be on alert!!!, page-52

re: alert!!! grant - rigged election Grant62,

I admit it's not like you to get your facts wrong but you made a serious error - Florida Secretary of State Kathleen Harris is a Republican! In fact she was the cochair of the Bush campaign! She acted in a totally partisan way and frankly any federal electoral system which is conducted under states law is rife for corruption.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

The chief executive officer of the state, the governor, and ultimate overseer of election statutes, was Jeb Bush, younger brother of the candidate. It is relevant to note that the exit polling data from Voter News Service, based on strategically-placed questioning of large numbers of actual voters who just voted, has an incredible record of historical accuracy. If their data shows the election to be excessively close (as in New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin) they say it is "too close to call." Their record is so impressive and reliable that Dan Rather (using their numbers) said that "if we call a state, you can put it in the bank." The data reflecting the intended votes in Florida showed that it was close, but that Gore was the clear winner, which is why the state was called for him early on, and consistent with the calculations by the Miami Herald cited previously. Voter News Service and the networks have been criticized for this rare "mistake" but based on the facts, it appears that Voter News Service and the networks were not wrong at all. When the state was first called for Gore, Jeb Bush and his staff objected, saying they knew there were more votes for Dubya. How did they know that? The actual votes had not been counted yet! If Jeb Bush "knew" something, it could only have been because he "knew" he could control the delivery of enough votes to make the difference. This is the same governor who had previously VETOED a voter education measure passed by his own Republican legislature ... and then joined the chorus of those critical of senior citizen or inexperienced voters who were confused by ballots that clearly violated legal requirements.

The secretary of state, Kathleen Harris, with immediate responsibility for oversight of election procedures, was a partisan Republican loyal to Jeb Bush and a state co-chair of the Bush campaign, who repeatedly disregarded election statutes and judicial decisions made prior to the election to make sure that votes would never be counted if they came from areas that would likely be recorded for Gore.

The state legislature, which claimed the right to simply disregard the election count and disenfranchise voters if their votes were actually counted showing Gore as the winner, was controlled by Republicans in both houses. Their absurd claim for this tyrannical disregard of voters, which certainly would have been challenged if implemented, was from Article II section I of the U.S. Constitution which states: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors...." It is important to note that this provision does not say they will choose the electors, but that they will direct the manner of such choosing. Subsequent enabling legislation specified that such procedures must be those in place prior to the election. They could have directed a manner of their own choosing of electors if they had done so prior to the election. However the method they had directed prior to the election date was one of direct election by voters. They did NOT have the right, after the election, to change this manner they had directed for the choosing of electors. Claiming such power was purely an exercise in Republican dictatorship.

The U.S. Supreme Court was made up of seven judges appointed by Republicans. Of these, two had clear familial conflicts of interest which should have required their recusal, and two had expressed conditions of bias which were likely not recusable, but which demonstrated a lack of judicial impartiality. More detail on this near the end of this web page.