[AltMedForum] Petition Congress to Contest the Vote

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone...

 

I think we can all agree that regardless of political position we

all want an election process free of corruption- and especially the

lingering doubt of corruption... Please consider this as a way to

demand answers, thereby removing all doubt and reaffirming faith in

the process.

 

Other comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

 

Petition congress to CONTEST THE VOTE

 

 

Please read to the end and go to www.contestthevote.org

and sign the petition. Folks, this morning there was a heavy

snowstorm in Ohio and the roads were slippery and treacherous going

into downtown Columbus. But, Representative Conyers proceeded on

schedule with his hearing at 10:30 AM in the City Hall Council

chamber. Despite the weather the room was packed and overflowing on

the ground floor. Television cameras and reporters were

everywhere. Unless they throw away the footage it seems that we're

finally going to get the kind of coverage this deserves.

 

In addition to Conyers, Representative Maxine Waters, California,

and about four or five other members of the House were present.

Jesse Jackson was there and testified. His testimony took on the

tone of the Civil Rights movement of the sixties, comparing the

disenfranchisement of African American, low-income and student

voters to Jim Crow. It was very powerful.

 

Speaker after speaker documented what appeared to be an intentional

pattern of disenfranchisement throughout the state in heavily

Democratic districts. Cliff Arnebeck, of Common Cause, announced

that a lawsuit had been filed yesterday in the Ohio Supreme Court to

invalidate the Ohio Presidential election vote based on the

allegations of widespread illegal activities that caused voter

disenfranchisement. When asked by Conyers of the estimated extent

of the disenfranchisement Arnebeck's reply was that it may have

been as much as 20% of those who intended to vote. This included

working people who could not afford to take an entire day off from

work to stand in line for 3-10 hours, people who feared losing their

jobs, students who couldn't afford to miss classes and people who

simply did not have the patience to wait because too few voting

machines were supplied in their precincts. It also included people

who were misdirected to the wrong precincts and waited on line

for hours only to be told they couldn't vote because they were in

the wrong precinct. It also includes people who were informed by

phone that they faced arrest if they showed up at the polls and had

unpaid parking tickets or other outstanding misdemeanors. It

includes people who were intimidated by heavy police presence

at certain polling places and those who were intimidated by

Republican challengers. With approximately five million voters in

Ohio, 20% means that as many as one million voters were

disenfranchised in Ohio, overwhelmingly likely Kerry voters. Bush's

so-called margin of victory was almost 119,000. And this

represents only the part of the story involving those who lost their

chance to vote.

 

Then there were the compelling stories about the illegal lockdown of

precincts and election records after the election and the story

about the machine tampering that was caught red-handed and on

videotape.

 

And then there was the testimony of Clint Curtis. Clint Curtis is

the computer programmer who has signed an affidavit (under penalty

of perjury) that he was hired by a Republican official in Florida to

develop software for computerized voting machines that could

fix an election without detection. His testimony seemed to

electrify Conyers and almost everyone in the room.

 

Then there were the statisticians who testified about the

impossibility of all the anomilies breaking in only one direction.

The exit polls that were correct in many states but way off in all

the battleground states-all in Bush's favor.

 

One after another the speakers reaffirmed the pattern. Separate

incidents. Independent, unrelated testimony. Same results. All

the miscalculations, machine errors, disenfranchisements added up to

more votes for Bush.

 

The process of witnessing the hearing was at once both sickening

and heartening. Seeing people testify about their isenfranchisement

is much different than reading about it. These are real people

suffering real consequences. The horror of this happening in our

country brings home the realization that there is a malicious entity

in power that intends to stay in power by all means. Conyers and

the other representatives who were present were thanked over and

over again by many of the speakers as it was recognized that they

were conducting this hearing at great personal and political risk to

themselves. This was a congregation of brave souls who were

challenging a malignancy in the system. Everyone in the room was

aware of this context and there was a solemnity to the proceedings

that acknowledged this fact. And yet there were moments of

joviality as if to say, " We are all in this together. "

 

Yet, this is just the prelude of what is to come in Ohio and America

in the next few weeks. Today the recount began in eight counties

and already there are reports by observers that election officials

are refusing to cooperate, as required by law, in at least some

counties. Reports are coming in that requests by observers to view

individual ballots and voting records are being denied and other

violations are occurring. The rules are clear, but they are being

violated. The Republican machine may believe they are going to win

by running out the clock. If they can delay the process through a

planned obstacle course of challenges and appeals, the recount will

continue into January and past inauguration day. But, I don't think

this tact will work this time. There is a solid core of determined

congressional representatives, legal experts, witnesses and

victims. Evidence is mounting. Public awareness is growing. Media

attention is increasing. This is not going away.

 

It's the highest priority right now to find at least one US Senator

who will join the members of the House in objecting to the

acceptance of the Electoral College vote by the joint session of

Congress that will convene on January 6. It only takes one Senator

and one House member to object and interrupt the process in order

to force the joint session to disband and hold a debate in each

House on the legitimacy of the election. The hook is that the Ohio

delegation should not be given authority to vote while there is

still a recount in progress in the state to determine who the

legitimate electors are. Since, in this case, Ohio's electoral

votes are enough to determine the winner of the Presidential

election, the final results must wait until the completion of the

recount. Some Senators to contact are Kerry (obviously), Kennedy,

Boxer, Feinstein, Leahy, Chafee, Snowe, Collins, Jeffords, Shumer,

Clinton, Bayh, Byrd, Carper, Dodd, Obama, Feingold, Harkin, Inouye,

Levin, Lincoln, Mikulski, Murray, Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Wyden.

 

To be continued...

 

Contest the vote! Go to http://www.contestthevote.org/

 

Sign the petition - they are calling for Barbara Boxer to contest

the Electors vote. Electoral Count Act of 1887, One Senator and One

House Representative required to contest an election prior to

inauguration. They want to get 3,000 signatures by Wednesday night.

 

Please sign now, and pass this on.

 

http://www.gatrill.com/christmas.html

http://pets.care2.com/

 

" The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil

men. " -- Plato