just got email from frank lautenberg nj about election

[flyarm]

i just got this email from Senator Frank Lautenberg n.j. ..i live in both fla and nj so i contact them all as my own reps..although i registered to vote in fla as i thought my vote and work was more needed here in fla. funny but i recieved nothing from my fla senator!! yes you know the one who voted for gonzalez yesterday, bill nelson!! ( i am spitting mad)

but this is Senator Lautenbergs reply to me!


February 3, 2005


Mrs. xxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Long Beach Township, NJ 08008

Dear xxxxxx:

Thank you for contacting me about the certification of the 2004 presidential election by Congress on January 6th, 2005. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

The electoral vote results are counted and declared at a Joint Session of Congress, convened in the chamber of the House of Representatives. The electoral vote certificates from each State are opened and counted in alphabetical order, after which the results are announced by the Vice President. Objections may be offered to both individual electoral votes and State returns as a whole. They must be filed in writing and signed by one Senator and one Representative. Once a valid objection is raised, the electoral vote count session is recessed, the Senate returns to its chamber, and the two houses of Congress consider the objection separately for no more than two hours. The Senate and House of Representatives vote separately to agree or disagree with the objection, and then the joint session reconvenes. If both houses agree to the objection, then the electoral vote or votes in question are not counted. Otherwise, the vote or votes stand as submitted, and are counted as such.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) raised an objection to the counting of the Ohio electoral votes. They made it clear that their goal was not to overturn the results of the presidential election; rather, it was to raise awareness of disenfranchisement and voting irregularities in Ohio and nationwide.

After the Senate returned to its chamber, I spoke on the Senate floor about legislation I will introduce to remove the inherent conflict of interest that exists when state election administration officials, such as the Secretary of State, actively participate in the campaign of a candidate running for federal office in their State. That is just one issue that needs to be addressed in the larger effort of electoral reform.

Thank you again for contacting me.

[New Earth]

1. cool

he wrote me back too, but the one he sent me was different. wow, for once a Senator writes personalized replies!!!

[ucmike]

2. i haven't received a reply from any nj reps.

i've written more than a dozen polite, clearly written emails (no rants) and have not even received so much as a form letter response from any of them.

bitches.

[meganmonkey]

5. You'd probably be more likely to get a response if

you send a fax. They seem to take them more seriously, and take the time to read them (or have them read, anyway). Paper mail is okay too, but due to security concerns it takes a long toime to get to them. So the concensus seems to be faxes.

[itzamirakul]

3. If you decide to reply to his reply to you, maybe you might

mention the desperate need for election reform - a return to a paper trail as being imperative.

[flyarm]

4. from what andy says...

we need to remove the word "trail from everything we say about voting reform...now i am a computer idiot..i have no knowledge of how this little machine of mine works..if it doesn't work i call a guy to come fix it...i have no techincal skills...zip....but i have been reading all of andy s. posts and paper trails are not our answer in fact they will be our downfall...and as a poll watcher , and i was used in dec to run a test in my county on es&s sequoia machines..paper trails do us no good..its all in the codes and the tabulators..and without codes we are screwed...maybe andy can speak to this in more simplistic terms , for we who are technically challanged...
but from what i understand and what i have tried to get through to the powers that be in dem party here where i am in fla..we want .....paper ballots verified...
you can use optical scan with very strict oversight and regulations... but no dre's ( i think e-voting machines...no machines ..none with secret codes!!! not even with paper trails..paper is worthless without the codes)

i could have this all screwed up..but from the tests i did on sequoia, i was told by the people running the test..that basically the test was worthless without the codes for the tabulator..and that would be the same with or without paper trails..so paper trails are no friend of ours...

i know this sounds simplistic to those of you computer wizzes..but i am not so i need it in simplistic terms and others might as well. thank you for bareing with me..

but please all who are like me...stop saying paper trails for e voting machines..that does us no good...

we need paper ballots verified.

if i am wrong on this please please someone correct me...i cant educate people in my area if i have it wrong..but all i keep hearing
here in sw fla is paper trails and i am screaming nooooooo...

help me if i am wrong on this!!

thanks all you wonderful people at d.u.!!

fly

[itzamirakul]

6. Well, I am with you because I prefer paper ballots, verified, also

but I was trying to be "politically correct" in my first response because I heard everyone talking about "paper trails." Until you explained it a little better, I did not understand that a paper trail from an e machine still did not guarantee honesty in tabulation.

[flyarm]

7. well i am not..

100% sure i am right about this..but i " think" that is what andy has tried to get through ..my thick skull doesn't always "get" this technical stuff...but andy just posted something that i feel is invaluable to all of us who are technically challanged!!

Democratic Underground Forums - This is a speech given by my former campaign manager Gentry Lange.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x316579

of course this post is much more coherrent than anything i could write about the electronic voting...

i keep hearing it said where i live all wrong by the people in the dem party here, and that concerns me..we won't get it fixed if we are misinformed or we don't have the terms correct , or the process correct..we will only be doing a disservice to our democracy by replacing one bad system with another bad system..and i am sick of the bad systems and the fraud here in fla!!

all i know is i want to get it fixed and get it fixed right!!

fly:hi:

[Andy_Stephenson]

10. Paper trails

http://www.smickandsmodoo.com/aaa/saloon/happy.mid

Some trails are happy trails
Others not so fun
it's the way you use the trail that counts
rigging vote machines is fun

Chorus

Paper trails to you so we can steal your vote
Paper trails to you, we do it by remote
Cryptography hipocracy it's secret
What we really want is a paper ballot
paper trails to you so you'll think you won

Paper trails to you so we can steal your vote
Paper trails to you, we do it by remote
Cryptography hipocracy it's secret
What we really want is a paper ballot
paper trails to you so you'll think you won

[Andy_Stephenson]

9. Big Kiss and Hug Fly

your real close.

"voter verified paper ballots"

:loveya:

[Andy_Stephenson]

8. Fly took care of the terminology

a voter verified paper ballot

Read my sig line.

Thanks