I've posted this elsewhere on the DU - but I'm tellin' ya, Civil Rights are at stake here. So, our IL delegation to Washington, DC is hand delivering the following letter - this week - to our own Representatives and Sen. Obama and Sen. Durbin. We will also hand deliver to other state's reps and sens. Remember, Civil Rights:
Coalition of Concerned Illinois Citizens
Seeking to Contest the November 2, 2004 Election
January 5, 2004
Dear Senator and Representative of the 109th Congress,
As fair-minded citizens seeking justice, we urge you neither to accept nor to certify the votes cast by the Electoral College when these are submitted to the United States Congress on January 6, 2004. We will support your efforts in making this challenge.
We are convinced that the civil rights of African Americans and other people of color, college students, Democratic and Third Party members were violated on election day, November 2, 2004. Voter suppression and intimidation occurred. These acts constitute conspicuous election fraud. Based on eyewitness accounts, we believe fraud has occurred in many states including Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, with peak levels reported and exemplified in Ohio. We make this request citing ten verifiable factors outlined by The Redefeat Bush Campaign (
http://www.redefeatbush.com/downloads/tenquestions.pdf) that must lead any fair-minded person to question the "official" tally and to challenge certification of the Electoral College results.
1. Systematic, widespread voting machine irregularities.
2. Highly irregular intervention by federal authorities.
3. Impossible vote totals: Franklin County, Ohio results gave Bush 4,258 votes to Kerry’s 260 votes in
Precinct 1B while records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct.
(
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/election/election-president.php?story=dispatch/2004/11/05/20041105-A6- .html)
4. Openly partisan election officials.
5. Openly partisan and untrustworthy vendors of election machinery.
6. According to Dr. Freeman, PhD, Univ. of Penn, the odds of all three of the statistical anomalies between the
exit polls and actual votes in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania occurring together are 662,000-to-one.
http://www.appliedresearch.us/sf/Documents/ExitPoll.pdf 7. Unreliable, inadequate numbers of voting equipment in poor and working class (non-Republican) areas.
8. Anomalous and atypical voting pattern changes from 2000 to 2004.
9. Uncounted ballots, double un-matching sets of tally tapes and uncooperative officials in many areas.
10. Widespread illegal voter suppression activities.
Because of widespread complaints, public hearings were held in Columbus, Ohio, November 13, at the
New Faith Baptist Church, and November 15, at the Franklin County Courthouse. The hearings were convened by Bob Fitrakis, PhD, J.D., legal advisor for the Ohio Election Protection Coalition; panelists included Ohio State Rep. Larry Price and Columbus City Council Member, Charleta Tavares. Courageous Ohio citizens stepped forward to report their experiences as voters, election volunteers and judges. On December 8, in Washington, D.C. and December 10, in Columbus, Ohio, further testimony was heard by Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), and other invited panelists such as Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Many of us endorsing this letter witnessed these events in person, saw videotape or broadcasts from C-Span or read testimony on the internet. We saw and heard evidence of voter disenfranchisement that is in violation of constitutional guarantees afforded American citizens by Constitutional Amendments 14, 15, 19, 24 and 26.
We are aware of correspondence between Rep. Conyers and Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and, between Rep. Conyers and the President and Field Representative of Triad GSI. We are aware of Rep. Conyers’ repeated requests for the raw data on exit polls conducted by Mitofsky International and Edison Media for ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and the Associated Press. These media outlets refuse to release this data to Rep. Conyers citing a need to wait for final reports. What possible threat could there be by releasing raw data? Unless and until the outstanding questions posed by the democratic members of the House Committee on the Judiciary are addressed and answered, the Electoral Votes presented on January 6, 2004 must not and ought not be accepted or certified.
In addition to conspicuous acts of election fraud manifested by civil rights abuses, other acts of fraud were allowed to occur as a result of Congressional inaction and Presidential neglect.
On October 12, 2002 the Republican-controlled Congress ratified the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). This act was designed to correct the civil rights abuses that occurred during the 2000 presidential election. However, not only did this act not help America vote, in the end, it hindered Americans from casting votes and permitting votes that were cast not to be counted:
• The Bush Administration has nullified the Help America Vote Act by stalling the implementation of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and cutting the funding to the EAC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from the 2004 Budget.
• Therefore, there is no operational organization to set any standards, evaluate or certify the plans which were proposed and implemented on the state level to replace punch cards and lever machines with electronic machines.
• Further, H.R. 2239, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, which would have required a voter-verified paper record for use in manual audits and recounts, has been tied up in a Republican-controlled committee for nineteen months.
• The rights of the voters in Florida and Ohio will not be defended by their own state governments. Widespread suppression of African American votes through racial profiling and other disenfranchisement techniques in 2000 and 2004 has been clearly documented. (Voting in 2004: Report to the Nation on America’s Election Process, Judith A. Browne, 12/7/04;
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/brownevotestmt12804.pdf).
It is important to raise the issue of civil rights and voter suppression in the context of the November 2, 2004 elections. In defense of civil rights in the country, we urge you, our Senators and Representatives, to challenge the Electoral College Votes presented to Congress on January 6, 2004. We assure you our unconditional and ongoing support in this endeavor, and will remember your courage to act with integrity at this crossroad in the history of our nation. The American People and the world will respond with gratitude, elation and political support of your efforts.
Thank you for your kind attention and dedicated service.
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