Rabbi Arthur Waskow 11/11/2004

Dear friends,

I am feeling both concern about the possibility of election fraud and doubt that it turned the election around. So The Shalom Report and I have held back from the intense focus that some progressives are expressing.

MoveOn, which has shown very good and effective sense thru the campaign, is taking a pretty judicious position — ask Congress for an investigation.

I'm appending their letter, below.

Meanwhile, besides reports raising the Fraud issue there have been a number of essays about what the Democrats should do now — move even further toward "the middle," or rediscover and reassert their own heart-values in ways Kerry fudged (or worse)?

We might fruitfully ask ourselves how we weigh these approaches. How important in a moral sense is clearing up all the charges and defenses about election fraud? How important is it to focus on what the Dem Party should become?

At Tikkun magazine's invitation, I've written a piece that focuses not on what the Dems should do but on what religious renewal/progressive folks should do to create a very different society-wide context for all party politics. It will be published as part of a post-election symposium in their January issue, and since they asked very strongly that I not send it out beforehand elsewhere, I'm not doing so.

Its basic approach is to create what I call a "New Prophetic Agenda." I encourage us all to read the Jan issue of Tikkun, and I would be glad to take part in face-to- face discussions in any case.

And meanwhile, please send us your own comments on this question. If you do feel drawn to demand an investigation, please be aware that MoveOn says this coming Monday (Nov. 15) may be the crucial time. So act quickly if you want to act at all.

Shalom, Arthur

Questions are swirling around whether the election was conducted honestly or not. We need to know — was it or wasn't it?

If people were wrongly prevented from voting, or if legitimate votes were mis-counted or not counted at all, we need to know so the wrongdoers can be held accountable, and so we can prevent this from happening again.

Members of Congress are demanding an investigation to answer this question. The decision on whether or not there will be an investigation could come as soon as Monday. Join us in supporting the call for one now, at:

http://www.moveon.org/investigatethevote/

Then please invite your friends and colleagues to sign, as well. We need to show Congress that hundreds of thousands of Americans are serious about protecting the integrity of the vote.

We're all hearing the stories and wondering what's true and what isn't. But at least two cases of serious problems are accepted beyond doubt:

In Broward County, Florida, electronic voting machines counted backwards: as more people voted, the official vote count went down. [1]

In one Columbus, Ohio suburb, election officials have acknowledged that electronic voting machines credited Bush with winning 4,258 votes, even though only 638 people voted there. [2]

These are just cases where we know something went wrong. There were also lots of reports of people being denied ballots on Election Day. So far, these reports remain anecdotal, but they must be compiled and examined. And the Internet is abuzz with theories about why the official counts were so different from the exit polls.

Do you have a story? Were you prevented from voting? Tell us, at:

http://www.moveon.org/investigatethevote/

Six prominent members of Congress have called for an investigation. Representatives Conyers (D-MI), Holt (D-NJ), Nadler (D-NY), Scott (D-VA), Watt (D-NC) and Wexler (D-FL), have demanded that the U.S. General Accounting Office:

immediately undertake an investigation of the efficacy of voting machines and new technologies used in the 2004 election, how election officials responded to difficulties they encountered, and what we can do in the future to improve our election systems and administration. [3]

We've got to support their call by asking our own Representatives and Senators to join them.

If you have a personal story of disenfranchisement, tell us. These members of Congress have agreed to include our stories and comments in their call for an investigation. Please sign now — we'll deliver our compiled statements to them on Friday.

Even if you don't have a personal story, your signature on our petition will still help build support for an investigation.

To keep our faith in democracy, we need to know the facts. Your signature, and your story if you have one, will help.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

—Carrie, Joan, Lee, Marika, Noah, Peter, Rosalyn, and Wes

The MoveOn.org Team

November 11th, 2004

Footnotes:

1. Broward Machines Count Backward, Palm Beach Post, November 5, 2004
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/

2. Glitch Gave Bush Extra Votes in Ohio, AP carried on CNN, November 5, 2004
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/05/voting.problems.ap/

3. Letters from members of Congress to David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, demanding an investigation of the election: November 5th, 2004 & November 8th, 2004
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/gaoinvestvote2004ltr11804.pdf