Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Christopher Dodd to Stand with Boxer/Conyers

[dissention]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

The illustirous Speaker Of The House, Tom DeLay R Texas, former exterminator.

Who also resembles a roach. Them bug eyes, man, my word.

[estranged4life]

23 yea 172 nay

[irishgrl]

De Lay is also the man who seems to think the ethics rules dont apply to him

[irishgrl]

27 votes in the House
Thursday 06 January 2005 @ 04:04
to support the objection.

I interviewed Rep. Conyers just before the hearing. I will have the transcript up as soon as I can.

[estranged4life]

a Repub has been listed as voting yea, Lets see it that stick (See it just disappearred, LOL!!!)

An Independent voted nay and it has stuck!


Repubs. 173 Nay 56 NV

Demos. 33 Yea 83 Nay 83 NV

Indep. 1 Nay


33 Yea 257 Nay 139NV

[strandinthewind]

Democrats challenge Ohio electoral votes
Move delays official certification of election



WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Citing "widespread irregularities" on Election Day, a handful of House Democrats and one senator objected Thursday to the counting of Ohio's 20 electoral votes, delaying the official certification of the 2004 presidential election results.

The Democrats said they were not trying to overturn President Bush's re-election but want to draw attention to the need for aggressive election reform in the wake of what they said were widespread voter problems.

In a letter to congressional leaders Wednesday, members of the group said they would take the action because a new report by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee found "numerous, serious election irregularities," particularly in Ohio, that led to "a significant disenfranchisement of voters."

The House of Representatives and Senate met Thursday afternoon in a constitutionally mandated session to count the electoral votes. Vice President Dick Cheney, in his role as president of the Senate, presided over the session.

Four years ago, after the disputed election results in Florida, members of the Congressional Black Caucus attempted to block Florida's electoral votes from being counted. In a scene recalled in the movie "Fahrenheit 9/11," lawmaker after lawmaker was gaveled down by Vice President Al Gore because no senator would support the objections, as the law requires.

House Democrats involved in this year's protest worked for weeks to enlist the support of a senator, and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, agreed in a letter Wednesday to join the effort.

"I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio's election," Boxer wrote to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio.

"I will therefore join you in your objection to the certification of Ohio's electoral votes."

If one member of each body of Congress objects, congressional rules require that lawmakers return to their chambers to vote on the merits. A simple majority vote in each chamber would overturn the challenge -- something that should be easily achieved in the GOP-controlled Congress.

Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, released a letter Wednesday saying he would not take part in the protest.

"Our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election," Kerry said.

Bush carried Ohio by more than 118,000 votes, with the Buckeye State win providing the margin of victory in the Electoral College race. The president received 286 to Kerry's 252 electoral votes.

But the senator from Massachusetts said voting problems need to be addressed "to make sure they never happen again."

Kerry was not on hand Thursday. He's in Iraq, thanking U.S. troops for their service there.

CNN's Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/...ote/index.html

and

Lawmakers Dispute Electoral College Results

Thursday, January 06, 2005



WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 74-1 to reject an objection to the certification of Ohio's Electoral College votes after Sen. Barbara Boxer (search), D-Calif., and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (search), D-Ohio, on Thursday stopped the formal declaration of President Bush's second term to protest voting irregularities.

A joint session of Congress met to certify the election earlier in the day but quickly recessed per congressional rules to go to their respective chambers to debate certification for up to two hours.

"I raise this objection neither to put the nation in a turmoil of proposed overturn election," Jones said in the House after stopping the count. "I raised this objection because I am convinced that we as a body must conduct a formal" debate and "protect the integrity of the true will of the people."

Boxer said on the floor of the Senate that she joined with Jones to "shed some light" about the issues of reported voting irregularities in Ohio as well as election reform throughout the nation.

The California Democrat said that even though the last Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (search), lawmakers had not done enough to examine voting problems.

Boxer said, "The centerpiece of this country is democracy and the centerpiece of democracy is ensuring the right to vote."

"Our people are dying all over the world ... to bring democracy to the far corners of the world," she said. "Let's fix it here."

Thursday's action was the first of its kind in 36 years, but probably will amount to no more than a procedural delay of the inevitable.

After the two-hour debate in each chamber, the House and Senate are to vote separately on whether to uphold the objection or go back and certify the president. The two bodies are expected to reconvene later in the day in a joint session to report their respective actions.

Boxer decided late Wednesday that she would challenge the results of Ohio's 20 Electoral College votes for Bush. She sent a letter to Jones saying she was "moved" by Jones' concerns about reported election irregularities in the decisive swing state.

"I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio's election," Boxer said in the letter.

Read the letter by clicking here.

Earlier on Thursday, Boxer and Jones held a news conference and acknowledged they are not expecting to overturn the November election results. But they stressed the need to have a debate on voting irregularities, which they suggested would not happen if it weren't for this formal challenge. Boxer characterized the objection as "the first round in the battle for electoral justice."

Boxer also said she regrets that she didn't object to the certification four years ago when the controversial election put Bush over Al Gore.

"Yes, I think there are people who wish we didn't do it, but we're doing it for the right reasons," she said, adding that she was also going to introduce with her House colleagues legislation to standardize elections nationally.

Jones added that she couldn't let the election go without assuring democracy applies to everyone in the United States.

"I can't let it go because there are people in my congressional district, there are people in this country who said, 'Stephanie, I did not get my vote counted. My vote did not count. I was denied the opportunity to vote.'"

Vice President Dick Cheney (search) led the effort to read off electoral votes won by both Bush and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (search).

The "certificates of vote" from each state were called out and the number of votes designated for president and vice president were reported on four separate paper tallies.

At the end of the reading of all 50 states and the District of Columbia's votes, the four tellers responsible for recording the tallies are expected to compare results and sign off on them. Cheney then is supposed to announce the totals and order them into the record.

This is not the first objection to certification. In 2001, more than two-dozen Democrats objected to the certification of Florida's disputed election, but because no senator objected, as is required to trigger a recess of the joint session, the objection was ignored.

Republicans from Ohio were not pleased by the Democrats' objection. Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, called the challenge an effort by "certain extreme elements of Senator Kerry's own party" to mock an election that Kerry himself conceded.

"Their intention in this whole process is merely … to undermine public confidence in the electoral system itself," Pryce said. Challenges are "no more than another exercise in their party's primary goal to obstruct, to divide and destroy."

Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said charges made about Ohio’s election are “wild, incoherent and completely unsubstantiated. He delivered a statement on the Senate floor saying he found it "almost impossible to believe" that the Senate was debating the matter when the official results showed that Bush won his state with more 118,000 votes.

Added House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri: "Every time we doubt the process, we cast doubt on that fabric of democracy that's so important ... people do need to have confidence that the process works."

Boxer and several other senators had been approached by House Democrats to launch the corresponding objection from the Senate that would force the recess of the joint session.

According to informed sources, House Democrats also approached newly-elected Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (search) to join the objection. Those sources said Obama has no plans to do so.

Kerry, who lost the election to Bush and is currently overseas, said in a letter sent to supporters Wednesday he would not take part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors because, despite widespread reports of voting irregularities, his legal team had "found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election."

Kerry said he planned to introduce election-reform legislation and push for congressional hearings on the voting irregularities.

Read Kerry's letter by clicking here.

Asked about the political wisdom of deciding to join House members in contesting the results, an aide to Boxer told FOX News, "These are credible folks in the House who say there are real problems out there. They need to shine the light on this. So they made an appeal to the senator for the right to shine the light on it.

"There are folks who think this is a not a fruitful exercise, because even [if] the results are challenged, it still may not change the outcome," the aide added, "but for two hours, this might at least be worth discussing."

Republicans say Boxer and a handful of House left-wingers are grandstanding. One Democratic leadership source also criticized Boxer, suggesting, "It would not be preferable for her to object."

FOX News' Carl Cameron, Julie Asher and Jim Mills and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,143510,00.html

[EnchantedSLN]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

Here comes the House vote
Thursday 06 January 2005 @ 03:51
Republicans have trouble pushing buttons, it seems. Two times a vote to uphold the challenge came from the GOP side, and then got switched back after they realized they pushed the wrong button.

There is a GOP vote to uphold the challenge now, and it appears to be sticking.

Nope. Gone now. Learn to push buttons, folks.
link

ps: this same link will keep giving updates so keep checking it

Way to prove our point . "We will now decide yadda yadda via electronic vote"... then the tally comes up and Republican "yea"s keeps showing up and disappearing. Gee, thankfully they could see which option their vote was recorded for and change it! Too bad the millions of Americans who voted on electronic machines didn't have that luxury.

[SuzeQuze]

Originally Posted by EnchantedSLN

Way to prove our point . "We will now decide yadda yadda via electronic vote"... then the tally comes up and Republican "yea"s keeps showing up and disappearing. Gee, thankfully they could see which option their vote was recorded for and change it! Too bad the millions of Americans who voted on electronic machines didn't have that luxury.

My thoughts exactly, and there weren't even any hanging chads. Plus they twist the question, "do you sustain the objection?" Instead of "Do you want the certification to go through?" which would be more intuitive.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by EnchantedSLN

Sen. Voinovich - the people cast their vote & chose their government, Bush. Someone in the gallery screaming "they did not! Liar!"

She was taken to jail. There's a little movement now to get her bond posted and get her out.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by SuzeQuze

My thoughts exactly, and there weren't even any hanging chads. Plus they twist the question, "do you sustain the objection?" Instead of "Do you want the certification to go through?" which would be more intuitive.

true - by they follow a procdure and that aint it