Will a Senator Challenge the Ohio Vote Today?
 

Will we see a repeat of the Black Caucus asking a Senator to stand with them like they did with the Florida 2000 vote? Will the mainstream media cover the story? Will Americans care?

From MSNBC:

"? Nothing is in writing and daybreak is a long way away, but it appeared all but certain in early evening Wednesday that House Democrats had secured the support of up to half a dozen Senators to formally challenge the Electoral College slate from Ohio, when the votes are opened before a joint session of Congress tomorrow..."

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everything is possible, if it happens good it needs to happen whether those who choose to be ignorant care or not

dont know if they will but it could be interesting

Democrats to Force Debate on Ohio Results!!!

"WASHINGTON - A small group of Democrats agreed Thursday to force House and Senate debates on Election Day problems in Ohio before letting Congress certify President Bush (news - web sites)'s win over Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) in November.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., signed a challenge mounted by House Democrats to Ohio's 20 electoral votes, which put Bush over the top. By law, a challenge signed by members of the House and Senate requires both chambers to meet separately for up to two hours to consider it. Lawmakers are allowed to speak for no more than five minutes each.

While Bush's victory is not in jeopardy, the Democratic challenge will force Congress to interrupt tallying the Electoral College (news - web sites) vote, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. EST Thursday. It would be only the second time since 1877 that the House and Senate were forced into separate meetings to consider electoral votes..."

link to story

Kerry already conceded thou, whats the point?

the point is that there was massive voter disenfranchisement in Ohio. the point is that every vote be counted. the point is to get a damned paper trail for your vote. the point is if we can't trust the voting process... what good is it to vote at all?

That's exactly right, EVERY vote should have a trail, I think that it's total bullshit how they can just have touch-screen voting with no way to trace the votes. It's funny how both Florida and Ohio used so many of the touch screen voting machines.

It's good that they're doing this, but I highly doubt that any senator will stand with them.
It would be political suicide.

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

P.S. Thanks to all those who participated in our USO "phone home" campaign last week. The totals are coming in from the USO, and they are thrilled with your generosity and support for our brave men and women in uniform. We will send you totals as we get them.

Still 118,000+ difference, unless they count dead people's party affiliation, it won't change the final result...

I think they should do a revote in every precinct without a paper trail.:error

Amazing how the exit polls had Kerry kicking ass but the Republican built machines say Bush won

Noone really knows which side is lying at this point. However Kerry didnt make enough noise about "voter fraud" which sounds to me like there was none.

who gives a shit ..we are stuck with GW for the next 4 WAR years !

How do you prove it when you are dealing with machines that hold no evidence?

You guys crack me up.

They are claiming there was massive voter fraud, but not enough to overturn the election. Kerry released a statement a few minutes ago saying he will not challenge the election results, but does want the fraud to be investigated and prosecuted.

Do you think voter fraud should be accepted if it didn't affect the election and only be prosecuted if it did affect the election? I guess then you would be ok if your bank decided to take only half of your money? As long as you still had enough to pay rent and bills it would be acceptable and not a crime?

The point of this is not to overturn the previous election results, it is to investigate so they can do a better job at preventing fraud in future elections. Anybody who has a problem with that has serious issues, or they are afraid something really big will be uncovered.

I wonder if kerry wants democratic voter fraud prosecuted as well? Just curious.

Quite frankly it is not up to Kerry what he wants. He said he is not challenging the results, that is the end of his little adventure. Now it is up to the parties to debate the best course of action to prevent future fraud.

My guess is that Republicans will fight like hell to prevent any ivestigation from ever taking place because they are scared and Democrats will fight like hell to investigate it fully.

But then smart guys like you will continue to throw out questions like, do they want Democratic voter fraud prosecuted as well. :1orglaugh

You think Democrats would be forcing an investigation if they had anything to worry about? If they did you would not be hearing about any challenges or investigations right now.

That is just common sense.

This isn't Kerry's challenge. This is an attempt to fully investigate and debate disenfranchisement, ineptitude and possible fraud....which the examples of seem to have overwhelmingly favored republicans in the state of ohio. if there's evidence of fraud on the part of the democrats, that should be investigated as well.

Hastert looks pissed. Or does he always look that way? Oh look! Dickie's there. Wheee! Smackdown in Congress1

the simple answer is, that you CAN NOT TRUST the vote count. that is one of the main reasons that they use the EC.

The challenge just happened and both the House and Senate just entered a required 2 hour simultaneous debate. House on C-Span and Senate on C-Span 2, watch both online: http://www.cspan.org/watch/

What sense does that make? The EC vote is given out based on the same vote count that you are saying cannot be trusted.

I understand you may be saying the EC fixes the problem by averaging out the vote in every state, but it does not because it is still based on the flawed vote count. I still use the formula, shit in = shit out.

You sir are an idiot if you think the dems are not involved in fraud as well.

Yes good thing you just proved your incapable of making an intelligent argument, now I don't have to waste time on you. You really think resorting to childish name calling and mindless rhetoric is the best way to make your case?

it doesnt matter which sides are involved. MOST OF US just want a paper trail and a transparent voting process .

you idiot.

Bravo! Your parents must be really proud of all you have accomplished in life. :1orglaugh

You'd be surprised idiot.

Stop wasting time on me. :2 cents:

That's it. If you can't have enough voting machines (with a paper trail!) to keep people from standing in line for hours to vote and have machines that can't/won't provide verification of actual input then go back to paper methods that have worked for over 200 years.

That concept would be far to simple for anyone in Congress to grasp. :winkwink:

Exactly. :thumbsup

Hillary Clinton is on now. C-Span 2

She's really doing a great job despite the hate that is thrown at her from the conservative/religious right.

Too bad her nomination will insure Republicans in the White House through at least 2012:glugglug

childish name calling and mindless rhetoric=republicans

If you want a bit of film that helps illustrate what the challenge is all about, go to these links:

clip one

clip two

If you can't get them to load, there are several mirrors located here:

http://www.thefreespeechzone.net/