Okay, I did it...NEED INPUT

[Blue_In_AK]

Here is a draft of my letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. I've picked her because she's "new" and POSSIBLY (although doubtfully) isn't as corrupted as Ted Stevens and Don Young yet. Any suggestions will be appreciated. I want to get this in the mail tomorrow.

Dear Senator Murkowski,

While I don't believe you were present Thursday for the certification of the states' electoral votes, I'm sure you are aware by now of the courageous and historic stand taken by Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and others protesting the certification of Ohio's electoral votes and urging electoral reform. You should also be aware that many thousands of U.S. citizens watching the proceedings on C-Span were appalled by the lack of empathy, and even downright racism, demonstrated by your Republican colleagues who so angrily voiced their objections to the protest. For them to take such a blatantly partisan stand against so many disenfranchised voters is completely unacceptable and shames the Congress. What is so frightening about assuring that every single person who is qualified and wants to vote is allowed to do so and assuring that every single one of those votes is counted?

I will be completely honest with you, Senator. I am a life-long Democrat, I supported and voted for Tony Knowles for senator, and in fact my husband and I donated to the recount effort here when he lost. However, because Alaska has paper ballots that can be verified by a hand count, and the recount showed that you legitimately received more votes, I trust that you are indeed my senator. I wish to commend you for the gracious manner in which you encouraged the recount to go forward without protest from you.

That having been said, I want you to put yourself in the place of the thousands upon thousands of voters nationwide who cannot have such confidence that their votes were counted because of unverifiable touch-screen electronic voting machines with no paper receipt. Further, consider the thousands upon thousands who were not even permitted to vote because of misappropriation and withholding of voter machines in some poorer, mostly black, precincts resulting in 10-12 hour waits in the rain (I have seen the videos), while their neighbors in more affluent precincts were able to get in and out in 15 minutes. Senator, this just isn't right, and the system needs to be fixed -- and NOW.

I urge you to read Rep. Conyers' 102-page report regarding the election irregularities in Ohio (which is only one state that had problems) and then support election reform to guarantee that every registered American citizen is permitted to vote and that those votes will be counted. Obviously, the best solution would be paper ballots with a hand count. Barring that, there should at least be a receipt given to the voter documenting that his vote indeed went to the candidate he selected and was recorded. Anything short of this invites election tampering and fraud, which without safeguards could turn against Republican candidates as easily as Democrats. Computers are easy to hack and without paper verification, no one really knows if their vote was registered or not.

This is not a Republican versus Democrat issue, Senator. This is the foundation of our system of government. Every congressperson owes it to his or her constituents to assure that they will have free and fair elections, and that the will of the people will be enforced.

Millions of us are watching.

Very truly yours,

***** ******

[StephanieMarie]

1. Awesome letter

I donated to the recount too. I am incredulous about the results... I hope you get an intelligent response from her.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Notice I didn't say she legitimately "won"

only that she received more votes. I still think Tony ran a much, much better campaign and her sleazy tactics invoking the holy name of Ted Stevens were horrible, but that's another story for another day.

[bemis12]

16. More votes is

how you win here, but parse away!

[pacalo]

28. "More votes" do "win" elections

We just want to make sure the votes are accurately counted & properly allocated. :hi:

[Darknyte7]

2. Very nice...

I knew you would work it out. ;-)

[keepthemhonest]

3. i agree great letter

I wish we still had paper ballots around the country.your senator seems like a wise person to allow the recount and not put up a stink like we are getting from everyone else. It sounded like your's went smooth,maybe I'll move to alaska.LOL

Good luck!

[Botany]

17. Hey Blue!

Great Letter!

Welcome to the PROUD RANKS OF THE BOXER REBELLION

:kick:

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Reporting for duty .... :-) n/t

[Botany]

21. No I report to you General Blue!

The letter and the grace and sizzle in it makes you a leader in the
Boxer Rebellion.

The rethugs want to use that as a term like liberal or a pejorative but
screw 'em.

I think by 1/20/05 the Boxer rebellion will be hot. "They" can not hide the
theft of the election for ever.

BTW please read my post right next to yours on the DU page. And pass on the
info about CRC because Armstrong Williams was not the only one.

[Blue_In_AK]

30. Botany, what thread is that on? n/t

[Botany]

31. General Blue

We are on the 2nd page of latest thread about 3/4s of the way down.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1481118

They might get you to it too. My blogging skills and writing skills are so so.

POD = Boxer Rebellion

POD = Pissed off democrat

[bleever]

4. It's a great letter. Are you sending it to other senators? n/t

[tsuki]

5. Just the right tone. Great letter. n/t

[loudsue]

7. Good letter, BinA....

But I would eliminate the part about being a Democrat, and voting and WORKING & CONTRIBUTING to her opponent. You don't have to say one way or the other, but there is no need to insert anything that would create a negative reaction on her part, unless it is absolutely necessary. And, in fact, it really probably doesn't even make a difference to YOU, in your desire to have fair elections: you appear to want fair elections for everyone, whether your side wins or loses, anyway.

So..if I were you, I'd just eliminate that, and you may get a better reaction from her.

:shrug: but that's just me..... The letter is good!

:kick::kick::kick:

[Blue_In_AK]

15. The reason I put that in

is so that she knows that even though I voted against her, I trust that she "won" legitimately since we have paper ballots up here and a very good election system put in place by our former ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL (Democrat, of course) lieutenant governor Fran Ulmer. I'm just stroking Lisa a little.

[seito]

8. Well said Blue

I was moved by this letter. It was from the heart and it touched on exactly why this is a non-partisan issue.

I sincerely hope that the Senator reads it and takes it to heart.

edit:sp

[karlrschneider]

9. Excellent letter. I find nothing wrong whatsoever with any aspect of it!

Good job.
:toast:

[emlev]

10. Well done.

Which is rare these days, or at least medium rare.

[Blue_In_AK]

13. :-) n/t

[saracat]

11. Terrific letter! Send it!

[roguevalley]

12. good letter. I've put off writing to her just yet, I hate her so much.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. I know, I know ... I hate her too

but I've got to start somewhere. Ted and Don would probably laugh me off the planet.

[corbett]

19. Superb!

[Helga Scow Stern]

20. Excellent! How will you send it? Snail mail? I hear it takes quite awhile

for them to actually receive mail, since the anthrax scare.

The letter is a good example of what we can say....

I plan to write and send a host of letters tonight. I will fax mine.

[Blue_In_AK]

25. I was planning on snail mail

but maybe I should take it out somewhere and have it faxed also. I work at home so I don't have a fax machine handy.

[Stevepol]

22. Great letter, but remember, not just a receipt but an auditable ballot.

The machine vendors and the machine proponents don't mind giving a receipt for the voter to keep, but they resist having a ballot that is KEPT FOR LATER AUDITS AND RECOUNTS. I know that's what you meant but you ought to make it explicit. I talked w/ the Repub Secy of State here in KS (actually to one of his minions) and was told about this receipt idea too but I made the point in talking to him that there has to be a paper ballot kept at the polling place for later audit.

That's probably what you meant to say. Otherwise, a great letter.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. Good point. I'll fix that. n/t

Edit ... done.

[marions ghost]

27. excellent point, stevepol

the whole point is AUDITS. A receipt for the voter is fine, but does not take the place of "a paper ballot kept at the polling place." I think we have to oppose this misconception that they mean the same thing, as often as possible.

[berniew1]

24. Send her documentation of the widespread fraud and suppression

There was widespread and systematic voter suppression of minority voters, dirty tricks, vote machine fraud, dirty tricks and other vote manipulation in Ohio, New Mexico, and Florida- that was of magnitude enough to call in question who won those states.

http://www.flcv.com/fraudpat.html
http://www.flcv.com/EIRSFla.html
http://northnet.org/minstrel/alpage.htm
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19
http://www.helpamericarecount.org/NewMexicoData/NewMexicoGeneralElection.pdf
http://www.flcv.com/bernalil.html
etc.

and also similar patterns in other states where the suppression and fraud did not change the election results including vote machine fraud in Calif., Pennsylvania, Washington, Texas, etc.
http://www.flcv.com/orangets.html
http://www.flcv.com/snohomis.html
http://www.flcv.com/mercerco.html
http://www.votersunite.org
etc.

(the voter suppression of minorities in Mercer County is the worst I've ever seen-followup needed)

The unethical and illegal actions were so systematic and widespread that this cannot be allowed to continue uninvestigated and unpunished. There was a huge amount of obvious malfeasance and dirty tricks that should be investigated and dealt with
http://www.flcv.com/dirtytrf.html
http://www.flcv.com/EIRSFla2.html
http://northnet.org/minstrel/alpage.htm
http://www.votersunite.org

[Blue_In_AK]

26. I think I'll keep this info bookmarked for later use

Right now I just want to be fairly succinct and open her mind to the "possibility" that something might be amiss. I'm not quite ready to reveal myself as a "fraudist," although I am one. If she were a Democrat, I'd take a different approach.

[pacalo]

29. That's a wonderful letter, Blue.

[Bill Bored]

32. Very nice Blue

Sorry I didn't see this earlier.

It's a voter-verified paper ballot BTW. It's kept with the machine for auditing and recounts after the voter accepts it. But don't worry, I'm sure she'll get the message!

This was in response to this thread BTW:

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x264034>