Emergency Call to Action--Votergate!!!

EMERGENCY CALL TO ACTION!
VOTERGATE!!!

Are you anguished and enraged by the outcome of the Nov 2 election? Are you following the growing mass of evidence of possible fraud and outright theft? Lost votes, missing ballots, black-box machines with no paper trail, a clear pattern of intimidation of voters based on racial profiling, do you suspect a scandal bigger than Watergate and far more meaningful than Monica is being suppressed?

Was the 2004 election stolen? Take action to defend democracy and demand an investigation into electoral fraud!

We can stay home and grumble and swear at the T.V. as Bush claims a mandate. We can go to work as usual, and pretend nothing is wrong. Or we can come out and take action. Join us to protest the continuing disenfranchisement of African-American, Latino and student voters, to demand a suspension of the electoral college vote until there is a full and impartial investigation of all the irregularities, and to defend democracy.

Wednesday, November 10,
Noon
San Francisco Federal Building,
450 Golden Gate, plaza side

Rally and nonviolent civil disobedience.

--We demand a thorough, impartial, and immediate investigation into electoral fraud, racially based suppression of voters, and a full count of all provisional and absentee ballots and 'spoiled' votes.
--We demand that the December 13 electoral college vote be suspended, if necessary, until these questions are resolved. The legitimacy of our government is compromised when the integrity of our electoral system is in question,

Free and fair elections are the basis of a democratic government. When the integrity of the electoral system is in question, the government loses its legitimacy. No recount could be as destabilizing as the widespread suspicion that the Republicans have stolen a second election.

Here are just a few of the serious concerns that have arisen:

--Around the world, exit polls are used to verify that elections are free from fraud. Here in the US, polls in precincts using computer voting machines with no paper trail were consistently at odds with the reported outcome, while polls in precincts using paper ballots matched the outcome.
--In Ohio, adequate numbers of voting machines were not provided in African American and student neighborhoods, causing voters hours of waiting time at the polls.
--1,074 instances of voter intimidation were reported to the Election Protection Coalition.
--In Franklin County, Ohio, voting machines gave George Bush 3,893 votes in one precinct alone, far more than the number of registered voters. In Craven County, North Carolina, a software error gave Bush 11,283 extra votes, In Broward County, Florida, voting machines were discovered to be counting backwards.
--In Ohio, the number of provisional ballots may be far higher than Secretary of State Blackwell claims. Absentee and 'spoiled' ballots have not been counted-African American and Latino voters are far more likely to have their ballots discarded.
--Purging of supposed 'felons' in Florida and Colorado disproportionately targets communities of color and may violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
--The Diebold machines and central computer processors were never tested to assure that they could not be hacked by outsiders.
--And much, much more!

It's not too late! The Watergate Scandal brought Nixon down long after he took office. We can counter the false perception of Bush's 'mandate', push the mainstream media into covering these serious issues, maybe even put some spine into the Democrats, stand in alliance with youth and communities of color, and protect the integrity of our vote. Fighting for fair elections is vital-for the present and the future!

Reclaim the Commons
Democracy Defense Committee

For more info on Beyond Voting http://www.beyondvoting.org (more info on Nov. 10 coming here soon)

For more information on election fraud, see:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php
http://www.gregpalast.com
http://www.democracyunderground.com
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110804A.shtml