Global
There have been many letters published in newspapers across America suggesting that those of us who opposed the reelection of George W. Bush should “get over it”. These writers usually go on to complain of liberals with long faces walking the streets, snarling and uttering profane and indefensibly leftist sentiments which cause immeasurable pain and suffering to these angels of conservative goodness. Such stories usually conclude with the suggestion that those who disagree with the latest Republican election fraud should leave the country posthaste.
I confess that I myself was seriously considering relocation to kinder and gentler shores. Then I realized that America has always been a place of struggle between those who believe in freedom, and those who would kidnap and hold it hostage to fear. There is no difference between the Red Scare of fifty years ago and the Orange Alerts of today.
I confess that I myself was seriously considering relocation to kinder and gentler shores. Then I realized that America has always been a place of struggle between those who believe in freedom, and those who would kidnap and hold it hostage to fear. There is no difference between the Red Scare of fifty years ago and the Orange Alerts of today.
First, I think Kerry might have considered the misery of being unable to
fulfill his campaign promises with a GOP controlled House which would
never vote to increase taxes. European countries were expressing
reluctance to help in Iraq even if Kerry were President. And the last
think the country needs is for a Dem to be in the White House when we get
chased out of Iraq with our tails between our legs.
But, more seriously, Kerry probably realizes it would antagonize the public to immediately contest the results. He may be letting the discrepancies become more apparent, and letting the groundswell develope.
Rich Peterson
Moorhead, MN
But, more seriously, Kerry probably realizes it would antagonize the public to immediately contest the results. He may be letting the discrepancies become more apparent, and letting the groundswell develope.
Rich Peterson
Moorhead, MN
Would it be possible to set up some kind of voluntary internet based check system, where people could show how they had voted and the results could be checked against their precincts? There would have to be some kind of registration system to make sure people didn't try to tamper with the results by double voting, etc. Is this doable? I am wondering if there is some way we could by-pass the slowness of government to address the issues and do something ourselves.
Phoebe Allison
Phoebe Allison
Dear Governor Taft,
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell must
recuse himself from overseeing the Ohio recount. Here
are some of the reasons:
(1) He was the chairman of the Bush campaign in Ohio.
This alone would give any certification of election
results by Blackwell the appearance of impropriety.
(2) His election day meeting in Columbus with
President George W. Bush and Franklin County Board of
Elections Director Matt Damschroder, widely accused of
overseeing inequitable partisan distribution of voting
machines, is highly suspicious.
(3) On election night, Blackwell helped cajole Kerry
into conceding prematurely by stressing the uncounted
provisional ballots without mentioning the uncounted
punch card ballots, thereby giving the false
impression that there were not enough outstanding
votes to affect the outcome.
(4) Blackwell has tucked away the data for total
votes cast into his "historical" archives at the
official Secretary of State website. Only by
subtracting the total votes for president from
the total votes cast can one calculate the actual
number of uncounted punch card ballots.
Given the various "errors" and so forth in the polls, try on the following:
Professor Sam Wang's map with 311 Kerry votes to Bush 227, assumed Kerry with a Popular vote lead over Bush.
It also shows FLorida, Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa and Ohio going to Bush.
Arkansas is not shown going to Bush, but is the "pinkest" state.
Well, we know the exit polls were wrong in some details.
How about this:
Bush led Kerry in the Popular vote.
But Kerry carried all the above states, plus Arkansas.
Bush's lead is about a million votes, give or take 900,000 up from that, or 240,000 down from that million.
Kerry carries all of his current states, plus:
Ohio
Iowa
New Mexico
Nevada
Florida
Arkansas.
That would put Kerry at 252 + 20 (OH) + IA (7) + NM (5) + NV (5) + FL (27) + AR (6) Electoral Votes = 322 Electoral Votes for Kerry, with Bush at a circa one million vote Popular lead.
This fits much better with the idea that Bush had a circa one million Popular vote lead. Kerry could have carried all those states, and still have been considerably behind Bush in the Popular vote.
Professor Sam Wang's map with 311 Kerry votes to Bush 227, assumed Kerry with a Popular vote lead over Bush.
It also shows FLorida, Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa and Ohio going to Bush.
Arkansas is not shown going to Bush, but is the "pinkest" state.
Well, we know the exit polls were wrong in some details.
How about this:
Bush led Kerry in the Popular vote.
But Kerry carried all the above states, plus Arkansas.
Bush's lead is about a million votes, give or take 900,000 up from that, or 240,000 down from that million.
Kerry carries all of his current states, plus:
Ohio
Iowa
New Mexico
Nevada
Florida
Arkansas.
That would put Kerry at 252 + 20 (OH) + IA (7) + NM (5) + NV (5) + FL (27) + AR (6) Electoral Votes = 322 Electoral Votes for Kerry, with Bush at a circa one million vote Popular lead.
This fits much better with the idea that Bush had a circa one million Popular vote lead. Kerry could have carried all those states, and still have been considerably behind Bush in the Popular vote.
COLUMBUS--Preaching to a packed, wildly cheering central Ohio citizen congregation, Rev. Jesse Jackson blasted the presidential election back into the national headlines Sunday. Jackson said new findings cast serious doubt on the idea that George W. Bush beat John Kerry in Ohio November 2. A GOP "pattern of intentionality" was behind a suspect outcome, he said. At stake is "the integrity of the vote" for which "too many have died." "We can live with losing an election," he said. "We cannot live with fraud and stealing."
It was a brilliantly sunny, early Friday afternoon in September, the kind of memorable day one yearns for in the bleakness of winter. Classes at Columbia had just started, and hundreds of students were clustered along the steps and sidewalks, sunbathing and enjoying their conversations. I hurriedly navigated my way through these human obstacle courses, embarrassed at being uncharacteristically late for my lunch appointment. Finally I could see the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 116th Street, at Columbia’s Law School, and searched frantically for my guest. Cool as a cucumber, Federal Judge Robert Carter was there, patiently waiting for me to arrive. “Not to worry,” Judge Carter smiled warmly, “it’s a lovely day.”
It’s not often that a historian has a lunch date with history. But lunch with Robert Carter was exactly that.
It’s not often that a historian has a lunch date with history. But lunch with Robert Carter was exactly that.
In an election likely to be decided as much by voter turnout as by convincing the remaining undecided, how do we maintain the hope that’s necessary to keep making the phone calls, knocking on the doors, funding the key ads, and doing all the other critical tasks to get Bush out of office?
Even those of us working hard for change hit walls of doubt and uncertainty about whether our actions really matter. Our spirits rise and fall as if on a roller coaster with each shift in the polls. In a time when lies too often seem to prevail, we wonder whether it’s worthwhile to keep making the effort.
We need to remind ourselves that we never can predict all the results of our actions. A few years ago, I met a Wesleyan University student who, with a few friends, registered nearly three hundred fellow students concerned about environmental threats and cuts in government financial aid programs. The Congressman they supported won by twenty-one votes. Before they began, the student and her friends feared that their modest efforts would be irrelevant.
Even those of us working hard for change hit walls of doubt and uncertainty about whether our actions really matter. Our spirits rise and fall as if on a roller coaster with each shift in the polls. In a time when lies too often seem to prevail, we wonder whether it’s worthwhile to keep making the effort.
We need to remind ourselves that we never can predict all the results of our actions. A few years ago, I met a Wesleyan University student who, with a few friends, registered nearly three hundred fellow students concerned about environmental threats and cuts in government financial aid programs. The Congressman they supported won by twenty-one votes. Before they began, the student and her friends feared that their modest efforts would be irrelevant.
My sister’s German Shepherd Kendra attacks her plate of food every morning and evening. She leaves not a crumb untouched. Everything on the plate is hers by divine right, and should anyone approach while she is wolfing down her meal, they will receive a lusty growl in return.
Everything on the plate is hers. She has no thought of bipartisanship.
Everything on the plate is hers. She has no thought of bipartisanship.
Perhaps President Bush won the election legitimately. Perhaps not. The simple truth is -- we will never know nor will we be able to know. Millions voted in an election that left no audit trail whatsoever. And whether a citizen supported the President or Sen. Kerry, either way, the lack of verifiability is bad for our democracy, our nation, and our people.
People in this nation and across the world have died for the right to vote. Not far from the ruins of the World Trade Center stood the Statue of Liberty, as she has for over a century, welcoming millions who gave every last thing they had to reach our shores for a simple promise -- that all citizens have the right to participate.
A verifiable vote is necessary for any person to claim to understand the true will of the people. We the people know that good decision making for the general welfare begins when our voices are heard accurately.
People in this nation and across the world have died for the right to vote. Not far from the ruins of the World Trade Center stood the Statue of Liberty, as she has for over a century, welcoming millions who gave every last thing they had to reach our shores for a simple promise -- that all citizens have the right to participate.
A verifiable vote is necessary for any person to claim to understand the true will of the people. We the people know that good decision making for the general welfare begins when our voices are heard accurately.