A MESSAGE FROM ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.


Dear Fellow Democrat:

Like many Americans — especially those of us who worked on John Kerry’s presidential campaign — I spent Election Night 2004 wondering how the exit polls, which had overwhelmingly predicted defeat for George W. Bush, got it so wrong.

Baffled — and sick at heart that a President so unpopular and incompetent was heading for a second disastrous term in the Oval Office — I heard the rumors of a Republican campaign to suppress Democratic votes.

And then, painstakingly, page-by-page, with no agenda in mind but finding the truth — the same skills I have employed in my career as an attorney — I began to examine the evidence. What I found shocked me to the core — and by the time I pieced it together in an expose for Rolling Stone magazine, I was convinced beyond all doubt:

The Republican Party mounted a coordinated, criminal campaign to steal the 2004 Presidential election — and it worked.

Now, as another election approaches, you and I need to stand with Democrats for America’s Future (DAF) to make absolutely certain it doesn’t happen again. You can get involved now by supporting us here.

We need to stand up because our country cannot stand for another four years of reckless Republican policies. But most of all, we need to stand together because the integrity of our democracy is at risk.

This is about more — far more — than who wins the next election, as important as that is. If we can’t guarantee the citizens of a democracy that their votes will be counted, every other liberty we hold dear is at risk.

And that, I regret to say, is a guarantee that our nation failed — abysmally — to uphold in 2004. Consider:



Of six million Americans living abroad — a constituency known to vote Democratic — nearly half either never received their ballots or received them too late because the Pentagon shut down a web site that files overseas registrations.

George W. Bush “won” New Mexico by 5,988 votes — but more than 20,000 ballots there weren’t properly tallied.

Nationwide, as many as 1 million ballots were spoiled by faulty voting machines.


You might be wondering how irregularities like that happened all over the country. After all, elections are administered by state officials free of partisan influence, right?

Well, allow me to introduce you to a man named Kenneth Blackwell. He’s the former Republican Secretary of State in Ohio — the state that, as you surely recall, officially tipped the 2004 election to George W. Bush.

As such, Blackwell’s job was to administer an impartial election. But he had another portfolio that year — Ohio chair of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.

If that sounds like a conflict of interest, it was. And Blackwell — having earned his stripes as a top Bush-Cheney official during the notorious Florida recount of 2000 — exploited it with relish.

In the run-up to the 2004 elections, Blackwell — known in Ohio as a partisan Republican zealot — allowed 300,000 voters to be expunged from the registration rolls, including almost one in four voters in predominantly Democratic Cleveland.

Blackwell also set up a network of kangaroo courts at which Ohio Republicans challenged Democratic voter registrations — often without giving the voters in question a fair opportunity to stand up for their rights.

The whole affair was so egregious that a federal court declared it unconstitutional — but by that time, much of the work was done. All told, more than 35,000 newly registered voters were challenged. Many were disenfranchised outright, and many more were intimidated.

I could go on. Sadly, though, we can’t reclaim what I am now convinced was the stolen election of 2004 — an election in which the Republican Party implemented a nationwide effort to suppress Democratic votes.

What we can do, though — and must — is work together to make sure every last Democratic vote is counted in 2008. That’s where Democrats for America’s Future comes in.

DAF is mobilizing a nationwide “NoVoterLeftBehind.net” project that will monitor voting on Election Day in 2008. The squad will shine a public spotlight on every last irregularity. Democrats for America’s Future will urge every Democratic candidate not to concede a single race until every last vote is counted.

And from beginning to end — from the voter registration process to Election Day challenges and beyond — DAF will fight every last fight to the very end, insisting that every American is guaranteed a democracy’s most sacred right: their vote.

Here’s the challenge: We have every reason to believe the Republicans are, at this moment, preparing a 2008 vote-suppression effort that will rival, or even exceed, the dirty tricks they pulled in 2004.

Unless DAF is equally active — unless they have the resources to monitor every vote, every precinct, every campaign, every court challenge — the Republicans may very well get away with it again.

That’s why I urge you, in the strongest terms, to rush a generous contribution of $30, $50, $100, $250 or even more to support DAF’s “NoVoterLeftBehind.net”. Your help will ensure that this effort is as aggressive and broad-based as it absolutely must be to succeed.

The 2008 elections are approaching fast — and Democrats can’t win unless our votes are counted. Please help today.

Sincerely,

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.







Story from:
http://rfkin2008.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/a-message-from-robert-f-kennedy-jr-on-election-fraud/

:kick:

http://www.novoterleftbehind.net/
will look for the other,

update http://www.americasdemocrats.org/straighttalk.cfm

`cuz it's damned important.

(love that Johnny Cash avatar, btw)

thank you!!!

Obama wins if the election is clean or even close to it.

Let's keep this kicked, folks!

They've done it before, let's not let them do it again.

I do have other fears though, if they feel they can no longer steal elections what will they do? Save that topic for the 911 forum, I suppose.

:kick:

If I could nominate a million times, I would... Kick!

is that citizens can report instances of fraud where they see it, in real time.

We need lots of poll-watching going on this year...and don't be shy about reporting what you see!

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

I wish we could do exit polling on a citien level.

either, please. This website is a GOLDMINE to downloadable Citizens' Tool Kits re overseeing elections. TONS of info on this website, including state-by-state atrocities and film footage documenting occurences.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

Link to all the online tools available
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/presskit.html

- Citizen's Tool Kit: Black Box Voting provides a concise Citizen's Tool Kit to help citizens learn how to oversee elections. Citizen's Tool Kit http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.pdf

- One-on-one consultation: Black Box Voting provides individualized one-on-one assistance to citizens throughout the U.S. to help them learn to oversee their own elections. http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/73/73. html


- National Hand Count Registry: Black Box Voting hosts a national registry for citizens willing to volunteer to hand count elections, should their services be needed in any jurisdiction. http://www.bbvforums.org/ cgi-bin/forums/board-profile.cgi?action=register

- Research: Black Box Voting is the first organization to sponsor "hack" research and demonstrations using real voting machines under the supervision of local election officials. Research on voting machine security by Black Box Voting has been validated by a GAO Report, a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, and reports by the EAC and the state of California. procedures.

- Evidence collection: Black Box Voting helps citizens collect evidence in the form of videotaped, public records, internal documents and photographic evidence pertaining to election integrity issues.

- Annual budget: Approximately $350,000 per year, funded entirely by small citizen donations. Black Box Voting does not accept funding from any voting machine manufacturer, political party, or government agency.

- Founded by: Bev Harris, author of the book Black Box Voting (an expose on electronic voting).

Another important effort in this fight. Bev & co. do fantastic work!

These are still huge potential threats to our democracy (we currently have a dictatorship since our last few elections have been stolen by the GOP establishment). Legal proceedings against these thugs could never go through with our current corrupt government. We need to monitor the election in all ways. Do they have a way to count how many people actually vote and then compare it to how many votes come out of each area? I'm donating today because this is our most important issue right now!

I've been trying to get answers about this from DNC leadership and no one appears to be focused on this outside of a couple of ongoing lawsuits.

So the grass roots has to inform people and get donations for this work, imo.

I hate to fasten my tinfoil hat too tightly, but given what they've done in the past and what Seigelman said tonight on Ring of Fire, I'm forced to confront the possibility.

PA has no paper trail (sans about four counties) and it went heavily for Hillary in the primary, supposedly due to "working class voters." Could Palin's odd pick, be more about theft than trying to win an election the old fashioned way?

I can hear the news already ~ "Republicans upset Democrats in PA in a surprising win! Speculation is that Hillary Cinton's primary voters were enthusiastic about having a woman on the McCain ticket."

Also visit NoVoterLeftBehind.net, the official site for this effort.

Believe me, I fully support efforts to stop them from stealing another election; I'm just careful about where I send my money. I trust RFKjr, if his own website asked for donations I wouldn't hesitate. Don't feel the same way about Carville. Guess I'll have to wait until I get my letter from RFKjr before contributing.

I'm sure you can understand why, with limited resources, I want to make sure my money's used wisely.

If the Carville thing makes you uncomfortable, Kennedy is also working with Greg Palast on a similar voting integrity project at http://stealbackyourvote.org.

of this whole campaign.

Judging by the number of Obama bumper stickers I'm seeing here in my little red town, I really think he's going to win. But so did Gore. And Kerry. And there is too much at stake to let them get away with this again.

I do appreciate your efforts in bringing this issue to the forefront.

:thumbsup:

And I too am always a bit skeptical of any new site that pops up claiming to protect voting integrity unless I am familiar with the personal integrity of those who run the site.

Which is why I always recommend Greg Palast. He's been doing this for years, and has already proven himself legit and honest in my book. Of course, Bobby supports him, too. All the way!

And bookmarked! :patriot:

To the bitter end this time! I WILL FIGHT TO THE BITTER END! THAT IS MY PLEDGE! NEVER AGAIN!

doesn't matter how great our ticket is, if we do not start mobilizing and planning to stop the election fraud. This means working NOW to make sure that people in Ohio, and other crucial states are not going to deal with debilitating lines in order to vote. Because the voting in AA neighborhoods will be at historic levels, NOW is the time to be sure that plans are made to be sure everyone gets to vote. Find out the policies of absentee voting in your area, and encourage people in voting equipment-poor neighborhoods to vote by mail if possible to avoid the lines.

K&R

and that is partly why I believe that the choice of Sarah Palin, a candidate who is wholly unqualified but who energizes the fundies to turn out, will serve as the "plausible excuse" for exit polling once again being completely divergent from official vote tally's.

:kick:

I wish someone list some things we could do now and on election day to prevent theft and help build the cases for when it occurs.

The only things I can think of is taking a camera phone to the polls, higher voter turnout and publically announcing our votes somehow.

There doesn't seem to be much on prevention as there is on fighting it afterwards.

Is that the case and if so, shouldn't we be gearing up for the fight?

One thing we need to do is let the MSM know that we are doing the math on the exit polls; that we're not going to tolerate polls whose results mysteriously flip in the middle of the night, to such a degree that they can only be explained by the Democratic candidate actually LOSING exit poll votes that have already been counted. I don't mean just an implausibly large percentage shift; I mean a shift that is so large it is flatly, mathematically impossible. Because this is exactly what happened in 2004 in Ohio and possibly nationwide.

...you get an invalid certificate message. The certificate is registered to hastingsgroup.com

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I don't run that site, but will be sure to let `em know about the problem.

he said he was filing a qui tam suit against diebold. never heard another word, tho. anyone have any info?

my time working as a Deputy to get new Voter registration.

I commend Robert's efforts and hope they are not in vain.:think:

The greatest crime in a democracy is to disenfranchise or suppress the lawful and legal vote of another. This is tantamount to treason--electoral treason--which should be punishable by death. Very simply put, if you are found guilty of repressing or suppressing another citizen's vote, the DEATH PENALTY should be enforced.

Wake Up, America!:kick:

DoJ will not be cooperative after the election process in dealing with abnormalities at the polls as he (master of voter suppression) is the one who will oversee "fair" elections. Love you Bobby...thanks for all your efforts.

As Obama would say Enough!

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

I don't want to rain on the parade, but we have tried monitoring in LA County, and we are powerless to do effective monitoring of vote tabulation - once a vote is cast, it is no longer able to be monitored with any degree of certainty-- unless it is cast on paper and hand counted. The court system, the registrar, the vendors all serve as impenetrable barriers to not only having our votes counted as cast, but also to having the ability to monitor in a transparent manner.

I would like to know how DAF plans to address this !!!

you're right, Diva. Who watches the gatekeepers? No one can. `Tis not allowed.

The state appears especially vulnerable given the political climate, the choice of Palin and the lack of a paper trail - http://www.verifiedvoting.org/verifier/map.php?&topic_string=5std&ec=mixed&year=2008&state=Pennsylvania

I absolutely do.

K&R

:kick:

. . .Team Obama better make this their top priority here on out . . .

why else would the GOP be so foolish to run this pathetically Rightwingin' McCain/Palin ticket. .

.because CheneyCo knows they can fix the ballot count.

In fact, I fear the fix is already in.

But if RFK has Team Obama's ear. . . maybe. . .just maybe we'll beat 'em to the draw Nov 4.

I can't say enough how I'm HOPING we prevail. . .

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

I can give you my own experience to point something out.
Bill Richardson was my Rep when he left the house to work for the Clinton administration, so they had a special election for his seat.
Ruining against the Democrat was a fundamentalist preacher from Los Alamous...now you must understand that Rio Arriba County is solidly Democratic and so the preacher had no chance to win.
When I went to vote that day, I went to the School where my precinct was located and it looked like a normal school day...no signs of voting taking place so after walked through the halls of the school and not finding anything going on I asked a teacher where they were voting and she directed me to a room that had a small piece of pater on the dore that said "Vote here"
When I went into the small room there were two voting machines there and some pool workers that all turned and looked at me with a surprised look on there faces...There were no voters except me all the time I was there...not to surprising sense I had such a hard time finding it.
Well the Republican won and for the first time we had a Right Wing preacher as our Representative in a district that was overwhelming democratic.
The next election Tom Udall trounced him soundly and we got back democratic representation.
My point is that the right wing has moved there people into what we think of as insignificant positions in the state government but they have the power to defeat the process of a fair election by doing things to cage the vote and we must be aware of it and raise holey hell when we see things like that happen.

you want the actual winner of an election to be elected. If not, you are an anti-American of the vilest sort and unfit for citizenship. Carl Rove and Blackwell should be deported or hung, whichever is more convenient.

...that more people are registered to vote, and more people get to vote. We have to mobilize our troops, and get the people registered, and help them vote, as well as make sure that their votes count. This is the only day that we can get back our country.

kick today. :kick:

That should be a top priority for all of us...

vs other more popular Democrats, bringing Kerry up from last place/! ---

there were no objections from Democrats -- especially DLC ---

We've now had 2 YEARS of Democratic Party control over Congress and I've never

heard Palosi or Reed mention what happened in Ohio -- or COMPUTER STEALS --

and all of this has been going on since the mid-1960's when the large computer

counters first began to come on line and heavily used by MSM ---

NOW . . . . less than 100 days before the election we're going to make this an issue!!???

If we have any chance at all of breaking this criminal machine.

Yet they could not have and cannot succeeded without a criminal corporate media padding their way...and they are now setting us up for another theft. A neck and neck horse race indeed....according to a new self serving cnn poll that is belted out ever few minutes....and that my friends is the way they do it. So make way for the new theft and 8 more years of the neocon fascists unless we pull out all the stops and stop them. That said, I will now send more than I can afford to these folks watching out for, by far, this most important segment of winning in November and making sure it counts.

that I think that would be their top priority is the billions oil companies are earning gouging us with high energy prices...They will not give up these profits without a fight,and they will spend millions to steal yet another one.These phony polls that the Corporate media keeps reporting is perhaps a first step by convincing the public that these polls are fact.(No way is McCain that close)By keeping it close it wont look so obvious.
The list of reasons goes on and on but another one would be that Democrats will end the "war for profit". So I'm really worried and I just hope we find a way of catching these thieves before election day.If the Republicans steal this one ..our Democracy is over.

because nobody is that psychic. We can only collect evidence and fight back after fraud happens. Unfortunately, that didn't happen in 2000 and 2004 to any great extent. The point of the NoVoterLeftBehind effort is not just to watch for fraud, but all Democratic candidates and incumbents are being asked to SIGN A PLEDGE that they will NOT concede the election until ALL votes are counted this time!

bet everything on this occurring. They will hit African-American communities hard with vote suppression. The Obama campaign would be beyond negligent not to see this coming. I will donate to the effort to prevent this, ASAP.

Everybody should check this out:

http://www.gregpalast.com/obama-doesn%e2%80%99t-sweat-he-should/


And PLEASE voice your concerns to Senator Obama every chance you get. He needs to hear how worried Dems are about the possibility (probability?) of this election being stolen right out from under us.

Yes, we all need to be concerned and work on this but leadership should be leading

the way on it --- !!!

...is deafening.

I would recommend again if I could.

:kick:

..this thread has stayed flaming hot and is catching fire around the web.

Thanks to everyone who forwarded this, put it on your blogs and websites. (and for buzzing us on BuzzFlash)

Keep it up!