[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Thank them for speaking out

Fri Jan 7 16:58:43 PST 2005

>
>
>Sen. Boxer and Sen. Reid need to hear a big thank you from all of us 
>now that we've begun this public debate. Please let them know that 
>you support them by signing our thank you letter at the link below.
>
><http://moveonpac.org/boxer_reid/?id=5050-1199302-gLdV6cCyXasKGecaT4xbkQ>
>Thank Senators Boxer & Reid
>
><http://moveonpac.org/boxer_reid/?id=5050-1199302-gLdV6cCyXasKGecaT4xbkQ>
>Sen. Boxer and Senate Minority
>Leader Reid during the objection to the
>Ohio Electoral voter certification.
>
>Dear MoveOn member,
>
>Yesterday in Congress Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Rep. 
>Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) and objected to certifying the Ohio 
>Electoral College vote from the presidential election.
>
>The 2004 election, like the election four years ago, was marked by 
>widespread voting problems that denied tens of thousands of 
>Americans their right to vote. Unlike in 2000 when every senator 
>stood silent, Senator Boxer's challenge brought national attention 
>to this crisis in our democracy and forced a two hour debate on 
>voting and elections.
>
>Sen. Boxer sat in the Capitol chamber like an iron-jawed angel and 
>sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Sen. Boxer was her Democratic 
>leader -- Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada. Senator Reid spoke out against 
>an "insidious form of [voter] disenfranchisement" that "continues to 
>taint our electoral system," and was joined by many members of the 
>Democratic Senate caucus.
>
>Sen. Boxer and Sen. Reid need to hear a big thank you from all of us 
>now that we've begun this public debate. Please let them know that 
>you support them by signing our thank you letter at the link below.
>
><http://moveonpac.org/boxer_reid/?id=5050-1199302-gLdV6cCyXasKGecaT4xbkQ>http://moveonpac.org/boxer_reid/
>
>Thousands of us called our Senators to encourage them to step 
>forward and open this debate. We know that that support was 
>important in making this leadership possible.
>
>Unfortunately Sen. Boxer is already under attack from the 
>conservative forces who approve, through their inaction, the voting 
>problems that shut out large numbers of voters -- disproportionately 
>minority voters. After you sign the thank you letter we need you to 
>help get the word out through the media by writing letters of 
>support for Sen. Boxer to the editors of your local newspaper. 
>Please click below to get started.
>
><http://www.moveonpac.org/lte/lte.html?zip=89512&lte_campaign_id=16&id=5050-1199302-gLdV6cCyXasKGecaT4xbkQ
>>http://www.moveonpac.org/lte/lte.html?zip=89512&lte_campaign_id=16
>
>As we've written before, the winners of these tainted elections 
>assert that their outcomes didn't depend on the fraud. But even in 
>sports, referees call penalties and enforce the rules, whether or 
>not the game is at stake. Nowhere in the Constitution does it 
>describe some acceptable level of denying Americans their votes. 
>That's why Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones 
>(D-OH) and other Democrats have been working so hard to investigate 
>what happened.
>
>Hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans have been speaking out 
>for weeks about the voting problems. Today Democratic 
>representatives and senators listened and stood up for voting rights.
>
>Thanks for everything you do.
>
>--The MoveOn PAC Team
>   January 7th, 2005
>
>Senator Boxer's Statement On Her Objection To The Certification Of 
>Ohio's Electoral Votes
>January 6, 2005
>
>For most of us in the Senate and the House, we have spent our lives 
>fighting for things we believe in -- always fighting to make our 
>nation better.
>
>We have fought for social justice. We have fought for economic 
>justice. We have fought for environmental justice. We have fought 
>for criminal justice.
>
>Now we must add a new fight -- the fight for electoral justice.
>
>Every citizen of this country who is registered to vote should be 
>guaranteed that their vote matters, that their vote is counted, and 
>that in the voting booth of their community, their vote has as much 
>weight as the vote of any Senator, any Congressperson, any 
>President, any cabinet member, or any CEO of any Fortune 500 
>Corporation.
>
>I am sure that every one of my colleagues -- Democrat, Republican, 
>and Independent -- agrees with that statement. That in the voting 
>booth, every one is equal.
>
>So now it seems to me that under the Constitution of the United 
>States, which guarantees the right to vote, we must ask:
>
>Why did voters in Ohio wait hours in the rain to vote? Why were 
>voters at Kenyan College, for example, made to wait in line until 
>nearly 4 a.m. to vote because there were only two machines for 1300 
>voters?
>
>Why did poor and predominantly African-American communities have 
>disproportionately long waits?
>
>Why in Franklin County did election officials only use 2,798 
>machines when they said they needed 5,000? Why did they hold back 68 
>machines in warehouses? Why were 42 of those machines in 
>predominantly African-American districts?
>
>Why did, in Columbus area alone, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 voters 
>leave polling places, out of frustration, without having voted? How 
>many more never bothered to vote after they heard about this?
>
>Why is it when 638 people voted at a precinct in Franklin County, a 
>voting machine awarded 4,258 extra votes to George Bush. Thankfully, 
>they fixed it -- but how many other votes did the computers get 
>wrong?
>
>Why did Franklin County officials reduce the number of electronic 
>voting machines in downtown precincts, while adding them in the 
>suburbs? This also led to long lines.
>
>In Cleveland, why were there thousands of provisional ballots 
>disqualified after poll workers gave faulty instructions to voters?
>
>Because of this, and voting irregularities in so many other places, 
>I am joining with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones to cast the 
>light of truth on a flawed system which must be fixed now.
>
>Our democracy is the centerpiece of who we are as a nation. And it 
>is the fondest hope of all Americans that we can help bring 
>democracy to every corner of the world.
>
>As we try to do that, and as we are shedding the blood of our 
>military to this end, we must realize that we lose so much 
>credibility when our own electoral system needs so much improvement.
>
>Yet, in the past four years, this Congress has not done everything 
>it should to give confidence to all of our people their votes matter.
>
>After passing the Help America Vote Act, nothing more was done.
>
>A year ago, Senators Graham, Clinton and I introduced legislation 
>that would have required that electronic voting systems provide a 
>paper record to verify a vote. That paper trail would be stored in a 
>secure ballot box and invaluable in case of a recount.
>
>There is no reason why the Senate should not have taken up and 
>passed that bill. At the very least, a hearing should have been 
>held. But it never happened.
>
>Before I close, I want to thank my colleague from the House, 
>Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.
>
>Her letter to me asking for my intervention was substantive and compelling.
>
>As I wrote to her, I was particularly moved by her point that it is 
>virtually impossible to get official House consideration of the 
>whole issue of election reform, including these irregularities.
>
>The Congresswoman has tremendous respect in her state of Ohio, which 
>is at the center of this fight.
>
>Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a judge for 10 years. She 
>was a prosecutor for 8 years. She was inducted into the Women's Hall 
>of Fame in 2002.
>
>I am proud to stand with her in filing this objection.
>
>PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC <>www.moveonpac.org
>Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
>
>
>
>Subscription Management:
>This is a message from MoveOn PAC. To remove yourself ( Paul 
>Etxeberri ) from this list, please visit our subscription management 
>page at:
><http://moveon.org/s?i=5050-1199302-gLdV6cCyXasKGecaT4xbkQ>http://moveon.org/s?i=5050-1199302-gLdV6cCyXasKGecaT4xbkQ 
>


-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/north-nv-greens/attachments/20050107/f96f1ad8/attachment.htm