I found this lovely message in my mailbox this morning:
No American citizen should wake up the morning after the election and worry their vote wasn't counted. No citizen should be denied at the polls if they are eligible to vote. And, as the greatest, wealthiest nation on earth, our citizens should never be forced to vote on old, unaccountable and non transparent voting machines from companies controlled by partisan activists.
Tomorrow, members of Congress will meet to certify the results of the 2004 presidential election. I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors.
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.
I urge you to join me in using this occasion to highlight our demand that Congress commit itself this year to reforming the electoral system. A Presidential election is a national federal election but we have different standards in different states for casting and counting votes. We need a national federal standard to solve the problems that occurred in the 2004 election. I will propose legislation to help achieve this.
Florida 2000 was a wake up call. But the Republicans who control Congress ignored it. Will they now ignore what happened in 2004?
There are nearly 3,000,000 of you receiving this email. We accomplished so much together during the campaign. Now let's use our power to make sure that at least one good thing comes from the voting rights problems of the 2004 election. If we want to force real action on election reform, we've got to demand that congressional leaders hold full hearings. Make sure they hear from you and help hold them accountable.
Speaker Dennis Hastert: 1-202-225-0600
Leader Bill Frist: 1-202-224-3135
And please report that you've made your call right here: http://www.johnkerry.com/signup/electoral_reform.php
I want every vote counted because Americans have to know that the votes they stood in line for, fought for, and strived so hard to cast in an election, are counted. We must make sure there are no questions or doubts in future elections. It's critical to our democracy that we investigate and act to prevent voting irregularities and voter intimidation across the country. We can't stand still as Congressional leaders seek to sweep well-founded voter concerns under the rug.
Please join with me in calling Speaker Hastert and Leader Frist and telling them that you want action on election reform now.
A recent report from Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) reveals very troubling questions that have not yet been answered by Ohio election officials. I commend the Democratic National Committee for its announcement this week that the DNC will be investing resources and reaching out to non-partisan academics in a long term study of Ohio voting irregularities. I am only sorry that we haven't seen the same from Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell and GOP officials.
Congress must play a positive, proactive role on this issue. That's why I will soon introduce legislation to reform our election system, ensuring transparency and accountability in our voting system and that all Americans have an opportunity to vote and have their vote counted.
Please remember to let us know that you made your call when you're done. We're hoping to ensure House and Senate leaders' offices hear our demand for action on election reform in meaningful way. Please take a moment to let us know you have made your call here: http://www.johnkerry.com/signup/electoral_reform.php
Thank you,
John Kerry
I believe it does not matter which side of the political fence you align yourself with or whom you voted for, but I do believe that your vote should be counted. The fact that there are votes in Ohio that were not counted is troubling. And I also think federal elections reform are needed. (Why can't we vote on paper like the rest of the world? Traceable, re-countable, simplistic paper?)
Every vote should count. Please call. It's important.
2 comments:
We have a saying in England: 'Only in America'
No-one in England would even *start* to read this if it was in their mailbox. Its just propaganda. A feeble attempt to entice you to rise up against the outcome of the election. Maybe even hold protests outside the White House and raise a national coup. Anything mildly outragaeous in the name of politics.
And maybe the good ol' US needs to rethink its electoral system. One piece of paper, a box for every candidate, mark one box only. Simple. V effective in Britain. No fancy machines (USA), invisible ink (Ukraine)... Just paper and pencil.
Pencil and paper. Works for me. Something I've heard twice this week: during the space race, the American spent millions of dollars to make a pen that would write in zero gravity. The Soviets used a pencil.
I think America is being crushed by it's need to have a complicated machine solve problems, rather than the simple solution.
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