Kucinich on Ohio Electoral College Vote Challenge

goodhue

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri Jan-07-05 02:31 PM
Original message

Kucinich on Ohio Electoral College Vote Challenge

Edited on Fri Jan-07-05 02:36 PM by goodhue

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/oh10_kucinich/050106electoralcollege.html

For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Floor Speech Of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich On The Challenge To The Ohio Electoral College Vote

Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) gave the following speech today on the House floor during consideration of an objection to the certification of the Electoral College votes from Ohio:

“Let us not denigrate factual concerns about the Ohio election by dismissing them as simply partisan. This is not about Democrat or Republican votes. It is not about red or blue or black or white. It is not about wrong and right. It is not about winners or losers. It is about protecting voting rights in our democracy against corruption.

“Let us review just one of the very serious concerns with the Ohio election. Voting machines were misallocated causing some voters to stand in line for 10 hours. That denies voters equal protection of the law. In the states’ capitol, a shortage of machines in predominately African American communities was created. Even though the Secretary of State knew far in advance that 102,000 voters were registered in that county alone. The misallocation of machines was estimate to have denied at least 15,000 people the opportunity to vote.

“Furthermore the Secretary of State, who, under Ohio law has a constitutional duty to ensure election laws are upheld, failed to issue guidelines under the Help American Vote Act (HAVA) for two years. Contrary to the spirit of HAVA (which is to encourage voting and to have every vote count), Ohio’s top election official conducted the activities of his office in a most partisan manner, undermining public trust in the election. He sharply restricted the ability of voters to use provisional ballots. He endeavored to make it more difficult for lower income people, who are more likely to move, to vote.

“We know who won the election. But what the American people do not know is the extend to which voting irregularities in the State of Ohio deprived tens of thousands of my fellow citizens of their Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection of the law and their constitutionally protected right to vote.

“The right to vote is expressly protected by the Fifteenth Amendment, the Nineteenth, the Twenty-Fourth and the Twenty-Sixth Amendments to the United States constitution.

“It is that right which has produced our very presence in this chamber. It is that right which binds us as a nation, which creates the unity of states, which legitimizes the government, which enfranchises not just a people, but in which reposes the treasure of the American people: A Government of the people, by the people and for the people. People have marched for that right, have put in their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor on the line for that right, and the least we can do is show our commitment to protecting that right.

“The outcome of the election will remain unchanged. But what we must change is a system which denied citizens of a great state their opportunity to change the outcome. Election reform is our solemn duty. Out statements today show is we intend to do our duty.”