United Voters!

DeForest Soaries, chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, says the government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/06/26/election2004/21_17_566_25_04.txt

VotersUnite! spoke with legislative staff in Washington D.C. and learned that the House is discussing guidelines, but that the discussions do not include any mention of canceling the election. The discussions are centered around guidelines for rescheduling deadlines in case of a wide-scale interruption of basic services. The goal, according to the staff, is to ensure that the election can be held successfully, and Congress is attempting to develop contingency plans in case problems occur.

These seem like reasonable precautions. Nevertheless, VotersUnite! believes that we, the voters, also need to take precautions.

While Article I, Section 4[1] of the Constitution of the United States gives Congress the power to determine the day of the election of Senators and Representatives, and while Article II, Section 1[4] gives Congress the power to determine the day of the Presidential election, the Constitution DOES NOT give Congress the power to cancel these elections.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Contact your U.S. Senators and Representative immediately and make sure they know you are watching this issue closely. Let them know:

1) You appreciate their efforts to ensure that our elections run smoothly.

2) You will not tolerate the passage of any guidelines that provide for canceling a national election or rescheduling it in a way that could delay the inauguration of newly-elected officials at the traditional times in January 2005.

Thanks!!
~ the VotersUnite team
———————————————
To remove your name from the list of people who receive emails, simply let us know you want to be removed.

To support our work, go here: http://www.votersunite.org/donate.asp