Into the Future.....Count every Vote

[trillian]

Cross posted from dKos, where Eric Massa is live blogging

This brief weekly blog will not occupy a great deal of your time - nor will it announce new policy statements, but rather it will continue the dialogue that was started almost two years ago when I started to reach out across the net to express the political vision that became my campaign.

Randy Kuhl, my opponent in this congressional race, predicted immediately that I would leave the upstate New York area - that, of course is what he would most strongly desires. My family and I are staying right here. Corning is our home and I remain as committed to our collective and individual futures now as I was on the day that I decided to run for office some two years ago. I can only guess that Kuhl did not listen any of the numerous times I explained why I’d moved to Corning six years ago and how I’d stated repeatedly that I would be taken out of my Corning home “feet first.”

Randy Kuhl also went on the attack stating that I ran a negative campaign from day one, refusing to offer any detailed plans on anything. I can only guess that Randy did not check my website or any of my blogs on Daily Kos, TPM Café, MyDD or the Clark Community Network; if he had he would have seen a virtual library of policy statements on every major issue confronting this Nation.

The campaign is part of the past and now it’s time to move onto the future. One of great things about the future is that it is truly the "undiscovered country" - none of us knows what tomorrow will bring, and from that reality my family and I drew a great deal of strength the day after the election. Despite the reality that I would not be seated in the next Congress, I insisted that the votes needed to truly determine the election be counted before I conceded - and I was dismayed that my opponent rushed to declare victory before some 11,000 absentee votes were recorded. Those 11,000 votes represented almost twice the margin of difference. I promise to you all that I would not have issued such a victory statement and never will in any future election unless and until the remaining uncounted votes are fewer than the margin of difference. That the Republican election machine directed otherwise is a clear example of their total disrespect for the 11,000 voters who cast their ballots by paper.

This issue, the requirement to make every vote count and to count every vote, will only become of greater importance to our democracy as we move forward into our undiscovered country. So I believe that my first contribution as a post election candidate is to champion the demand for using paper ballots -- ballots that can be scanned and retained for recount and accountability as needed. A verifiable election system is job one! I hope that all voters will get involved in this effort. Now is the time to do this! Although I lost my race, Democrats across the USA won. Now is the time to take up the cause for verifiable balloting because now, when we have won, is the time when we can push this issue without sounding like sore losers. Now we can champion this cause as gracious winners.

Here in NY we currently have a county-by-county choice for ballot type. Our new Democratic Governor can get involved and change previous decisions leaving this choice to the counties. - I urge Governor-elect Spitzer to put in place the requirement for state wide optically scanned paper ballots to avoid having the voters of New York using 8 different kinds of machines during the next election. This seemingly simple decision is at the heart and soul of the very exercise of our democracy, and it is a subject that demands attention at the local as well as national level.

Over the coming weeks and months I will continue to post ideas, alternatives and commentary. Also, we will be changing out our campaign web site from a purely campaign theme to one that will move to build rural roots for the Party of FDR in Western New York. I look forward to staying in touch.

Please know what a deep and meaningful honor having been a candidate is. Your support throughout this campaign was the core energy source for so many of our days on the trail and I simply do not have the ability to express my personal gratitude for all your thoughtfulness and help.

I am looking forward to staying in touch with great anticipation of moving forward together into the undiscovered country.