-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/0/_/1406/_/975594838/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com Wednesday November 29 12:23 PM ET NAACP Plans Suit Over Voting Biases By SHEILA HOTCHKIN, Associated Press Writer BALTIMORE (AP) - NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said Wednesday that the nation's largest civil rights organization plans to sue over alleged voting irregularities in the presidential election in Florida. Mfume said the NAACP will sue the state and several counties, seeking unspecified relief. The NAACP also is asking local chapters to hold hearings into whether voting irregularities occurred in other states. The NAACP president said he already has presented the Justice Department (news - web sites) with complaints of voting irregularities, but the NAACP has received only one telephone call in response, simply thanking him for the referral. ``This is a strange stance from this Justice Department, which continues to get colder as it nears the end of its term,'' Mfume said. The NAACP hopes to sue soon, perhaps by next week, Mfume said. The civil rights group also plans to organize demonstrations nationwide protesting the treatment of minority voters on Election Day, Mfume said. Two days after the election, Mfume called for sweeping federal involvement in the Florida presidential race, asking the Justice Department to investigate complaints of election irregularities and for federal marshals to supervise the ballot recount. NAACP field workers in Florida alleged then that four ballot boxes in heavily black precincts, including the Richmond Heights section of Miami, were not picked up. Mfume also cited several other incidents at the time, which he said suggested efforts to dilute the minority vote in Florida. ***** http://www.nycny.com/columns/rogers/toby11-28-00.html Gazette Staff/ New York City GVG EXCLUSIVE! CHENEY'S WYOMING RESIDENCY IS CHALLENGED IN NEW FEDERAL LAWSUIT A federal lawsuit is being filed today by 1,915 citizens from all fifty states in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, challenging the legal status of Dick Cheney's Wyoming residency that he declared in July 2000. According to attorney Phillip J. Berg, of Philadelphia, PA., who is representing the citizens filing this action, Mr. Cheney "does not live in Wyoming and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney both reside in Texas." The lawsuit cites the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution which states that state electors cannot vote for presidential ticket where both candidates are "inhabitants of the same state." Mr. Berg claims "the electors of Texas cannot vote for two people from the same state. The court is being asked to nullify the electoral votes from Texas since Mr. Cheney does not meet the residency requirements in Wyoming. There is no question that Mr. Cheney has been and still is an inhabitant of the state of Texas." Wyoming law does specify that establishing residency does require twelve months to finalize, even if, as in Mr. Cheney's case, one has lived in the state in the past as a legal resident. Mr. Cheney, originally from Wyoming, moved to Dallas, Texas in 1995 when he became Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton Company. Mr. Cheney has also received special tax credit, under the Texas Homestead Exemption Act, on his mansion in Dallas due to his current Texas residency status. Mr. Berg thinks the law will prevail and that "George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and James Baker have been talking about following the Constitution and not creating new laws, so I'm curious to how they will react to this lawsuit, which goes to the heart of their argument of following the Constitution." ***** Ballots are fed into the counting machine in the Seminole County city of Sanford on Nov. 9. Another supervisor scrutinized Seminole County prepares for its close-up, and an elections official faces accusations of needling Democrats and illegally abetting the GOP. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Jake Tapper Nov. 28, 2000 | TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In Florida, where all local politics is national, a losing Democratic candidate for commissioner in Seminole County has a grievance with the election supervisor that suddenly could have far greater importance. Dean Ray, 40, says that election supervisor Sandy Goard would not allow him to fix the petition signatures he submitted to her in order to run for office. And that complaint has some significance since Goard, a Republican, is being sued by a local Democrat, in a case set to be heard Wednesday in Leon County Circuit Court, that alleges that Goard illegally allowed GOP operatives to fill in crucial missing information on Republican absentee ballot applications that had been rejected. Should the Democrat prevail in the suit, which has garnered far less attention than other, larger suits brought by both campaigns, it could decisively swing the election for Vice President Al Gore. Ray, who operates his own kitchen appliances sales-and-service shop in Sanford, Fla., says that in March he submitted almost 900 signatures to Goard as part of the 1,862 he needed to secure his name on the ballot, and that Goard "rejected about 30 percent of them. So I requested that she give me the rejected ones back, and I could take them back to the people" to fill in the missing information. "But she stated to me that once they were turned in they became part of the public record, and she wouldn't give them back." So instead of submitting the required number of ballots, he ended up paying a $3,788 filing fee so that he could run (though he eventually lost in his bid). Goard confirms much of Ray's story. "When Mr. Ray submitted his petition, he submitted 831 signatures," she says. "When we checked, 644 were valid, 25 were rejected for having invalid signatures, 12 were duplicates, five weren't signed, six were voters we didn't recognize, 14 were inactive [voters] and 125 weren't registered voters." Goard said that she didn't remember Ray asking for them to be returned to him, but that she wouldn't have given them back if he had. "They were turned into the office and at that point they became public record," she says. Florida Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe charges that Goard's treatment of Ray was in complete contrast with what she allowed state Republican Party operatives to do with absentee ballot applications. According to Poe, the charge against Goard contrasts strikingly with Ray's complaint: In October and November, the lawsuit alleges, Goard allowed Republican operative Michael Leach and volunteer Ryan Mitchell to set up shop in her office for 10 days. There they filled in missing voter ID numbers on 4,700 Republican Party-printed absentee ballot applications that otherwise would have been scrapped. "It's obvious that the supervisor of elections has too cozy of a relationship with the Republican Party and has a double standard," Poe says. "She applies the law for the Democratic Party and violates the law for the Republicans." Goard refuses to discuss any aspect of the lawsuit against her. "I'm not going to talk about the absentee ballot request," she says repeatedly when asked about differences between the cases -- why she made allowances for the state GOP that she didn't make for Ray, for instance, or whether there was a legal difference between petition signatures and absentee ballot applications that would make one, upon receipt, public property while the other one was apparently considered a work-in-progress of some sort. The suit seeks to eliminate all 15,000 absentee ballots in the county, which Gov. George W. Bush won over Vice President Al Gore 10,006 to 5,209. Though legal experts suggest that such a move is unlikely, a ruling in favor of the plaintiff, Harry Jacobs -- a member of the county's Democratic Executive Board -- would effectively hand the presidency to Gore. In an interview with Salon last week, Jacobs' attorney, Richard Siwica of Orlando, noted the relevance of a recent Miami scandal and subsequent law. After massive absentee ballot fraud during the 1998 Miami mayor's race -- a scandal in which Gore attorney Kendall Coffey got his client installed as mayor by having every single absentee ballot thrown out -- the Florida legislature passed a statute that makes it illegal to request an absentee ballot for a third party unless you're in his immediate family or his guardian. These Republican operatives are guilty of violating this law, Siwica said, which is a third-degree felony. In a press conference Tuesday morning in which a team of lawyers one- by-one shot down many of Gore's key points in contesting the election, Bush's man in Tallahassee -- former Secretary of State James Baker -- dismissed the Seminole County suit rather flippantly. "We're not concerned about Seminole County," Baker said. "We do not think that that claim has merit." But Bush attorney Barry Richard subsequently did address the matter, noting that "the challenge doesn't involve ballots -- it involves applications for absentee ballots. Under Florida law, any person can assist a voter in filling out an application for an absentee ballot." What happened in Goard's office was "perfectly lawful," Richard said. Maybe. But to Ray, at least, Goard could have shown him the same courtesy. "If I wasn't allowed to even take the petition back, but she allowed someone else to come in her office and fill in those numbers, that's worse than a double standard," he says. Ray, a father of eight, doesn't sound too down about any of this, however. Having lost races for mayor of Sanford in 1996, city commissioner in 1998 and 1999, and most recently county commissioner, he's gearing up for another run for mayor next year. "Maybe this [court case] will clear up the rules," he says. "I just picked up my package to be a candidate for mayor, and there's less than 50 days to file for the next election." salon.com - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer Jake Tapper is the Washington correspondent for Salon News. ***** 11-30-2000 LA Times An Election Carol by Paul Krassner Martin Scrooge, great-grandson of the legendary Ebenezer Scrooge, may be the CEO of a multinational corporation--Octopus & Illuminati, the ultimate merger--but like any ordinary American citizen, he had trouble sleeping the other night. He was at the height of REM, in the middle of a pleasant dream, romping in the woods with his dog, Snippy, when he was suddenly awakened by an ethereal figure standing at his bedside. ³Who are you? asked the startled Scrooge. ³And what do you want?² ³I am the Ghost of Election Past. And Iım just doing my job. Iım supposed to remind you of the presidential election of 1968. As you know, John F. Kennedy won by fraudulent methods. Do you realize what that means? If Richard Nixon had won as he should have, then JFK would be alive today and there would have been no Watergate scandal.² ³Well, you canıt change the past.² ³Tell me about it. I live with a profound sense of futility every day.² ³What you need is a good antidepressant. Ask your spin doctor about...² * * * Scrooge had gone back to sleep when, once again, he was suddenly awakened by another ethereal figure standing at his bedside. ³Donıt tell me,² said Scrooge. ³Let me guess. You must be the Ghost of Election Present.² ³Oh, God, am I that obvious?² ³Are you kidding? Youıre absolutely transparent.² ³Well, Iım totally discombobulated. Everything is in litigation. In Florida, there are ballot counters who have filed lawsuits because they developed carpal tunnel syndrome. In Washington, the Supreme Court is going to decide whether pregnant chads are entitled to partial-birth abortions.² ³Calm down now. Youıll be all right.² ³Thatıs easy for you to say, youıre just hallucinating, but me, Iım stuck on the cusp between real life and show biz. This is all actually happening, yet at the same time itıs all one big sitcom. George W. Bush is George Costanza in that episode of ŒSeinfeldı where he acts as if he works at this company, only now the stress has resulted in boils all over his face, and each one is covered with a Band-aid. Whereas Al Gore is Bill Murray in that movie ŒBobı where he unremittingly stalks his psychiatrist, only now heıs stalking an entire focus group.² ³Speaking of shrinks, I think you ought to get help from one yourself.² ³Listen, youıd be going nuts if you couldnıt tell the difference between reality and satire any more. Satire has been nipping at the heels of reality for the past few decades, but I can tell you the precise moment that reality finally overtook satire. It happened in Cuba, when Fidel Castro offered to come to the United States and oversee the election recounts. And weıve received similar offers: from Jerry Adams in Ireland and Nelson Mandela in South Africa; from Jimmy Carter in Georgia and Larry Flynt in Los Angeles. But one thing is certain. Whoever becomes president will think that he deserves it.² ³Do me a favor, will you? Let me go back to sleep. I have to take a meeting with the Ghost of Election Future. Itıs already on my to-do list.² * * * Right on schedule, the Ghost of Election Future arrived at Scroogeıs bedside. ³Greetings,² said Scrooge. ³Strange, isnıt it, how things evolve? Traditionally I would have been influenced by the visits of you Election Ghosts, and consequently I would abandon greed for compassion. But itıs different now that trickle-down greed affects stockholders who welcome the downsizing of employees because it means more profits. And itıs also different now that government-by-bipartisan-bribery has become such an open secret. There has been a severe case of role reversal, and now Iım the one whoıs influencing you. So tell me, because I find these charades, oh, so very entertaining, what do you foresee will occur in the 2004 election?² The Ghost of Election Future sighed deeply, as though participating in a debate, and then began: ³Okay, Iıll skip the part about who the candidates will be--you can decide that for yourself--and Iıll cut right to the chase. New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will lead a crusade to eliminate the electoral college, but her proposed law will lose in the popular vote. The drug war will become a huge campaign issue. Medical-marijuana protesters will carry placards insisting, ŒStatesı Rights--Not Just For Racists Anymore!ı Other demonstrators will have signs demanding, ŒEnd Welfare For Pharmaceutial Companies Now!² Police on horseback will be chanting, ŒWhose streets? Our streets!ı There will be several new third parties, from the Anarchist Party to the Lawyers Party, but the Greens will remain the most prominent. And the slogan of Democrats and liberals will be ŒA vote for Ralph Nader is a vote for John McCain....ı² ------- Paul Krassner is the author of ³Sex, Drugs and the Twinkie Murders: 40 Years of Countercultural Journalism² (Loompanics Unlimited) and ³Pot Stories For the Soul² (High Times Books). If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist/ and sign up. Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) Visit the Klub Konformist at Yahoo!: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/klubkonformist
