Jimmy Carter, please speak up!

[emlev]

Anybody here on DU willing to take on finding a way to get this and similar messages to Jimmy Carter?

Dear Former President Carter:

As former President of the United States and an internationally recognized expert on fair elections, your expertise and stature are urgently needed in Washington, D.C. this week.

Please step forward and urge all Senators and Congressmembers to insist on investigation, not certification, of the electoral vote in Ohio, Florida, New Mexico and every other state where there is significant question as to the fairness of the November 2, 2004 presidential election.

[madison2000]

1. I've emailed him at the Carter Foundation a couple of times

[ChicanoPwr]

2. I think we must email it several times

I am pretty sure if we flood their mail box, he will get the message.

[MelissaB]

9. I've emailed twice

with no response there. I gave up. :( I wish there was a way we could know our messages are getting to him.

[dalloway]

3. kick n/t

[emlev]

4. Additional thoughts and contact info

I think that there's no time for email, phone calling is better. But before a deluge, how about if one professional-sounding level-headed person calls and finds out if he's already planning to step up to the plate? If no clear answer, then we all call. Since it's after 5 in Atlanta now, we have until tomorrow morning for someone to agree to do this and post the results here.

Takers?

Here's the Carter Center contact info:

The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, Ga. 30307
Phone: [phone]
E-mail address: [e-mail]

[mamalone]

11. I adore the man..

He's a Christian who truly follows Christ. I think the idea of having someone call him to see what his intentions are is an excellent one. I'd offer to do it myself, but professional sounding I am not. I think it would be wonderful if someone could step up to the plate here....
Then if he's *not* planning on taking any action or speaking out we can deluge him with emails/phone calls/letters:evilgrin:

[Woodstock Liberal]

5. Kick

[anti-fundie]

6. Nobel laziness

Is it me, or has Carter become much less publicly active since being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?

[madison2000]

7. Hes getting on in years but he did speak at the Dem convention

and he was highly critical of Bush. Now Carter is someone with political capital who doesn't spend it very freely, so I wish he would spend some now.

[nashville_brook]

8. he sure hasn't had any trouble promoting his new book

i've heard him a bunch lately, and no word on the election. pisses me off. i think his book is about having a full life or something.

[emlev]

15. Well, so we'll make his life a little fuller!

What could be better?

[propagandafreegal]

10. Kerry s/b lobbying Carter nm

[mopinko]

12. i've been hoping to hear

this was one of those buttons that i made, hoping it would be obsolete by the time i got it on the website. guess not.

[mulethree]

13. His thoughts?

The study he was 'honorary co-chair' of after the 2000 election

http://www.reformelections.org/data/reports/99_full_report.pdf

Some good stuff, but generally I didn't like it. The stuff I did like, hasn't happened much; either in-progress or ignored. He seemed pissed before this election

Note the participants, some of them are more famous now having
served the 9/11 commission.



He seemed pissed before this election:

Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote
By Jimmy Carter
Monday, September 27, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52800-2004Sep26.html

A partial answer to the other question is that some basic international requirements for a fair election are missing in Florida.

The most significant of these requirements are:

• A nonpartisan electoral commission or a trusted and nonpartisan official who will be responsible for organizing and conducting the electoral process before, during and after the actual voting takes place. Although rarely perfect in their objectivity, such top administrators are at least subject to public scrutiny and responsible for the integrity of their decisions. Florida voting officials have proved to be highly partisan, brazenly violating a basic need for an unbiased and universally trusted authority to manage all elements of the electoral process.

• Uniformity in voting procedures, so that all citizens, regardless of their social or financial status, have equal assurance that their votes are cast in the same way and will be tabulated with equal accuracy. Modern technology is already in use that makes electronic voting possible, with accurate and almost immediate tabulation and with paper ballot printouts so all voters can have confidence in the integrity of the process. There is no reason these proven techniques, used overseas and in some U.S. states, could not be used in Florida.

It was obvious that in 2000 these basic standards were not met in Florida, and there are disturbing signs that once again, as we prepare for a presidential election, some of the state's leading officials hold strong political biases that prevent necessary reforms.

Four years ago, the top election official, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, was also the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney state campaign committee. The same strong bias has become evident in her successor, Glenda Hood, who was a highly partisan elector for George W. Bush in 2000. Several thousand ballots of African Americans were thrown out on technicalities in 2000, and a fumbling attempt has been made recently to disqualify 22,000 African Americans (likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics (likely Republicans), as alleged felons.

[StephanieMarie]

14. I've emailed him 20 times at least. n/t

[Pacifist Patriot]

16. I've emailed, written and spoken to someone at the foundation.

[mamalone]

17. and what did they say?

the person at the foundation, did they give you any sense of where JC is with all of this?

[Pacifist Patriot]

18. No, none at all.

Politely listened to me and thanked me for my comments. Gracious but noncommittal.