Contacting House Judiciary Committee Republicans

[Pacifist Patriot]

Those of you who saw the letter to my elected officials that I posted yesterday will recognize some of the contents below. I think it's important that we contact these particular representatives because of their membership on the judiciary committee. I am no longer emailing, I am now sending written letters through snail mail. This letter will go out to the following list on Monday.

Dear Representative Republican on Judiciary Committee (obviously name will be inserted):

I watched with interest on Wednesday, December 8, 2004 as congressional representatives from the House Judiciary Committee met to hear testimony concerning voting irregularities in Ohio. Several panels of witnesses provided concrete evidence of vote suppression and compelling indications of vote manipulation. I felt obligated to learn more and became quite troubled by reports in not only Ohio, but New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and my home state of Florida.

What I found more troubling however, was the Republican silence on the issue. Not a single Republican representative elected to attend the meeting thereby prohibiting the findings from carrying the full weight of an official judiciary committee hearing. If I felt slighted by your absence at that meeting, I was stunned and outright insulted on January 6, 2005.

Courageous Democrats spoke on behalf of voting rights for all citizens regardless of race, gender, religion, political party, etc. They presented accounts of flaws in a system unable to assure fair and transparent elections. They pointed out this issue is not about President Bush or Senator Kerry, but about ensuring voters’ rights are protected and all Americans are confident in the legitimacy of the outcome.

By contrast, Republicans framed the contest as a “conspiracy theory” interfering with the business of Congress. Rep. Keller went so far as to tell Democrats to “get over it,” leading one to wonder if he has the same advice for his fellow party members out west. The Republican response was more than a little hypocritical considering their current challenge to the Washington state gubernatorial race.

One Republican senator said of election reform, “It’s a shame we’re wasting our time on this today.” What is shameful is any official sworn to uphold and defend our Constitution brushing aside voters’ rights as inconsequential. We cannot claim to be a great democracy if we remain ignorant and complacent about our election system. 100% of our voters should have complete confidence in the process and outcome, yet we failed them in both 2000 and 2004.

Furthermore, Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio’s Secretary of State, functioned as both the head of Ohio’s election activity and co-chaired Bush/Cheney ’04 Ohio, yet Republicans ignored the obvious conflict of interest. A recent House Judicial Committee Minority Staff Report documented Blackwell’s illegal activities in this election. Congress is rightly proud of the progress made with HAVA. But considering verifiable disregard for the federal statutes and thus far failure to enforce them, clearly we have more work to do to improve American elections.

I realize many Republicans consider their control of all three branches of government to be a “mandate,” but that does not excuse their blatant contempt for the American voter. This may well be the least partisan issue our nation has ever addressed. Improving our election system benefits all constituents regardless of whom they intend to vote. Therefore, if the issue is used as a partisan effort to discredit Democrats as disgruntled losers it is the Republicans who will lose credibility and honor. We must all press for fair and transparent elections in this country.

If the Republican party is interested in demonstrating respect for the American voter, I urge you to whole-heartedly assist Rep. Conyers in his on-going effort to investigate and then ultimately correct our election system. Whether we believe President Bush or Senator Kerry had more voters show up at the polls intending to cast a ballot for him is utterly immaterial to the subject at hand. We must acknowledge the flaws in the 2004 presidential election. Waits of up to ten hours, voter registrations rejected due to the weight of the paper, computer counts not set to zero, computers counting backwards, insufficient computer memory failing to capture votes, and election board lockdowns under false pretenses are facts not theories. Anyone who views these conditions as acceptable is betraying the American voter.

Regards,
-----

Hon. Sensenbrenner Jr.
Chairman
(R) Wisconsin, 5th

Hon. Hyde
(R) Illinois, 6th

Hon. Coble
(R) North Carolina, 6th

Hon. Smith
(R) Texas, 21st

Hon. Gallegly
(R) California, 24th

Hon. Goodlatte
(R) Virginia, 6th

Hon. Chabot
(R) Ohio, 1st

Hon. Jenkins
(R) Tennessee, 1st

Hon. Cannon
(R) Utah, 3rd

Hon. Bachus
(R) Alabama, 6th

Hon. Hostettler
(R) Indiana, 8th

Hon. Green
(R) Wisconsin, 8th

Hon. Keller
(R) Florida, 8th

Hon. Hart
(R) Pennsylvania, 4th

Hon. Flake
(R) Arizona, 6th

Hon. Pence
(R) Indiana, 6th

Hon. Forbes
(R) Virginia, 4th

Hon. King
(R) Iowa, 5th

Hon. Carter
(R) Texas, 31st

Hon. Feeney
(R) Florida, 24th

Hon. Blackburn
(R) Tennessee, 7th

[Ryder911]

1. Great letter! /eom

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

2. May I add the following re: electronic machines

As electronic voting machines are incorporated into the voting landscape for 2006/2008, I expect that any machines used in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be guaranteed to have independent audits from third party, non-partisan firms with public disclosure of audits prior to certification of the electoral votes in Pennsylvania. I will expect nothing less than independent review of proprietary software code by bi-partisan experts, paper trails and independent auditing.