Conyers to Object to Ohio Electors, Requests Senate Allies

[gldstwmn]

By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Report

Thursday 30 December 2004

Representative John Conyers, ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, will object to the counting of the Ohio Electors from the 2004 Presidential election when Congress convenes to ratify those votes on January 6th. In a letter dispatched to every Senator, which will be officially published by his office shortly, Conyers declares that he will be joined in this by several other members of the House. Rep. Conyers is taking this dramatic step because he believes the allegations and evidence of election tampering and fraud render the current slate of Ohio Electors illegitimate.

"As you know," writes Rep. Conyers in his letter, "on January 6, 2005, at 1:00 P.M, the electoral votes for the election of the president are to be opened and counted in a joint session of Congress. I and a number of House Members are planning to object to the counting of the Ohio votes, due to numerous unexplained irregularities in the Ohio presidential vote, many of which appear to violate both federal and state law."

The letter goes on to ask the Senators who receive this letter to join Conyers in objecting to the Ohio Electors. "I am hoping that you will consider joining us in this important effort," writes Conyers, "to debate and highlight the problems in Ohio which disenfranchised innumerable voters. I will shortly forward you a draft report itemizing and analyzing the many irregularities we have come across as part of our hearings and investigation into the Ohio presidential election."

There are expected to be high level meetings with high ranking Democratic officials next week to coordinate a concerted lobbying effort to convince Senators to challenge the vote. The Green Party and David Cobb, as has been true all along, will be centrally involved in this process, as will Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The remainder of the Conyers letter reads:

3 U.S.C. §15 provides when the results from each of the states are announced, that "the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any." Any objection must be presented in writing and "signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received." The objection must "state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof." When an objection has been properly made in writing and endorsed by a member of each body the Senate withdraws from the House chamber, and each body meets separately to consider the objection. "No votes...from any other State shall be acted upon until the (pending) objection...(is) finally disposed of." 3 U.S.C. §17 limits debate on the objections in each body to two hours, during which time no member may speak more than once and not for more than five minutes. Both the Senate and the House must separately agree to the objection; otherwise, the challenged vote or votes are counted.

Historically, there appears to be three general grounds for objecting to the counting of electoral votes. The language of 3 U.S.C. §15 suggests that objection may be made on the grounds that (1) a vote was not "regularly given" by the challenged elector(s); and/or (2) the elector(s) was not "lawfully certified" under state law; or (3) two slates of electors have been presented to Congress from the same State.

Since the Electoral Count Act of 1887, no objection meeting the requirements of the Act have been made against an entire slate of state electors. In the 2000 election several Members of the House of Representatives attempted to challenge the electoral votes from the State of Florida. However, no Senator joined in the objection, and therefore, the objection was not "received." In addition, there was no determination whether the objection constituted an appropriate basis under the 1887 Act. However, if a State - in this case Ohio - has not followed its own procedures and met its obligation to conduct a free and fair election, a valid objection -if endorsed by at least one Senator and a Member of the House of Representatives- should be debated by each body separately until "disposed of".

A key legal aspect of this is the second clause referenced in the letter. Rep. Conyers and the other House members involved do not believe the electors have been lawfully certified. They believe that there has been too much illegal activity on the part of Blackwell, other election officials, and Republican operatives on the ground and therefore, as stated in the letter, the electors were not "lawfully certified" under state law. Next week, the House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff will release the report referenced in the letter, which is now still in draft form, and which led Mr. Conyers to this decision.

The Senators who shall receive the greatest focus from Conyers in this matter are Biden, Bingaman, Boxer, Byrd, Clinton, Conrad, Corzine, Dodd, Dorgan, Durbin, Feingold, Harkin, Inyoue, Jeffords, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Lieberman, Mikulski, Nelson (FL), Jack Reed, Harry Reid, Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Stabenow, Wyden and Obama.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/123104W.shtml

[irishgrl]

If I understand the foregoing correctly, all there needs to be now is one Senator to join, and then *what*? Does this delay the inauguration? OH HAPPY DAY IF IT DOES....

[irishgrl]

from the blog of William Rivers Pitt
20 Amazing Facts about Voting in the U.S.A.
By Alicia


Did you know....

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting...804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting...804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/htm...e_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting...804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentar...03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting...4fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/module...article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/05...w_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting...804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041...s/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/200...oc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it. (See the movie here.)
http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in632436.shtml

18. All - not some - but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/Election...sBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.ph...rticle&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/talla...al/7628725.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida - again always favoring Bush - have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.yuricareport.com/Election...sBushIsOut.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/governm...,97614,00.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/htm...thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
http://uscountvotes.org/


and just like that Boys and Girls, your votes were hijacked. The Agenda of the Bush League must go forward apparently, come hell or high water...

[EnchantedSLN]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Both the Senate and the House must separately agree to the objection; otherwise, the challenged vote or votes are counted.

Even if one Senator gets on board, they'd never get past this .

Some of Conyers' recent statements have made it sound like he already knows of a Senator who will join the objection. Personally I see a repeat of the opening scene of F 9/11, but if one were to stand up, any guesses on who it might be? I'd like to think Barbara Boxer, but I doubt it.

[irishgrl]

I'd like to see the Venerable Ted Kennedy stand up and join. And Barbara Boxer And Diane Feinstein. Also Hilary Clinton and Joe Leiberman. wouldnt THAT be a gas? in fact, I think it would send a real message if EVERY Democratic Senator joined.

As far as I am concerned, if the process was legit, then a little sunshine on the proceedings will hurt no one. But, if as I suspect, there was play most foul, then the light of day will surely shine on the guilty, and THE SOONER THE BETTER. Wouldnt it be interesting if somehow Florida were also drawn into this mess and they had to re-examine THEIR electronic voting machine results? As gldstwmn's article stated, there is evidence to suggest that Triad "techs" visited machines in other states as well......and as to that, please see the item I posted re: 20 things about voting in the USA, especially regarding the voting results via electronic machines in Florida....and file under "things that make you go hmmmm"

[dissention]

Originally Posted by EnchantedSLN

Even if one Senator gets on board, they'd never get past this .

Some of Conyers' recent statements have made it sound like he already knows of a Senator who will join the objection. Personally I see a repeat of the opening scene of F 9/11, but if one were to stand up, any guesses on who it might be? I'd like to think Barbara Boxer, but I doubt it.

I was thinking the same thing, that we'd have a repeat of the 2000 session.

If anyone does stand up, I think it would be either Kennedy or Leahy. None of the other ones have any balls whatsoever. Not that either of them had balls in 2000, though, but one can hope.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by EnchantedSLN

Even if one Senator gets on board, they'd never get past this .

Some of Conyers' recent statements have made it sound like he already knows of a Senator who will join the objection. Personally I see a repeat of the opening scene of F 9/11, but if one were to stand up, any guesses on who it might be? I'd like to think Barbara Boxer, but I doubt it.

Supposedly she has turned them down. Californians are planning the "Boxer Rebellion," a protest to let her know they want someone to stand up and challenge Ohio's electoral votes.
We're not going down without a fight.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

I'd like to see the Venerable Ted Kennedy stand up and join. And Barbara Boxer And Diane Feinstein. Also Hilary Clinton and Joe Leiberman. wouldnt THAT be a gas? in fact, I think it would send a real message if EVERY Democratic Senator joined.

I would loove to see the "Lion In Winter" stand up. The odds on favorite is...









Robert Byrd.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by dissention

I was thinking the same thing, that we'd have a repeat of the 2000 session.

If anyone does stand up, I think it would be either Kennedy or Leahy. None of the other ones have any balls whatsoever. Not that either of them had balls in 2000, though, but one can hope.

You're forgetting darling that we had already been to the Supreme Court at that point and Gore asked them not to stand. This time's different.
BTW, someone said Leahy said he won't stand.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

You're forgetting darling that we had already been to the Supreme Court at that point and Gore asked them not to stand. This time's different.
BTW, someone said Leahy said he won't stand.

I don't know, Leahy has been a real spitfire recently. I'll never forget when he lambasted Mutt Romney back in the spring over gay marriage. I almost ****. "We've got kids dying in Iraq, Mr. Romney, and you're wasting our time on this trivial nonsense that shouldn't even BE AN ISSUE!!"

[irishgrl]

Somebody's just GOTTA stand in the Senate to partner with Conyers in the House. I hope Teddy will do it, he's practically untouchable, an Icon. I'd like to see Hilary stand as well...but in her case it may be political suicide...but there's gotta be someone who is safely beyond repercussion, right?

[dissention]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

Somebody's just GOTTA stand in the Senate to partner with Conyers in the House. I hope Teddy will do it, he's practically untouchable, an Icon. I'd like to see Hilary stand as well...but in her case it may be political suicide...but there's gotta be someone who is safely beyond repercussion, right?

Teddy is the only one safe enough to stand. He'll be re-elected until he dies.

[irishgrl]

Amen to that Diss

[SuzeQuze]

Originally Posted by dissention

Teddy is the only one safe enough to stand. He'll be re-elected until he dies.

When does this thing happen? Diss, write to Kennedy, somebody HAS to stand up!!! I'll be writing.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by SuzeQuze

When does this thing happen? Diss, write to Kennedy, somebody HAS to stand up!!! I'll be writing.

I already did, via fax and snail mail. Email is useless and worthless, they don't read them.