in our democracy."

"I raise this objection neither to put the nation in the turmoil of a proposed overturned election nor to provide cannon fodder or partisan demagoguery for my fellow Republican Members of Congress.

"I raise this objection because I am convinced that we as a body must conduct a formal and legitimate debate about election irregularities. I raise this objection to debate the process and protect the integrity of the true will of the people.

"Again, I thank Senator Boxer for joining me in this objection to the counting of Ohio's electoral votes due to the considerable number of voting irregularities that transpired in my home state.

"There are serious allegations in two lawsuits pending in Ohio that debate the constitutionality of the denial of provisional ballots to voters (The Sandusky County Democratic Party v. J. Kenneth Blackwell) and Ohio's vote recount (Yost v. David Cobb, et al.). These legitimate questions brought forward by the lawsuits, which go to the core of our voting and Democratic process, should be resolved before Ohio's electoral votes are certified.

"Moreover, as you are aware, advancing legislative initiatives is more challenging when you are in the minority party in Congress. However, this challenge is multiplied when you are in the minority in the House of Representatives because of House rules, compared to Senate rules.

"Voting irregularities were an issue after the 2000 presidential election, when Democratic House initiatives relating to election reform were not considered.

"Therefore, in order to prevent our voices from being kept silent, it is imperative that we object to the counting of Ohio's electoral votes and debate the issue of Ohio's voting improprieties.

"There are just over 1 million registered voters in Cuyahoga County - which of course includes the Greater Cleveland area and the 11th Congressional District which I represent. Registration increased approximately 10 percent.

"The beauty of the 2004 election was that more people were fully prepared to exercise their right to vote - however on Election Day hundreds and even thousands of individuals went to the voting polls and were denied the opportunity to have their vote count.

"In my own county where citizen volunteers put forth a Herculean effort to register, educate, mobilize and protect the vote there were people who experienced irregularities.

"Poor and minority communities had disproportionately long waits - 4 to 5 hours waits were widespread. Election Protection Coalition testified that more than half of the complaints about long lines they received “came from Columbus and Cleveland where a huge proportion of the state’s Democratic voters live. One entire polling place in Cuyahoga County (Greater Cleveland) had to “shut down” at 9:25 a.m. on Election Day because there were no working machines.

"Cuyahoga County had an overall provisional ballot rejection rate of 32 percent. Rejection rates for provisional ballots in African American precincts/wards in Cleveland, Ohio averaged 37 percent and ranged as high as 51 percent.

"Thousands of partisan challengers - concentrated in Cuyahoga County’s minority and Democratic communities - effectively served to intimidate voters and confuse poll workers. There were both inconsistent and illegal requests for photo identification.

"There were problems with absentee ballots including incorrect information provided to voters by the Secretary of State and, consequently, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections telling voters they could not vote in their precinct – effectively disenfranchising hundreds and more likely thousands of voters.

"This objection points out the inadequacy of a great election system which permits 50 Secretary's of State to administer a federal election and impose so many different state laws regulating the election.

"In Ohio, the Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell who served as Co-Chair of the Bush re-election campaign, issued a bizarre series of directives in the days preceding the 2004 Presidential election that created tremendous confusion among voters in Cuyahoga County and across the state of Ohio.

"For example; on September 7, 2004, Secretary Blackwell issued a directive to local boards of elections mandating rejection of voter registration forms based on their paperweight – 80lb text weight. Mr. Blackwell’s issuance of this directive – which he ultimately reversed by September 28, 2004 - resulted in serious confusion and chaos among the counties and voters.

"My objection points to the need to implement across this nation standards that apply to all states. We need to enact legislation that will:

* Allow all voters to vote early - so that obligations of employment and family will not interfere with the ability to cast a vote.
* Establish a national holiday - Election Day to bring attention to the importance of the vote.
* Require those who work in the voting booth to be fairly compensated, adequately educated and sufficiently supported such that the job importance will be elevated.
* That will provide equipment - whether it is the traditional punch card or the more modern electronic machines that are properly calibrated, fully tested for accuracy and provide a paper trial to ensure a verifiable audit of every vote.

"What happened in Ohio may well have been repeated in counties across this country. Yet that is no excuse for us to push the irregularities behind us and go on with the business of the day. These incidents are a call for us to clean up, clear up and implement policies and procedures that will protect each citizen's precious right to vote.

"If in fact we see it is our obligation to secure democracy around the world to monitor and oversee free and fair elections in other countries surely we must ensure, protect and guarantee the right to vote right here at home."

(source)

link
http://nostolendemocracy.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/congresswoman_t.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:39 PM
Response to Original message
72. Senator Barrbara Boxer's Letter to Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones


Senator Barrbara Boxer's Letter to Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jone

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) sent the following letter
to Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones on January 5, 2005:


January 5, 2005


The Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones
1009 Longworth H.O.B.
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Tubbs Jones:

I am in receipt of your letter that spelled out concerns about the election irregularities in Ohio during the November 2004 election.

The fact that you are from Ohio and that you are a former judge gives great weight and much credibility to the points you cited and to your plea that these issues be addressed by the Congress.

I was particularly moved by your point that it is virtually impossible to get official House consideration of the whole issue of election reform, including these irregularities.

I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio’s election.

I will therefore join you in your objection to the certification of Ohio’s electoral votes. Attached is my signature on a copy of your written objection.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator


link
http://nostolendemocracy.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/senator_barrbar.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-06-05 11:43 PM
Response to Original message
73. Let The Movement Begin

January 06, 2005

Let The Movement Begin


It looks like the historic actions taken by Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Senator Barbara Boxer will be swept quickly under the rug and Washington will soon return to business as usual.

No one should have any illusion that if the objections had gone further today that we would have achieved the justice that we strive for. Even if Geroge W. Bush were unseated by objections to multiple sets of electors, the fight for voting rights and fair elections would still require an ongoing, energetic movement.

We've identified the issues. We've educated new allies. We've formed new relationships and networks. We've felt the power of our numbers. We have acted with great energy and unity in the name of justice and democracy.

We've started a movement.

Let's get to work.


link
http://nostolendemocracy.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/let_the_movemen.html
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 12:00 AM
Response to Original message
74. EVIDENCE OF ELECTION IRREGULARITIES IN SNOHOMISH COUNTY, WA - 1/6 PDF

EVIDENCE OF ELECTION IRREGULARITIES IN
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, WASHINGTON

GENERAL ELECTION, 2004

By Paul R. Lehto, J.D., Attorney at Law
paul@lehtopenfield.com

Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, Ph.D.
jehoffma@nmu.edu


January 6 2005



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Counties such as Snohomish County Washington that run parallel voting technologies on Election day over the same precincts and the same races are useful for isolating any effect voting technology may have on patterns of voting.

• Because of the parallel voting technologies present and because of a historically close gubernatorial race between Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi that was subject to an unprecedented hand recount (as well as good recordkeeping and reporting of paper and touch screen voting results on a precinct
by precinct basis) Snohomish County was an excellent place to study the 2004 election.

• Touch screen systems, controversial for their proprietary counting software that can not be verified, claim as a positive “product feature” the reduction or elimination of undervotes, or persons not voting for any candidate in a race.

• Evidence from New Mexico suggests that undervoting, at least in heavily minority districts, was very high, an average of four times higher than national averages with undervoting for President exceeding 9% in many minority precincts.

• This strongly suggests that either electronic machines do not actually reduce undervoting substantially, or else something is wrong with the machines in New Mexico, or both.

• Undervoting rates in Snohomish County were quite low, but numerous persons reported that touch screens would appear pre-voted, or else would select the Republican box when the Democratic candidate’s box was pressed either with a finger or the stylus provided. Problems of switched voting or machines freezing up appeared in over 50 polling locations out of approximately 148 total.

• Statistical analysis shows high correlations between reported voting irregularities and high Republican voting results.

• Statistical analysis of machines that recently had their CPUs repaired shows a propensity for Republican voting that is present but weak on the individual level but strong at the polling location where the machines were placed.

• Sequoia touch screens are required to have their power cords daisy chained, forming a de facto network that third parties can use to tap into the machines or have the machines communicate among each other.

• Snohomish county had the highest election day increase in vote for Republican governor candidate Dino Rossi relative to absentee voters, while other nearby counties had either smaller increases or election day actually favored the Democrat Christine Gregoire.

• Election day voting in Snohomish County is not like paper voting for Republicans and Democrats which forms a bell curve with noise, but instead forms a smooth twin peak curve, suggesting different mechanisms acted on the electronic vote relative to the paper vote.
The chances that 2/3 of the vote would show a Democratic lead of 97044 to 95228 votes, while the remaining 1/3 of the vote on touch screens would show a Republican lead of almost 5% (50,400 Republican to 42,145 Democratic) as a result of voters randomly choosing whether to vote by paper ballot or by touch screen is one in 1,000 trillion! A true impossibility.

• Simple mechanisms exist for multiple voting or hacking the Sequoia touch screen machines by single individuals, and they are further identified in the paper.

• Machines with repair histories within two weeks of the election or exhibiting problems on election day with observed vote switching, prevoted ballots, or freezing up performed better than the average Republican gain in the governor’s race on election day (of just under 5%) in 46 out of 58 polling locations, and did better than the absentee results for the same precincts in 56 out of 58 polling
locations. In the remaining two instances, electronic results were roughly equal to absentee results.

• The average of the 58 polling places reporting vote switching, freeze-ups, or repairs within two weeks of the election was 11.58% more favorable to Republican Dino Rossi than absentee voters did, and averaged 10.8% more votes than Gregoire on election day, while Rossi’s overall spread among all electronic voters at all polling locations was under 5%.

• Given the coincidence of observed vote switching behavior doing this very thing with actual precinct results reporting enhanced Republican outcomes relative to absentee paper ballots, the probability is that Democratic votes and/or undervotes are being assigned improperly to Republican candidates and contrary to at least
some voters’ intent, and forensic analysis of the machines along with their impoundment is necessary to rule this out.

• Even though evidence of fraud exists here, the parallel voting technologies and recordkeeping are unusually good in Washington state, making investigation somewhat easier.

• Citizens should not have the burden of proving fraud, it is our government that has the burden of proving the election was transparent, fair and clean from the perspective even of the loser, because the continued vitality of democratic government depends upon the election loser’s acceptance that the loss occurred
through a fair and democratic process.

• The security of our elections should be an important part of protecting democracy and our country, yet no one has an incentive to identify risks and problems with our elections so that they can be corrected.

• Sequoia machines similar to those in Snohomish County, Washington were used in all of Nevada, almost all of New Mexico, and four counties in Florida.

• Although free and independent testing is badly needed, the authors of this paper have been told in writing that they will be allowed no testing of the Sequoia machines without Sequoia’s express permission.



link to entire report (PDF)
http://www.newsisfree.com/iclick/i,67466025,5879,f/
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 01:15 AM
Response to Original message
75. BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL - Ballot box basics

January 7, 2005

Ballot box basics

GLOBE EDITORIAL

POLITICS OUTWEIGHED policy in yesterday's congressional debate on voting irregularities in the presidential election. But those who objected to the partisanship will serve themselves and the nation better if they stop scrapping and take the steps needed -- some of them obvious -- to fix the problems.

Republicans claimed that Democrats took the unusual step of challenging the certification of President Bush's victory in the Electoral College merely to give themselves a soapbox, and they are right. Many Democrats who debated heartily ended up voting to certify all 286 of Bush's votes -- even those from disputed Ohio.

Still, it was a worthwhile move because the November elections showed that much more needs to be done to give American voters confidence that the electoral process is sound.

It is true, as some in the GOP said, that many voting problems are the fault of state and local officials. But this is all the more reason for Congress to go back to work and improve the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

To start: Computer voting systems should be required to leave paper records. The handling of provisional ballots should be standardized. Ineffective systems should be modernized. And access to the ballot should be comparable in areas that are rich and poor, white and minority, Democratic and Republican. At least in elections for federal office, these improvements should be mandated by Congress. It is a disgrace that the 2002 legislation fell so far short.


link
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/01/07/ballot_box_basics/
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 01:31 AM
Response to Original message
76. Contest The Vote - A Moment of Hope! - Thank You Senator Boxer!

Contest The Vote - A Moment of Hope!



Dear David,

Thursday January 6th 2005: A Moment of Hope For The Entire World!

Today the people of the United States stood up against arrogance and fear...and both buckled. At the urging of tens of thousands of concerned citizens, California Senator Barbara Boxer joined the House challenge of the Ohio Electoral College vote. The result was the televised broadcast of dozens of charges of voter fraud to millions of watching Americans. Everyone could observe for themselves the attitude of denial taken by Republican representatives who were obviously unprepared to say anything of substance, much like their President.

The passion and fire of the members of the House Caucus was truly inspiring. Each one spoke with great sincerity and truth, weakly challenged by the "get over it" statements of those who sought to deny that there are any problems with our Democracy. In addition to acknowledging those brave members of the House of Representatives, we must individually write, phone, and fax OUR Senator Barbara Boxer. Without the support of Senator Boxer, we would have had a repeat of that ugly scene from Fahrenheit 9/11 where President-elect Gore told each Caucus member to sit down and shut up.

NO OTHER SENATOR JOINED SENATOR BOXER! They are still afraid to stand up to the White House Bully for fear of losing some of their own power. In addition, their staff could lose their premium parking spaces, another fact of life in the Democracy of the United States of America. It is now time for us to acknowledge Senator Boxer. (I will no longer refer to her as "Boxer".) Her contact info is below so you can write her your own message of support.

Tell her YOU will be there to help her when she needs your letters, faxes, and phone calls.

Tell her how grateful you are that she decided to represent YOU, rather than some unethical corporation.
Tell her you want to be added to her email list so YOU can be informed.

Tell her that without the action of the brave Senator Barbara Boxer, our Democracy would be no more than that hollow shell being forced upon Iraq.

I am so grateful to each of you for joining together in this struggle to take back our Democracy! This small victory will guide us to a future of restored compassion for all people, of all nationalities, ethnicities, and beliefs.

Thank you.

Chuck Lowery
Secretary CA Electoral College
member www.ContestTheVote.org
ContactUs@ContestTheVote.org

Senator Barbara Boxer's Contact Info:
Phone: 202.224.3553 (DC)
Fax: 202.228.3972 (DC)
Email: http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 01:52 AM
Response to Original message
77. News Hounds - Only The Democrats Are Sore Losers On FOX

Only The Democrats Are Sore Losers On FOX


Last night, my colleague Deborah reported that Sean Hannity called Democrats who spoke out about election irregularities "poor losers" "throwing temper tantrums." Something tells me we won't be seeing Hannity or anyone else on FOX News complaining about the GOP efforts for a revote in Washington.

According to the AP story on FOXNews.com, not only do the state GOP leaders want to delay the ratification of the election, they want a complete re-vote. "The people of this state clearly have lost confidence in the election process," (Republican House Minority Leader) Chandler said Tuesday. "The truth of the matter is, we don't know who won this election and we never will." Sound familiar?

The article continues, "Radio stations began running ads paid for by the state Republican Party, declaring the governor's election a 'certified mess' and urging people to petition the Legislature for a new election."

Can you imagine if the Democrats did that?

Incidentally, with all the "voter fraud" stories FOX subjected us to before the election, can there be any doubt that the Republicans would have staged a sit-in during the electoral vote confirmation today, had Kerry been declared the winner? Not in my mind. It's funny how such concern in that issue has evaporated so suddenly.


link:
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/07/only_the_democrats_are_sore_losers_on_fox.php
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 02:25 AM
Response to Original message
78. The Nation - Keep Objecting


Keep Objecting

Thu Jan 6, 3:33 PM ET Op/Ed - The Nation

John Nichols


The decision of US Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), D-California, to sign on to the objection raised Thursday by US Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record) Jr. and other House Democrats to the counting of Ohio's electoral votes from the 2004 presidential election sent a powerful signal that at least some -- though certainly not most -- Washington Democrats are listening to the grassroots of the party.

The challenge to the Ohio count, while it was based on legitimate concerns about voter disenfranchisement before, during and after the November 2 election, never had a chance to block the ultimate assignment of that state's electoral votes to President Bush (news - web sites). After a short debate, Republican majorities in the House and Senate were always expected to dismiss any objections and assure that President Bush would have a second term. And they moved quickly on Thursday to do precisely that--with the support of most Democrats.

But the lodging of a formal objection, and the debates in the House and Senate that followed it, focused attention on the mess that Ohio officials made of the presidential election in that state -- and on the lingering questions about the extent to which the problems were intentionally created in order to make it harder for supporters of Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites), particularly those in predominantly minority, urban and low-income precincts, to cast their ballots on November 2.


link
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2281&ncid=742&e=5&u=/thenation/20050106/cm_thenation/12108
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snot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 03:17 AM
Response to Reply #78
79. "Lingering doubts"--more like lingering certainties
I can't believe that's supposed to be a liberal outlet. O well.
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 03:27 AM
Response to Original message
80. Google News Page - Democrats challenge Ohio electoral vote count
Ohio electoral vote challenge makes Google News page
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 04:36 AM
Response to Original message
81. CONYERS' QUESTIONS: Calls for probe sought to protect crucial principles


CONYERS' QUESTIONS: Calls for probe sought to protect crucial principles

January 7, 2005

There's no question that politics was a part of the quixotic effort of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, and others Thursday to investigate Ohio's election results. Even if they couldn't reverse the Nov. 2 results, undermining President George W. Bush's proclaimed mandate by exposing polling place problems in the decisive state would have been a good payoff for Democrats.

But this effort was also about a principle worth fighting for: ensuring that every vote counts. Post-facto revelations about some of the things that have gone on in the last two presidential elections have affected the confidence of many voters in the integrity of the system. Allowing things to fester amid rumor, claims and counterclaims isn't healthy for democracy.

For that reason alone, the Bush administration could have welcomed the examination, which Congress soundly rejected. The president's victory is safely headed for the history books, so why not bring on all those charges of registered voters being purged from the rolls and the claims that thousands of ballots with no apparent votes for president were counted but undisputed? Air them out and lay them to rest.


more
http://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/econyers7e_20050107.htm
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 04:47 AM
Response to Original message
82. Third parties want recount in New Mexico

Jan 6, 2005, 09:12 pm

Third parties want recount

By Pamela Cromwell/Ruidoso News


Under state law, county clerks are to open voting machines and clear the tallies 30 days after the state canvassing board certifies election returns.

However, Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron issued a memorandum this week in-structing county clerks to not clear their machines until further notice.

This hold is the result of a recount call being pursued in the courts by Green Party and Libertarian Party presidential candidates.
Lincoln County Clerk Tam-mie Maddox says this will not affect local school board elections on Feb. 1.

“We have an adequate number of voting machines that were not used in the last election and can be used for the school board election on Feb. 1,” Maddox said.

Maddox estimates that eight back-up machines will be needed for the school board elections. These machines are fully maintained and are excellent machines, Maddox said.

Because both candidates for the Ruidoso Board of Education positions are running unopposed, board president Frank Sayner and Maddox may de-cide not to set up voting machines in Ruidoso at all.

“In order to save money for the school district, we can have the election here in the Car-rizozo office, and people in Ruidoso could vote absentee if they want to vote,” Maddox said.

more
http://www.ruidosonews.com/artman/publish/recount17.shtml
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 04:51 AM
Response to Original message
83. A Letter From One of the Coalition Against Election Fraud DC Lobbyists

January 07, 2005

A Letter From One of the Coalition Against Election Fraud DC Lobbyists



Dear Senator,

One Honest Man. In ancient Greece, the philosopher Diogenes went searching with a lantern to find "one honest man". It wasn't easy. I don't know if he ever succeeded. (I suspect that if he broadened his search to include women, he might have succeeded!)

For the last three days my colleagues and I from a modest group of citizens have been searching the halls of the senate office buildings for "One Courageous Senator". We carry notebooks of evidence instead of lanterns. We don't know if we will succeed.

The senators, and representatives, have a legal duty today to pass judgment on the electoral behavior of every one of the 50 states. Although there have been a few exceptions, tradition is that they accept the votes sent to them. They go through the formalities of accepting the votes, but they have the opportunity to object.

They have an opportunity to say, state-by-state, that the selection of electors was done in an acceptable way, or to say that it was not acceptable. To the extent that it is possible for independent investigators to know in the short period since the election, we know that what went on in at least several states cannot be acceptable, and we have clues that even worse things went on. These are clues that must be followed.

There are thousands of people whose names can be named and whose stories are documented who suffered attempts, successful or unsuccessful, at disenfranchisement. This is acceptable?

There are states that don't follow or even thwart their own rules for recounts, including documented cases of tampering of machines before recounts. This is acceptable?

There are documented attempts to fabricate election materials obtained under freedom of information requests, and to destroy the real material. This is acceptable?

And we have clues, many of them, that the basic process of collecting and tabulating votes may have been tampered with in favor of one candidate. These are not honest errors; they are tips of icebergs -- icebergs that we will discover either by investigation, or when our democracy hits them, and sinks.

In a few hours the House and Senate will be asked, "Is this acceptable?" Yes or no, Senator, is this acceptable?

We're looking for "One Courageous Senator" who will stand up and say, "This is wrong!" We wish we could find 100. The American people, and the generations who went before, deserve 100 courageous senators. But can we find even one?

In our conversations with Senator's aides, we see little outrage at this unacceptable electoral behavior. More seriously, we don't see any courage. It is not courageous to simply defer all questions to a future GAO report. Is the GAO the "Department of Courage"? It is not courageous to say, "we have laws and agencies to deal with that" or "the states will deal with that", especially when the questions include the behavior of state government.

And then there's the excuse of "unity". I find it incredible that any of our most powerful and respected leaders would consider a vague "unity" a more important principle than voting rights, justice, and democracy. In a democracy, "unity" without voting rights is worthless. Why would any honorable person want to claim "unity" with people who suppressed certain classes of voters? And why would anyone with a basic knowledge of history think democracy requires unity? Unity is a characteristic of dictatorships!

Washington, DC should be a grand and beautiful city. But "beauty is as beauty does". Right now Washington is a very ugly city. People have lost the right to vote, and to have that vote counted honestly, by deliberate actions; however, few want to talk about it.

A bright light has been shown on our electoral process thanks to the efforts of election observers from many organizations. Is there not even one senator who can stand up to say, about any or all of the tens of thousands of problems, "This is wrong"? Or will each senator wait for someone else, or a safer time, to say that?


Bob Fleischer
Coalition Against Election Fraud (CAEF)
http://www.caef.us
Massachusetts
United States of America
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-07-05 04:56 AM
Response to Original message
84. News Hounds - Hannity thinks it's great in the Ukraine but not here

January 6, 2005

Great in the Ukraine But Not Here

Hannity claimed that the members of congress who spoke out today about documented voter irregularities in Ohio were "defeated Democrats throwing temper tantrums. Why are they such poor losers?"

Of course when the Ukranians spoke out about their elections, Hannity was totally supportive of their efforts.When the elections in Afganistan came off with few complaints of voter fraud, Hannity applauded.

So why would Hannity and most Republicans be so outraged when U.S. citizens try to preserve the integrity of our election process? Once people start connecting those dots, maybe we will get our country back and people people will feel like they're part of the process.


more
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/06/great_in_the_ukraine_but_not_here.php
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