Truemajority.org is on the case too: Their members got an email this afternoon, regarding the congressional vote to ratify the 2004 election results. When Congress reconvenes to ratify the electoral college numbers on Thursday, Conyers (D-MI) is going to stand in the House and call for an investigation. If one Senator does the same, it automatically triggers debate on the electoral outcome before the results can be ratified.
(For background, go here.)
You'd have to be pretty naive to think that will change the overall outcome, but it may give some support to the people who still want to fix the system and think it can be done.
Although I'm behind the general idea of getting people to contact their representatives on important issues, I'm not a big fan of TrueMajority's specific method: Basically you click a couple of clicks and they send a form email saying the right things, with your name at the bottom, to your Representative and Senators (that info on you is already in Truemajority's database). Trouble is, politicians pay a whole lot less attention to a big stack of form letters than a small stack that are obviously individually written, regardless of the topic and content. Paraphrasing Woody Allen: astroturf for the left is still astroturf.
The point is this: Ask your Senator to join Conyers in challenging the Ohio count. Explain that the system is running very badly, and Congressional debate can certainly advance the cause of clean elections without worrying about triggering some Constitutional crisis. (Of course, if you want this to trigger a Constitutional crisis, I suppose you can always mention that, too.)
My advice is to take 10 minutes to put this into your own words and send it to your Senators yourself. This one's kind of big.
You can find your Senators' email addresses here. Many of them are themselves form web pages (savor that irony later), requiring you to fill in the blank with your personal information, select a subject from a drop down menu (which almost certainly won't include 'Election Reform,' so you'll probably have to look for 'Other'), and then cut and paste your message into the message window provided.
Hey, it's 2005: Make a resolution to pester your representatives a little bit more this year. If you're worried they'll start a file on you in DC, relax--they probably already have.
Here's what my Senators (Wyden and Smith) got from me. (And remember, don't just copy and paste mine, either--do your own work! If you copy mine, not only will yours be astroturf, but you'll convert mine to astroturf after the fact, too.)
Dear Senator:
When Representative John Conyers stands to challenge the voting tally from his state on Thursday, January 6th, I urge you to join him from the Senate.
The accounts of voting irregularities in the 2004 general election are too widespread and too well documented to be dismissed as "conspiracy theories." American voters are cynical enough already; if they begin to take it for granted that "the fix is in," that fair and honest elections are a thing of the naïve past, that rigged elections are
the norm, and that those who cause it will go unpunished--or even be rewarded--the damage to our system of government may be irreversible.
I have no illusions that congressional debate over the ratification of the 2004 election will overturn the Bush re-election. But widespread concern for the integrity of our electoral process must be treated with the respect it deserves, not dismissed as fringe and partisan scandal mongering. Using the ratification vote on Thursday to bring these concerns to national attention is an important step.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
William Nothstine
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