Greens to U.S. Senate Democrats: Challenge The 2004 Election Certification

Press Release   Green Party USA
WASHINGTON January 5 Green Party leaders, citing Election Day and Ohio recount irregularities, challenged Democrats in the U.S. Senate to stand up in support of House members who register objections when Congress convenes on Thursday, January 6, to certify the 2004 presidential election results.

"If Senate Democrats remain silent on Thursday, and we see a repeat of their 2000 endorsement of a manipulated election, the Democratic Party will have abandoned all claims to be the opposition," said Nan Garrett of the Georgia Green Party. "Americans who care about democracy and fair elections should understand such silence as an endorsement of the kind of Republican election engineering we witnessed in Ohio and of the Bush agenda."

2004 presidential candidates David Cobb (Green) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) filed for a recount in Ohio and New Mexico shortly after Election Day in November, and raised money for the recount fees.

In Ohio, Greens, later joined by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.), Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), and other Democrats, uncovered widespread evidence of fraud, obstruction of legitimate votes (especially those cast by African Americans and young people), and computer voting machine manipulation. They later charged that the Ohio recount was tainted by lack of cooperation, failure to follow consistent standards, and conflicts of interest by Republican election officials.

In January, 2001, when members of the Congressional Black Caucus objected to Congress's certification of the 2000 election, no Democratic U.S. Senator stood up to support them and compel an investigation. Their acquiescence, in the wake of evidence of widespread vote fraud and obstruction in Florida, was documented in the first 15 minutes of Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11.

According to the Cobb/LaMarche Campaign and other Ohio recount observers:
The majority of county boards of elections in Ohio failed to choose the 3% recount sample on a random basis, in accordance with state procedure.
"One [county board of elections] summoned the Triad company to bring a new machine to the board prior to resuming the recount. Another simply refused to conduct a full hand count. And in one county Hocking County, a technician from the Triad company visited the board of elections office prior to the start of the recount and tampered with the central tabulator machine; he advised board of elections officials on how to post a 'cheat sheet' on the wall so that the three percent hand count would match the machine count." (John Bonifaz, General Counsel for the National Voting Rights Institute and Co-counsel for presidential candidates David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, <http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0104-32.htm>)
Some counties blocked recount observers from inspecting rejected provisional or absentee ballots.
Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell who chaired the Bush campaign in Ohio convened a meeting of Ohio electors before the recount was complete, in violation of state law.

On December 30, Mr. Cobb and Mr. Badnarik asked a federal district court in Columbus for an injunction against Mr. Blackwell's declaration of election results in Ohio until a second recount takes place that adheres to statewide uniform standards. "If Senate Democrats allow George W. Bush's victory based on questionable numbers to stand, the Green Party will tell Democratic voters: you have wasted your votes and your campaign contributions on a party that will not defend your right to vote," said Marc Sanson, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

"Regardless of whether the recount effort or a challenge from Senate Democrats overturns Mr. Bush's 2004 election, Americans need to see that corrupt elections will not be tolerated," added Mr. Sanson. "At the very least, a challenge will advance some sorely needed reforms: auditable paper records of all computer votes; equitable distribution of election equipment; assurance that legitimate votes aren't obstructed; removal of biased partisan officials from supervision of vote counts; clean election laws. This is what the Green Party stands for. Where do the Democrats stand?"

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