- Archives

"Our next governor should enter office without any doubt about the legitimacy of his or her office. The people of Washington deserve to know that their governor was elected fair and square. Unfortunately, the events of the past few weeks now make it impossible for you or me to take office on January 12 without being shrouded in suspicion." -Dino Rossi, Republican candidate for Governor of Washington, in open letter to Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire Rossi's argument is equally applicable to the Presidential election. Following an extremely flawed and probably illegal "recount" in Ohio, no one can say for sure who won that state's 20 Electoral College votes, and these 20 votes are necessary for either George Bush or John Kerry to claim a victory in the 2004 election. Following the example of the people of the Ukraine, we should demand that Ohio's 5.5 million voters be given a chance to vote for president again in a fair and transparent process. What Happened in Ohio? Many thousands of duly-registered African American voters did their civic duty and went to the polls in Ohio on Election Day. Many stood for three, four or even eight hours in the cold and rain with tired, hungry children and sick or elderly relatives. These people, whose children are disproportionately represented in the U.S. military and the Iraq war, suffered disproportionately from misallocation of voting machines, biased application of voting standards, outright harassment, and the ultimate indignity for a voter: unbeknownst to them, many of their votes were not even counted. [more]