Newsweek: Justice Dept. considering how to cancel elections

[iconoclastic cat]

This is on Kos right now:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/7/11/11718/1821
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Newsweek: Justice Dept. considering how to cancel elections
by thirdparty
Sun Jul 11th, 2004 at 11:07:18 EDT

It's been hinted at, but according to Newsweek (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5411741/site/newsweek/), the Bush Administration is now actively looking into the posssibility of cancelling the elections in November if there is a terrorist attack:

...Ridge's department last week asked the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to analyze what legal steps would be needed to permit the postponement of the election were an attack to take place. Justice was specifically asked to review a recent letter to Ridge from DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Soaries noted that, while a primary election in New York on September 11, 2001, was quickly suspended by that state's Board of Elections after the attacks that morning, "the federal government has no agency that has the statutory authority to cancel and reschedule a federal election." Soaries, a Bush appointee who two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, wants Ridge to seek emergency legislation from Congress empowering his agency to make such a call. Homeland officials say that as drastic as such proposals sound, they are taking them seriously--along with other possible contingency plans in the event of an election-eve or Election Day attack. "We are reviewing the issue to determine what steps need to be taken to secure the election," says Brian Roehrkasse, a Homeland spokesman.

Does anyone with half a brain think it is past some members of this Administration to, say have a car bomb blow up somewhere if their poll numbers are waning come Election Day and AQ hasn't beaten them to the punch?

We must stop this now.
(more)
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Not so tinfoil now, is it?

[jeff30997]

1. I knew they were up to something.

Those cheating bastards !!!

[Beloved Citizen]

18. It's now on Yahoo as well.

Give this article the High 5. And leave a comment for the dittomonkeys to ponder.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040711/ts_nm/politics_election_terror_dc_2

[havocmom]

2. If they figure out a way to cancell elections, and face it, Ashcroft must

be highly motivated as voters really must piss him off, there will be an attack and it will be MIHOP. Something that important to the junta (as they sink in the polls) would not be left to the whims of any terrorists but their terrorists.

[jeff30997]

3. MIHOP,maybe. LIHOP,absolutely.

[NightOwwl]

4. Duplicate thread (kinda)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1969309&mesg_id=1969309

[jjmalonejr]

5. Repubs keep saying that THEY want to disrupt the elections...

...so that when it happens, there's not doubt that THEY did it.

However, a measly car bomb won't be sufficient to cancel elections in most people's judgement. It would need to be something big.

[jeff30997]

10. A measly car bomb, no but...

If the car is pacted with radioactive material,the psychological impact would be enormous !:nuke:

[jjmalonejr]

16. True

But the only excuse for postponement of federal elections in such a case would be if the attack would actually impede the election process (i.e. widespread problems setting up polling places and getting voters to the polls).

The attack having some kind of psychological impact doesn't wash with me. A late-breaking story in the NY Times reporting that Bush met with Osama bin Laden at his ranch in Crawford would have a psychological impact, too, but c'est la vie. Just because late-breaking events might influence the electorate is no reason to cancel elections.

[bullimiami]

6. Could the exec branch delay or cancel elections without congress?

Short of declaring martial law?




Reichstag Fire anyone?

[iangb]

25. Congress has already handed over their Constitutional powers...

......to declare war to the Bush admin.

They've also granted Bush Presidential Emergency Powers, which pretty much enable him to do anything......without prior reference to Congress.

Much as this Admin has seen the Law, I think they see the Constitution as only a minor impediment to getting their way.

Congress doesn't seem to have the balls to get in their way either.........does it?

[Jack Rabbit]

7. We must not accept the legitimacy of marshall law

The very existence of the Bush administration, which seized control of power through fraud and manipulation, is one big fat grievence that must be redressed. Bush can never be a legitimate leader, even if he were to get every vote in the next election except mine.

There is nothing this administration does in the name of national security that is solely in the interests of national security. The war on terror is a bogus enterprise, tragically based on one with a real need. The junta uses fear of Osama as just another campaign issue to manipulate, like anecdotes about welfare queens. If the election is cancelled, it won't be because of a terrorist threat; it will be because of the certainty of Bush's defeat.

[jackstraw45]

8. Call your Congress members NOW...

Because CONGRESS is the only body that can give permission to do this.

Tell them you won't fund them, vote for them or EVER support them again if they vote to suspend.

Otherwise, they'll roll over for Bush again, give him a 1 month delay to campaign against the backdrop of tragedy AGAIN (think bullhorn), and steal ANOTHER election.


What Karl Rove wants to see before a delayed election.

[jeff30997]

9. That picture reminds me...

I was watching that on tv and the litle bastard was having the time of his life.Big smile and all...I remember how angry i was. What a scumbag!:grr:

[CrispyQ]

14. The other one that I hate is . . .

...when he's giving his speech on the carrier with the Mission Accomplished banner. He looks like he's about to cry with delight over his great successful war. ---projectile vomiting about to commence

What a prick. What a sorry excuse of a human being. I loathe George W Bush.

[cliss]

21. Isn't it true?

Look at that little scumbag, standing there with his arm around a rescue worker. Little Bush feels so proud, so momentous, so real. As he holds the megaphone close to his lips so everyone can hear his momentous words, little does he realize that the men standing next to him have 1,000% more integrity, more diligence and honor than that little weasel.

Every time I look at him, I think of these kings who were crowned at age 15, and who thought they could rule a kingdom. Ignorance and arrested development, that's what it is.

[jackstraw45]

28. It's Monday...CALL your congressional offices

and DEMAND they don't allow Bush to delay this election.

[ClassWarrior]

11. PLEASE EVERYONE KEEP THIS THREAD KICKED!!!

:kick:

:kick:

:kick:

(emailing my Congresspeople now... as well as the media...)

[orthogonal]

12. No need to postpone

Unless an attack involves the entire country (unlikely), there's no need to cancel elections anywhere but in the state(s) attacked.

Which makes me question what this would be needed for, other than giving Bush a period to do damage-control, not for the nation, but for his campaign, after an attack.

Unless of course, the postponement is meant to turn into a cancellation -- but I don't think even this Administration thinks they could get away with that.

[orthogonal]

24. I AM WRONG.

I AM WRONG.

The constitution requires election day (for president) to be the same day throughout the country:

Article 2, section 1, paragraph 4. The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

[kayell]

13. Bump - they are working way too hard to make this seem like the only

option we would have. This damn meme is everywhere this week. Check out this post re: "Some (rational) thoughts on prospect of vote delay/cancellation" http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1969577&mesg_id=1969577

[ClassWarrior]

15. Kick this people!!

Here it is in black & white.

:kick:

[thecrow]

17. kick

[kayell]

19. If elections are postponed or cancelled, the terrorists win. Repeat often

Suggested by another poster on a related thread.

Kick

[ClassWarrior]

20. If I may, Kayell...

I'd like to make this my next MEME MEMO.

Thanks.

[kayell]

22. Wonderful, thank you, but credit belongs to another poster

RatTerrier - here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1969577#1969896
in this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1969577

It's a good meme, and desperately needed to cancel out the one in that thread.

[jackstraw45]

23. Kicking...

:kick:

[theHandpuppet]

26. Is there some reason...

... that the mayors of particularly vulnerable cities (or govs of some states) couldn't be encouraging their citizens to vote absentee this year? This would seem to me a logical course to take not only to ensure the election won't be disrupted (since all states must vote on the same day), but IMHO would discourage any targeting of those cities in order to disrupt the election. IOW, such a plan would actually do much more to secure the safety of such cities and their citizens.

Perhaps this suggestion is a bit too simplistic, but why isn't this being discussed by the Justice Dept rather than a postponement of the elections?

Edited to add: It has occurred to me that the real reason BushCorp is even talking about a postponement is that there must be some suspicion that an attack, if there is one, may be on a Repug stronghold in a swing state. Do they have such intelligence which is not being shared with the public? That would explain a lot.

[jukes]

27. theHandpuppet

because they don't want an easy resolution; why create the problem o'wise? this is a b/up, contingency in the event they feel the election is lost. certain folks want to keep this admin in place.

the US public *IS* gullible enough to let them. they will bury their heads, & refuse to believe an american leader is capable of killing american citizens.

as if the serfs matter.

[gasperc]

29. God forbid, they try to ensure they take place no matter what

to show the world how a vibrant and confident democracy works

[tom_paine]

30. Well, if Imperial Amerika even WAS a democracy anymore

let alone "vibrant and confident"...

[gasperc]

31. no doubt!!, I've expanded my thoughts

I don't believe there should be a change for any reason. Every effort must be made to maintain the elections on the constitutional date to show the world that democracy can survive such an attack and is greater and more powerful than any terrorist attack. A change in the election date would be a concession to the terrorists that the people of the United States of America are a fearful, capitulating people who cower to the threat of attack or attacks themselves. All efforts must be that the elections will go as planned, that Democracy is the best way for a civilized people to be governed. We must defend this for the sake of the soldiers that have died and for those that are putting their lives on the line throughout the world today. It is for the freedom, the free will that God gave us, to choose our representatives on the day known the world over, the first Tuesday in November. Not during the civil war, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam or any other such period has the vote been "postponed", nor should it now.
Without a doubt, this is a ploy by the GOP to sow the seeds of confusion, to instill fear in the weak minded and to try and buy time to twist votes in their favor after the shock has worn off. Should the date be moved then the democracy is dead. And with the court's decision on 12/12/00 it is clearly on life support.