Hey Why Not!
Here Are Some Useful Things to Keep in Mind

While you on your Senator's web site to gather his snail mail or email addresses,
jot down his phone number and call him or her.

Why Write and then Back Your Letter with a Call Too?
Your Representatives pay more attention to phone calls and letters than they do emails.
If you call and told him you wrote, but American Democracy and the Right and Responsibility to Count Every Vote in America is Too Important to Leave to Sending a Single Letter.

Keep in mind, that you won't be talking to the Senator him or herself. An aide of some sort will take the call. It won't hurt to get the name and the position of whomever you speak to.

Information contained in the letter can be used for your talking points.

• State what you are calling for..
  
• Be prepared to state your request that
  your Senator- Stands Up and Contest the Election Results
  and Asks for a Official Investigation
• Make sure you tell his office that you would strongly support such a Brave Act as Standing Up for American Democracy
• Talking Points: Give the reason why you want your Representative to do as you request.
• Transmit Your Sense of Urgency.
• Ask how your Senator Stands on this matter.
• Be as Prepared as Possible to Argue Your Case for Your Senator to Contest the Election.
  Insist he NOT IGNORE the massive amount of Voter Intimidation, Documented Election Irregularities, and Lack of a Paper Trail to Even Make an Accurate Full Recount.
  Ask him or her What He or She is Going To Do About It
• There's Nothing FAIR About Any of this.
  Now Would Be an Appropriate Time To Show Your Anger at and your Impatience with an Elected Official who is Unwilling to Back the Constitution. Support Basic Fairness.Go with the Amassed Evidence

  Preparing a list ahead of time, of what you feel to be the most important evidence that backs the legitmacy of your request, is a good way to go about this.
  In other words, be your own lobbyist.

  The phone call should only take about 2 minutes of your time or less.

And thank you from the bottom of our hearts:
Who Thanks You? You have the gratitude of many. Including future generations of unborn Americans who were born to taste the Freedoms that are Ours. The freedoms that some are so arrogantly attempting to take away from US.

The part you are playing right now, when it is so badly needed in helping save our democracy
is as welcome as it is necessary.

this page posted on Wed. Dec. 9, 2004

To sum this thread up briefly, in an email sent out by Congressional Candidate Mike Byron states that the House Dems are ready to contest the election if one Senator will join in.

Byron writes "Last week I requested that Cong. Bob Filner join in with other members of Congress in requesting an investigation by the General Accounting Office of apparent voting irregularities and discrepancies arising from the Nov. 2nd election. In agreeing to take this action, I received the below reply from his Campaign Manager Frank Salazar on the Congressman’s behalf. Note this excerpt (quoting Congressperson. Barbara Lee CA) from that reply:"

ed's note: to keep matters clear, this is Babara Lee writing the following...quoted by Congressman Bob Filner's Campaign manager who is quoting from an email written by her.

"One senator and one House Representative are required to contest an election result prior to inauguration.

But, certainly, the more Congresspeople the merrier. The questions remains, however, which, if any, Senator will stand up for democracy? Will it be Barbara Boxer, the so-called 3rd-most vote getter in the 2004 election? Or will we have another terrible scene like the one from Fahrenheit 911 where not one Senator will contest?"
end of Lee quote. Now going back to Mike Bryon.

"Perhaps WE should be asking Sen Boxer to be that Senator. Particularly if clear evidence of voting misconduct in Ohio, Florida, or any other states arises. There is already, sufficient evidence of massive interference with the Ohio election http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/89... to meet this standard.

Also Bev Harris of blackboxvoting.org has uncovered significant physical evidence of vote stealing in Florida (see http://www.blackboxvoting.org for details).

In conjunction with the several statistical studies showing massive and astronomically improbable irregularities in reported vote totals and their divergences from scientifically valid exit polls (see http://onlinejournal.com/evoting/112004Waldman/112004wa... for a concise summary) it is clear that something is very seriously amiss with respect to the reported results of (s)election 2004

I thank Cong. Filner for standing up bravely for our democracy, and think that as soon as we can see the totality of credible, specific evidence that is uncovered, that we should unleash a letter, e-mail, phone and fax, campaign to request Sen. Boxer to join with members of the House (see Cong. Barbara Lee’s letter just below Cong. Filner’s below appended reply to my query) in contesting the suspect election results on Jan 6th. As this investigation may take some time Bush’s inauguration as "President" will have to be canceled pending the outcome of the investigation as is appropriate in a lawful, Constitution abiding society.

Please forward"

ed's note:
For the full text and response thread form DU members, go to the DU link provided above. It makes for some interesting reading. Do I detect REAL Democracy in action? I'm betting on it.

What we have here is people in the know talking amongst themselves. They obviously are wanting the word of what they are talking about to spread. And believe me, when it hits the DU, it spreads. One important item I noted was that the media only has 3 House members as signatories on the GAO letter. Where as of now there are actually 14.

When it comes to honestly reporting on the 2004 election theft, leave it to the media to underplay and use old numbers on what they can't ignore.

Our efforts are part of an overall effort. It isn't enough for me to write a letter myself. I feel an urgent need to extend the opportunity to you.

In other words, this campaign to write our senators hasn't originated here from us. To judge by the posts on the DU, there is already a letter writing campaign in full swing.

Message Body: This coming Monday, December 13th, the Electoral College is slated to cast its votes for President in state capitols across the country. Meanwhile, the recounts in Ohio and New Mexico will have only just begun. No Stolen Elections!, together with dozens of other organizations, has called for nationwide protests on December 13th to defend the recounts, to make visible the many voting rights violations and election irregularities which call into question the integrity of the 2004 election, and to demand real reforms to protect, extend, and deepen democracy. See: http://www.Nov3.US

No Stolen Elections! also endorses the following action plan, which is a product of the Coalition Against Election Fraud working in cooperation with Truth in Elections:

STRATEGIC ACTION FOR AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON THE 2004 ELECTION CERTIFICATION PROCESS & for shining a light on voting rights violations

Outlined here are campaigns to impact three parties to the election count verification process:

- The Electoral College vote on December 13th in each state (mostly at state capitols) - Congressional certification of the Electoral College vote, Jan. 6th, U.S. Congress - Secretaries of State who acted in partisan and potentially unethical or illegal ways

These campaigns are listed in order of priority. Given that December 13th is very close, outreach to Electoral College delegates has to be our immediate, top priority for the next five days. The next priority are U.S. Representatives and Senators who are scheduled to vote to certify the Electoral College results on January 6th in Washington, D.C. Last in priority, more of a long-range campaign, are the problematic Secretaries of State.

You can do these right now in your state, depending on who your Electoral College Delegates, your Congresspeople and your Secretary of State are. Below we lay out some general ideas for how to do this in your state but please use your own creativity and initiative. Particularly for the Electoral College work, speed is essential.

Contact Truth in Elections for more help at http://www.EconHumanRights.org/truth/ or Grace C Ross at econhmnrts@aol.com

Target 2): US Senators and Representatives Goals:

• To get at least one Senator and one Congressperson to object to the Electoral College Vote Certification.
• To create visibility for election problems ­ the submission of an objection means the two houses must separate and debate and then vote separately. Imagine two hours of debate in both sides of the Congress on the length and breadth of the voting violations in a state.
• To gum up the process as a protest against voting rights violations and fraud.

  Steps:

  1. Identify any progressive US Senators or Representatives who might do this.. Remember the roadblock to the filing of an objection to the 2000 presidential vote was that there was no US Senator willing to join the objection motion made by about a dozen Representatives . It requires at least

  2. Reach out to your networks, explaining the importance of putting pressure on these people right now , especially if someone has a direct connection to them.

  3. If necessary for your networks, put together some basic information on election irregularities and voting rights violations.

  4. Try to arrange a meeting with local Representatives or Senators. They're back home now from D.C. so this is a good time to try to do so. If possible, include people in your delegation who work on issues of concern to the elected representative or who have a direct or indirect connection to them.

  5. Start a call-in/fax campaign as well, or if you can't get a meeting, have the call-in/fax campaign include a demand for a meeting.

  6. Help them see reasons beyond the win or lose structure- this is an opportunity to be an advocate for one of the most deeply held American values, to stand for the rights of all people, justice and equality. Impress upon them that there are a lot of voters who feel strongly about this issue.

  7. Urge them to commit to object on January 6 or to take the lead on finding others.

  8. Get a commitment.

  9. Communicate any positive results, or elected officials who seem to be leaning our way but need extra pressure, to us so that we can do what we can on a national level to strengthen our overall efforts.

Copied from somewhere off the web:
28th November 2004 -

The current frame is:

"Move along now. We’ve got our "ofishyl" vote count - you have to prove a crime was committed or you’ll be ignored."

The NEW FRAME is:

"Your vote-counts are demonstrably false (not just uncertain), demonstrably discriminatory (unlawful), both racially and in favor of bush voters.

"You must provide a transparent audit of your election procedures, failures, and data of all kinds OR WE INTEND TO DEMAND that your state’s electors be DISALLOWED on Jan. 6th in Congress."

This new frame must be propagated amongst ourselves first. The short version is that "they have the burden of proof." And this goes for ALL states, not just swingers. They boosted totals everywhere to manufacture the pop-vote propaganda tool.

We must convince, first ourselves, then our supposed "leaders" and allies, of the Constitutional Right we have (equal protection - Bush v. Gore, heh) to demand this proof. And put our leaders on notice that they HAVE THE DUTY to support us in this. It is not optional.

Please watch my diary at dKos, as I will soon be posting a "Declaration of Intention" document that we will be attempting to get signed by ALL Members of Congress.

Does letter writing help? Certainly. Will it help in this instance? Only time will tell if there is a Senator brave enough to stand up and contest. If just one single Senator does, the rules by which our Representatives operate by, state that a full official investigation must ensue.

If this happens the inauguration of the President must be put
on hold until the investigation is completed.

It isn't out of the question that Kerry could still live in the White House. Granted under the present circumstances this seems very unlikely that Bush is deposed.

Yet look at the amount of ground already covered in what has amounted to a citizens movement? Without much help from the media and very little from the branches of government that should be doing the investigating, we have got as far as seeing a group of House Representatives willing to join us.

Please believe me when I say that it will be easier to depose of our illegally (s)elected President, now than after the inauguration. Not to mention saving the USA a LOT of grief. To attempt to useat him NOW is critically important folks.

Please note that the letter we offer is aimed at Democratic Party Senators. It is highly doubtful that a Republican Senator would break ranks and speak out at this point. Actually there is doubt that ANY Senator will. To point back to the Senate's record, not a single Senator spoke out in 2000 when they could have and most certainly should have.

This makes it all the more important to put unremitting public pressure on them from their own constituency.

We have until Congress opens the Electoral College's votes on January 6, 2005 to find and persuade our hero to come forward.

In this short amouint of time we must persuade one and preferably more than one Senator that instead of being villified and ruined by standing up for truth and justice in the face of deceit and the threat heavy tactics this White House and their cronies are so well known for, that just the opposite will be the case. That their political capital will grow, and so liberty and democracy can once again flourish in our country.

All over America, this effort to see deocratic fairness prevail keeps growing folks.
Please join in.