Michael Moore's e-mail to U.S. Senators

Tuesday, January 4th, 2005

Dear Members of the U.S. Senate,

Welcome back! The 109th session of Congress has just
begun. I'm watching you on C-SPAN right now and you
all look so snap-happy and clean-faced. It's like the first
day of school all over again, isn't it?

I have a favor to ask of you. Something isn't right
with the vote from Ohio. Seems a lot of people
didn't get to vote. And those who did, thousands of
theirs weren't counted.

Does that seem right to you? I'm just asking.
Forget about partisan politics for a moment and ask
yourself if there is a more basic right, in a democracy,
than the right of the people to vote AND have ALL their
votes counted.

Now, I know a lot of you wish this little problem of
Ohio would just go away. And many of you who wish
this are Democrats. You just want to move on (no pun
intended!). I can't say I blame you. It's rough to
lose two elections in a row when the first one you
actually won and the second one you should have won.
And it seems this time around, about 3 million more
Americans preferred to continue the war in Iraq and
give the rich more tax breaks than those who didn't.
No sense living in denial about that.

But something isn't right in Ohio and more than a
dozen members of the House of Representatives
believe it is worth investigating.

So on Thursday at 1:00pm, Rep. John Conyers of
Detroit will rise and object to the vote count in
Ohio. According to the laws of this land, he will
not be allowed to speak unless at least one of you
-- one member of the United States Senate -- agrees
to let him have the floor.

A very embarrassing moment during the last session
of Congress occurred in the first week when none of
you would allow the members of Congress who were
black to have the floor to object to the Florida
vote count. Remember that? You thought no one would
ever notice, didn't you? You certainly lucked out
that night when the networks decided not to show how
you shut down every single member of the
Congressional Black Caucus.

No such luck this year. Everyone now knows about
that moment of shame. Thank you? You're welcome.

But this Thursday, at 1:00pm (Eastern), you will have a chance
to redeem yourself.

Congressman Conyers and a dozen other members of
Congress have some serious questions about how the
Republican secretary of state in Ohio (who was also
the state's co-chair of Bush's reelection campaign)
conducted the election on November 2. The list of
possible offenses of how voters were denied access
to the polls and how over a hundred thousand of
their votes have yet to be counted is more than
worthy of your consideration. It may not change the
outcome, but you have a supreme responsibility to
make sure that EVERY vote is counted. Who amongst
you would disagree with that?

If you would like to read more about the specific
charges, I ask that you read these two links:
"Senators Should Object to Ohio Vote" -by Jesse
Jackson and "Ten Preliminary Reasons Why the Bush
Vote Does Not Compute, and Why Congress Must
Investigate Rather Than Certify the Electoral
College". I am asking everyone on my mailing list to
send you a letter joining me in this call to you to
do your job and investigate what happened before you
certify the vote.

It only takes one member of the House and one member
of the Senate to stop the acceptance of the
Electoral College vote and force a legitimate debate
and investigation. Do you know why this provision is
set in stone in our nation's laws? I mean, why would
we allow just two officials in a body of 535 members
to throw a wrench into the works? The law exists
because nothing is more sacred than the integrity of
the ballot box and if there is ANY possibility of
fraud or incompetence, then it MUST be addressed.
Because if we don't have the vote, what are we left
with?

C'mon Senators! Especially you Democrats. Here is
your one shining moment of courage. Will you allow
the gavel to come down on our black members of
Congress once again? Or will you stand up for their
right to object?

We will all be watching.
Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com