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14 House Dems Demand GAO Election Probe

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by Matthew Cardinale

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) has asked to become the 14th signatory
of the GAO letter demanding an investigation in electronic voting. This information was confirmed by a staffer, Theresa, in the U.S. House Judiciary Office, on November 22, 2004.

As of this writing, Schakowsky's signature has not been submitted to the GAO.

However, the GAO has received letters of concern with 13 signatories thus far:

John Conyers (D-MI)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Robert Wexler (D-FL)
Robert Scott (D-GA)
Melvin Watt (D-NC)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
George Miller (D-CA)
John Olver (D-MA)
Bob Filner (D-CA)
Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Plus
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

Also, Congressman Barbara Lee of California issued the following statement on November 15th:

“The right to vote and the right to have our votes counted are both fundamental to our democratic system of government,” said Lee.

“As elected representatives of the people, we hold a sacred responsibility to every voter across this nation to ensure that their vote is counted and recorded properly. We cannot, and we should not accept any flaws in our election process.”

Julie Nickson, press secretary for Barbara Lee, added, "She signed it because she was aware of the situation. We got some phone calls from constituents."

The letter, or set of letters, is addressed to The Honorable David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, General Accountability Office.

The first letter begins, "We write with an urgent request that the GAO immediately undertake an investigation of the efficacy of voting machines and new technologies used in the 2004 election, how election officials responded to the difficulties they encountered, and what we can do in the future to improve our election systems and administration."

Particular concerns brought up are:

-The almost 4,000 votes awarded to Bush in Columbus, Ohio, reported by the AP, which was only noticeable because more votes were recorded in the precinct than there were registered voters.

-Votes lost on a local initiative in Florida because the computer could only store so many votes.

-Apx. 4,500 votes lost in one North Carolina county.

-A glitch in San Francisco computers which caused many votes to be uncounted.

-Florida's anomalous results where only districts with touch screen voting had disproportionate votes for Bush than expected. This analysis has since
been duplicated by a UC Berkeley professor and others.

-AP reports in Florida and Ohio of voters who stated when using touchscreens, when they selected "John Kerry," that instead "George Bush" would appear on the screen.

-Long lines in urban Ohio areas, to the point where voters left in frustration after 8 or so hours. But that's not all. The second letter, dated, November 8th, reported additional incidents.

-3,000 phantom votes were added by a Nebraska "vote tabulator" which doubled the votes.

-22,000 North Carolina votes which later had to be added because the computer initially discarded them due to system overload.

-21 voting machines in Broward County, Florida, malfunctioned, eliminating prior votes that had been cast on them in this most-Democratic county in the state.

-Warren County, Ohio's, bogus refusal allow independent monitoring of vote counting based on a terrorist incident which turned out later to not exist.

-Malfunctioning vote cassettes in Palm Beach, FL.

-Boxes of absentee votes discovered after the election in a Broward County election office.

Notably, nine (9) out of the current 14 supporters are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). They are Barbara Lee (who is a leader of the Caucus), along with John Conyers, Jerold Nadler, Melvin Watt, Tammy Baldin, George Miller, John Olver, Bob Filner, and Jan Schakowsky. According to the CPC website, there are currently 55
congressional members on the Progressive Caucus. For a list of members, see: http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp

One notable Progressive Caucus member who has not signed on is House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who is also the current House Minority Leader.

Another curious absence is Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), former presidential candidate, who otherwise is taking a prominent role in the Ohio voter testimony hearings currently taking place.

Most mainstream media accounts actually still list there being 3 signatories, but that was only the first, original letter. CBS and others have been reporting 6 signatories.

But, don't be sad. America isn't so far into hell in a handbasket that we couldn't come up with more than 6 Representatives. We now have 14.

The chronology has been as follows. First, Congressman Conyers, Wexler, and Nadler wrote a letter to the GAO on November 5. This letter is available at: http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/gaoinvestvote2004ltr11504.pdf

The names of Scott, Watt, and Holt, were added in a second letter sent November 8, which outlined additional voting problems as well as increased the number of congressional signatures to six (6). This letter is available at:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/gaoinvestvote2004ltr11804.pdf

On November 17, two additional letters were sent. First, a letter adding the signatures of Tammy Baldwin, Louise Slaughter, and George Miller, was sent, increasing the number of signatures to nine (9). A copy of this letter is available at:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/gaoinvestvote2004ltr111704.pdf

A second letter dated November 17--fourth letter overall--was sent to the GAO which added John Olner, Bob Filner, Gregory Meeks, and Barbara Lee.

This brought the number of signatures to thirteen (13). Which, adding today's announcement by Schakowsky, brings the total to fourteen (14) signatures. A scanned copy of the second letter from November 17th is available at: http://www.house.gov/lee/releases/04nov15.htm

One senator and one House Representative are required to contest an election result prior to inauguration.

But, certainly, the more Congresspeople the merrier. The questions remains, however, which, if any, Senator will stand up for democracy? Will it be Barbara Boxer, the so-called 3rd-most vote getter in the 2004 election? Or will we have another terrible scene like the one from Fahrenheit 911 where not one Senator will contest?

Only time will tell, but my guess is that the progressive community has done so much organizing in the past four years that, even if there isn't a change in the election outcome, there will at least be some serious hearings and reform legislation to mend and improve our flawed, flawed process.

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Matthew Cardinale is a freelance writer, activist, and graduate student at UC Irvine in sociology and democracy studies. He can be reached at mcardina@uci.edu.