CONYERS, OTHERS: REQUEST CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE INVESTIGATION

[Wilms]

Press Release

Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
Michigan, 14th District
Ranking Member,U.S. House Judiciary Committee
Dean, Congressional Black Caucus

www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/index.html
For Immediate Release: Contact: Dena Graziano
February 2, 2005 [phone]

CONYERS AND OTHER MEMBERS
REQUEST CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE INVESTIGATION
INTO VOTING IRREGULARITIES

Congressman John Conyers, Jr., and twenty two other Members, sent the following letter to Daniel Mullhollan, Director of the Congressional Research Service, requesting a 50 state survey of all reported voting irregularities from the past election:

Dear Mr. Mullhollan:

We are writing to ask that the Congressional Research Service, (CRS) prepare a 50 state survey of irregularities reported by the media (including internet based media) and compiled by public interest groups, non-profits and academics in the most recent election. We believe that such a study will be a vital resource to Congress as we turn from the controversies of the most recent election to the complex issue of voting reform.

Though our principal focus is on irregularities relating to the presidential election, we are also interested in learning of significant irregularities concerning other elected offices as well. We would ask that you review media reports involving irregularities and controversies in the pre-election day period (e.g, concerning registration, purging, determination of election day rules); election day (e.g., machine glitches, machine shortages, voter intimidation, ballot confusion, lack of handicapped accessible machinery, and voter misinformation); and post-election (e.g., counting provisional ballots, recount irregularities, litigation).

We are not asking that you characterize these irregularities. Rather we simply want your staff to complete the research, access the results, and divide by state and by incident. Where possible it would be helpful if you could note how the incident or irregularity was resolved. For example, was an improper purging cured? Was the cause of a machine glitch ascertained? Was the person responsible for
disseminating false information pursued, is a case pending?

We are happy to work with you to develop the most efficacious means of narrowing this request, completing the research, determining the pertinent time periods to review and categories to analyze. We
would note that the General Accounting Office is also reviewing the most recent election, however their review is far more narrowly focused on a small number of systemic issues. They are not attempting to survey the complete landscape of irregularities as we are requesting of CRS.

We are also willing to work with you in developing an agreeable time line for completing this important survey, although we are hopeful that it can be completed in the next several months, so that it
may be as helpful as possible to the Congress as we work on voting reform.

Sincerely,

John Conyers Barbara Lee Chris Van Hollen
Jim McDermott Donald Payne Dennis Kucinich
Barney Frank Maxine Waters Lynn Woolsey
Anthony Weiner Sam Farr Major Owens
Chaka Fattah Bill Clay Elijah Cummings
Robert Scott Zoe Lofgren Melvin Watt
Corrine Brown Jesse Jackson, Jr. Sheila Jackson- Lee
Stephanie Tubbs Jones

[shraby]

1. Sounds good to me!!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :toast: :toast: :party: :party:

[liberalla]

2. This is interesting!

Thank you for posting this letter! Sounds pretty thorough and comprehensive... I am so grateful John Conyers is committed and pursuing this. I wonder what kind of response he'll get. Does anyone know about the CRS Congressional Research Service? How partisan they are? Thanks again for the info!

[FreedomAngel82]

18. Yay! I'm glad for this!

I just hope they are truthful and responsivie. I'm sure Conyers will go after them of course if they don't respond and stuff. I worry about the die-hard pro-Bush's. It's good to know he's still on this and taking it seriously. If nothing comes from turning the election I just hope that we can at least get rid of voting machines everywhere. Now that will make me happy!

[KT2000]

3. OK - this is good

they aren't going to let this drop
glad to see Washingotn's Mcdermott signed it too

[Im with Rosey]

4. This sounds great

It is encouraging to know that Conyers is not only continuing the fight, he is looking at ALL avenues of investigation. I think it might be time again to send some positive feedback to Conyers and all. Might be a good idea to send some email Mr. Mulhollan's way!

[Wilms]

17. Here's the House (Dem) Judiciary webform.

<http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/contact.html>

[meganmonkey]

5. GOOD! Laws were broken and need to be enforced

Otherwise, what is the point of passing more laws? We need ENFORCEMENT. This seems like a good step toward that goal. I hope they get cooperation!

:bounce:

[Al-CIAda]

6. Nice...eom

:thumbsup:

[merh]

7. Thank you Mr. Conyers, et al...

Don't let it die folks, they hear us, they know we are out here and we demand to know that our votes were counted properly and that they counted!

We are the people, we are a movement that they cannot ignore!

Scream throughout "blogworld" - you cannot ignore us - we want justice!

[eowyn_of_rohan]

8. Why such turnover among the Rep.s who support the investigation?

Here is a list of the 14 representatives who signed the 23 November 2004 letter to the General Accountability Office, which demanded an investigation into electronic voting irregularities:

Only the ones whose names are starred are apparently still expressing public support for the investigation. What happened to the others?
* John Conyers (D-MI)
* Robert Scott (D-GA)
* Melvin Watt (D-NC)
* Barbara Lee (D-CA)

Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
George Miller (D-CA)
John Olver (D-MA)
Bob Filner (D-CA)
Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Robert Wexler (D-FL)

And these following people, who were not involved in the beginning, have joined the effort:

Chris Van Hollen
Jim McDermott
Donald Payne
Dennis Kucinich
Barney Frank
Maxine Waters
Lynn Woolsey
Anthony Weiner
Sam Farr
Major Owens
Chaka Fattah
Bill Clay
Elijah Cummings
Zoe Lofgren
Corrine Brown
Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Sheila Jackson- Lee
Stephanie Tubbs Jones

[meganmonkey]

9. Maybe related to what committee they are on?

Don't have time to look into it(at work) but that was my first thought. Maybe the Judiciary committee dems were involved in certain aspects, other committees... I dunno.

In all, it is a pretty long list!

[eowyn_of_rohan]

11. You may be right...

But Tammy Baldwin (my rep) has gone silent--didn't vote against the certification of Ohio's votes, and neither did Wexler (who was a STAUNCH activist against the Florida coup in 2000)--in fact they didnt even speak up against it... I am going to see who among these did vote against the certification of Ohio's electoral votes...only 22 as I recall. Just doesn't seem to be a lot of conviction among many of these reps.

[meganmonkey]

12. I know what you mean - I keep reminding myself

that while, to a lot of us here, this is sort of the be-all/end-all issue right now. But for these politicians, they are being pulled in different directions on dozens of issues, so some them may not be able to stay on top of it as much as we want them to. And while they are all likely getting letters and calls from people about it, it may not be their own constituents and may have less of an effect.

Thank goodness for the Conyers, Boxer, Jackson, Jackson-Lee, Tubbs-Jones type of folks who are keeping their eye on the ball!

KEEP HOPE ALIVE

[eowyn_of_rohan]

22. You are right that they are involved in so many issues at once,

pulled in different directions, etc., so I don't really know if the consistent involvement (or lack of) is a definitive gauge of their level of conviction. I should be more positive and hopeful about Conyers's latest action--it is super encouraging that he and his supporters are NOT GIVING UP! Gives me renewed energy to continue to try to help them in some way.

[Darknyte7]

10. When I grow up...

I want to be just like John Conyers!

[loudsue]

14. That's a good thing to aspire to! He's an incredible person!!

I hope there are MORE smart people like you out there! That way, we may be able to save this Democracy!!

:kick::kick::kick:

[emlev]

13. kick

[eowyn_of_rohan]

15. Which Dem congress-people have been most supportive of recount efforts?

I am not really making any implications here, but was curious as to which Representatives have been with, and stayed with Conyers since the original letter was written to the GAO in November, asking for an investigation into the Ohio election results. I looked at those who have supported any or the three major actions involving Conyers and the Ohio election challenges:
1) the GAO letter of 23 Nov asking for investigation
2) Vote against certification of Ohio's votes on 6 January
3) Recent letter of 2 February, asking for further investigations

The following 2 congresspeople were involved in all 3 efforts:
* + ~ John Conyers (D-MI)
* + ~ Barbara Lee (D-CA)

The following 3 signed letter of 23 Nov to GAO asking for investigation, and voted against certification of Ohio's votes on 6 January, but did not sign most recent, Feb 2 letter:
* + John Olver (D-MA)
* + Bob Filner (D-CA)
* + Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

These signed letters of 23 Nov and 2 Feb, requesting investigations, but did not vote against certification of Ohio's votes.
* ~ Robert Scott (D-GA)
* ~ Melvin Watt (D-NC)

These joined in later -- They voted against certification of Ohio's votes on 6 January, and signed letter of 2 February, asking for further investigations, but did not sign Nov. 23 letter to GAO:
+ ~ Corrine Brown (FL)
+ ~ William "Lacy" Clay Jr. (MO)
+ ~ Sam Farr (CA)
+ ~ Jesse Jackson Jr. (IL)
+ ~ Jackson-Lee (TX)
+ ~ Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH)
+ ~ Dennis Kucinich (OH)
+ ~ Major Owens (NY)
+ ~ Donald Payne (NJ)
+ ~ Maxine Waters (CA)
+ ~ Lynn Woolsey (CA)


These 7 bother me the most...They signed the letter to GAO on 23 Nov, but then dropped out completely:
* Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
* Rush Holt (D-NJ)
* Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
* George Miller (D-CA)
* Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
* Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
* Robert Wexler (D-FL)

There were quite a few who voted against certification of Ohio's votes on 6 January, but have not joined in requests for investigations:
+ Julia Carson (IN)
+ James Clyburn (IN)
+ Danny Davis (IL)
+ Lane Evans (IL)
+ Raul Grijalva (AZ)
+ Alcee Hastings (FL)
+ Maurice Hinchey (NY)
+ E. B. Johnson (TX)
+ Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI)
+ John Lewis (GA)
+ Ed Markey (MA)
+ Cynthia McKinney (GA)
+ Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ)
+ Bennie Thompson (MS)
+ Diane Watson (CA)

And finally these 7 first joined Conyers's efforts publicly by signing letter of 2 February, asking for further investigations:
~ Elijah Cummings
~ Chaka Fattah
~ Barney Frank
~ Zoe Lofgren
~ Jim McDermott
~ Chris Van Hollen
~ Anthony Weiner

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can't guarantee I haven't made any mistakes, but did try not to.

[meganmonkey]

16. Comment about Jackson-Lee

She spoke at the rally and the Symposium in Columbus on December 4th (was that the date?! - early Dec. anyway). She was incredibly passionate and was clearly committed at that time. Great speaker!

[Wilms]

23. A sculpture uses a chisel...

In fact, many different chisels. But not a jack-hammer.
Advocating that all the Dems act like a bunch of :bounce::bounce: is like advocating "Shock and Awe".

Just not a good idea. Certainly not necessary. Guaranteed to do nothing but hurt us.

Hate to remind everyone about who controls the two houses. :eyes:

[Fly by night]

24. 47 representatives have signed on to one or more efforts -- great news!!

Thanks for providing this list. As a basically optimistic guy, I for one am encouraged by the numbers of Dems and Independents who have signed on at least once to the election reform/justice efforts in Congress. We're above one in five House Dems so far and my guess is that most Congresspeople still have not seen the evidence in the depth that we have seen and discussed it here on DU.

Speaking of which, I have now distilled a PowerPoint slideshow on election fraud/theft down to about 15 slides and can present it in 15-20 minutes. If anyone would like the slideshow, please let me know. I just use a few slides from www.electionfraud2004.org (which is a great and very comprehensive slideshow) -- all the rest are my own (with the help of several DUers.)

Just PM me if you'd like a copy. We all need to be presenting on election theft every chance we get to every audience we can find.

No election justice -- no peace!!

[eowyn_of_rohan]

26. This IS a great slideshow

And I would love to see your revised version. Thanks for your optimism. I was looking at this in a "glass half empty" mode, primarily because I was unhappy with my own Representative, who backed out completely after signing the original letter to the GAO. But I know she cares deeply and passionately about this, and I have to think she did this to protect her job. And I would rather have her in the wings than replaced by another neocon!

[Joe for Clark]

19. This is great, thanks for posting this

And thank god for people like Conyers that have enough moral strength to fight the good fight.

I think we will win in the end here. And Karma is a bitch Mr Bush.

Joe for Clark

[Verve]

20. Conyers is a God Send! Thank you!!!!n/t

[AtLiberty]

21. Sounds good...

...but how can we be assured that the surveys are distributed and completed by the right people?

[Wilms]

25. kick