MoveOn Joins Six Democratic Congressmen Calling For Election Investigation

By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
November 12, 2004

Liberal online political action group MoveOn.org, who attempted vigorously and unsuccessfully to prevent President George W. Bush from winning a second term in office, asked its members on Thursday to lobby their members of Congress to "investigate the vote" in the 2004 election.

"Questions are swirling around whether the election was conducted honestly or not," MoveOn.org explained in an e-mail. "We need to know -- was it or wasn't it?"

Convinced that there were people who were "prevented from voting" and claiming that "legitimate votes were miscounted or not counted at all," MoveOn.org said they want those responsible to "be held accountable" to "prevent this from happening again."

MoveOn.org said there are several Democratic "members of Congress ... demanding an investigation to answer this question," including Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), ranking member on the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-VA), ranking member on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, Rep. Melvin Watt (D-NC), ranking member on the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ).

These six Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter to the U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker on Monday asking the Government Accountability Office to conduct this investigation into the 2004 election, citing numerous complaints from voters.

"The decision on whether or not there will be an investigation could come as soon as Monday," MoveOn.org stated.

Asking its members to sign a petition called "Investigate the Vote," MoveOn.org said, "We need to show Congress that hundreds of thousands of Americans are serious about protecting the integrity of the vote."

Admitting that they have heard many stories about voter problems and cannot decipher which ones are true or not, MoveOn.org said cases in Broward County, Florida and Columbus, Ohio have them most concerned.

"In Broward County, Florida, electronic voting machines counted backwards: as more people voted, the official vote count went down," MoveOn.org alleged. "In one Columbus, Ohio suburb, election officials have acknowledged that electronic voting machines credited Bush with winning 4,258 votes, even though only 638 people voted there."

Exclaiming that these are the only places that they "know something went wrong," MoveOn.org said there were "lot of reports of people being denied ballots on Election Day."

Despite making this assertion without providing any evidence for it, MoveOn.org conceded "these reports remain anecdotal."

"But they must be compiled and examined," MoveOn.org commented.

Acknowledging the plethora of leftist conspiracy theories on the Internet regarding the wide discrepancies between the exit polls showing Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry ahead versus Bush's eventual win in the actual vote totals, MoveOn.org is asking for its members to share their story about how they may have been "prevented from voting."

Additionally, MoveOn.org is asking its members to join the six Democratic members of Congress asking for an investigation and "asking our own Representatives and Senators to join them."

"These [six Democratic] members of Congress have agreed to include our stories and comments in their call for an investigation," MoveOn.org revealed, noting that the comments will be delivered to them on Friday.

"To keep our faith in democracy, we need to know the facts," MoveOn.org concluded. "Your signature, and your story if you have one, will help."