Hit-and-Run Vote Counting: Bush has no mandate from this tainted election

[rehema]

I do not recall reading this article here. Sorry if it is a duplicate

Hit-and-Run Vote Counting

If you are injured when a car speeds through a stop sign, you have the legal right to confront the driver and get compensation for your injuries. If it is a hit-and-run, witnesses can note the license plate and report it to authorities for resolution of the matter

In the voting arena, unfortunately, no such rules of the road seem to apply. Republicans in many states went out of their way to violate the spirit and letter of the Voting Rights Act during campaign 2004, yet now they are moving ahead as if a fair fight had been won and the rest of us should just accept defeat.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who has monitored elections in many countries struggling with the transition to democracy, said that if America were a Third World country, our Nov. 2 election would not have been certified by international monitors. We have no nonpartisan elections commission with enforcement powers; our candidates do not receive free and equal access to the media; voting procedures vary by county and state; and some localities do not keep paper trails to verify recounts.

Bush has no mandate from this tainted election. Rather, as a self-proclaimed man of Christ, he has a moral obligation to speak out against both the brazen and covert acts that resulted in the disenfranchisement of so many voters, particularly in poor and minority communities. To refuse to speak out is to suggest that Mr. Bush sees nothing wrong with winning by cheating. And if he is so sure that no cheating took place, then he has all the more reason to call for hearings.

http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=cdb0d8161995168122b4806a62c98069&this_category_id=169