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"Time to Unite!"
VotersUnite! Alert #12. September 1, 2004. Voters! if ever there was a time to unite, it’s now! WE NEED YOU! Take a timeout from battling e-voting, and take time to help in our last hope effort to protect the country from a huge national crisis this November! Here's what we're trying to prevent: ---------- The Problem Election "anomalies," followed by delays, recounts, and more lawsuits, complicated by the fact that recounts can't be done on electronic machines. Then, at some point, the announcement of a winner that the country doesn't wholeheartedly accept. Because the country is not likely to accept a winner announced after lawsuits, delays, and who-knows-what basis for the decision. Not after 2000. ---------- The Solution We need help immediately to swiftly push forward a measure in Congress that could prevent unprecedented chaos during and after the upcoming federal elections - a Federal bill mandating HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS FOR FEDERAL RACES in November. We need you, and we need you NOW!! I'm sure you're busy, but we believe this is the most important thing you may ever do. We are contacting you because you signed on to support EM2004, or you signed up to be a group leader with VotersUnite!, or you took the initiative to deliver Myth Breakers. We've already talked with the legislative aides of several members of Congress. They tell us that the concern on Capitol Hill about November is increasing severely. Everyone seems to be worried and is looking for a solution. WE BELIEVE USING HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS IS THE SOLUTION. The House members we have contacted have beenextremely receptive to the idea. One of them has already said he would support it, but he will not introduce it because to push it through in this short amount of time, we need members on the appropriate committees to introduce it. . Okay... This means our "best" bet in the House is Representative Ney (R-OH) or possibly John Larson (D-CT) who is the ranking member of the House Admin Committee. In the Senate, the Rules Committee leaders are Chairman Trent Lott (R-MS) and Ranking Member Christopher Dodd (D-CT). Certainly they don't want 50 Floridas in November, so contacting them is definitely worth the effort, but ... ANOTHER OPTION is to gain so much support for it that we can bypass the committees. This means getting busy NOW -- hundreds, even thousands of people, calling, writing letters, visiting staff if at all possible. We need 218 supporters in the House and 51 in the Senate. A veto-proof contingent would be 292 in the House and 67 in the Senate. We have heard that the Senate is the best place to begin. We need commitments from you. If you are willing to work like a dog over the next two weeks, leading this effort in your state or local area, please reply immediately. Or, if you are willing to work like a dog yourself but not lead an effort in your area, please reply. WE NEED EVERY ONE OF YOU NOW! Or if you have great contacts to a large org you can work through, let us know that, too. I know this looks daunting, but we believe it's possible, and the alternative is a crisis of confidence in November. Will you help or will you curl up and wait for the train wreck?
"Intellectuals solve problems,
Reply to em2004support@votersunite.org. Tell us your state, how much you will help, and something about the contacts you have. We will send you a packet providing all you need to get started: what to do and the approach that you MUST take in pushing this effort through. IMPORTANT: This is not an effort to solve the electronic voting problem. We cannot do that before November. This is about preventing a national crisis, which we DO have a chance to accomplish!! PLEASE REPLY NOW.
If you can't help, please let us know that, too.
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