[NOTE: Removing 25% of the geographic area of the U.S. could result in an even higher number of disenfranchised voters.]" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But it might be a "legal" vote:
----- Original Message ----- From: Leigh Meyers To: Newsroom-L Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 8:29 AM Subject: Memo - Election Barring Voters Is Legal
POLITICS-US: 'Terror' Election Barring Voters Could Stand - Memo
Ritt Goldstein
A recently unearthed government memorandum prepared for the U.S. Congress addresses the power of the administration to postpone elections. But more notably, it reviews actions the executive branch might take that could preclude large numbers of Americans from casting a ballot in the coming presidential vote.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug 19 (IPS) - The memorandum highlights that should such disenfranchisement occur, the Nov. 2 election could well remain legally intact and binding.
Concerns have arisen that the administration of U.S. President George W Bush is actively seeking to manipulate the presidential vote, using exaggerated terror threats to provide the political smokescreen for this. snip!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In separate interviews with IPS, noted political scientists John Dryzek, chairman of the social and political theory programme at Australian National University, and Steve Cimbala, a political scientist at Pennsylvania State University, former U.S. government consultant and author of 27 books, both expressed strong concern regarding the potential implications for U.S. democracy.
The government memo, entitled 'Executive Branch Power to Postpone Elections' and dated Jul. 14, appears to have been prepared in part to examine the mechanisms the Bush administration might use to disrupt the November ballot. It explicitly states, "the executive branch could make decisions that would make it impossible or impractical" for an election to occur.
The memo elaborates on how the administration could "limit the movement of citizens under its emergency powers," further finding that "exercise of such power would not appear to have the legal effect of delaying an election."
Notably, the "legal resolution of an election during which significant numbers of persons fail to reach the polls due to the actions of the executive branch is beyond the scope of this memorandum," concludes the document, which was prepared for Congress by the American Law Division of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). snip!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Of particular interest in light of the possibility that a "red alert" (signalling an imminent attack) for alleged terrorist activity could eliminate voting for numerous Americans, the document finds that "despite modern state practice", state legislatures "still retain the authority to use an alternative method of choosing presidential electors besides popular elections". snip!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Addressing the use of administration power to disrupt the election process, Dryzek emphasised, "there's cause to worry for all of the traditional reasons we worry about unrestrained executive power. But I also worry how this Supreme Court -- if it was called upon to do so -- would interpret such a situation. probably the benefit of the doubt would go to the executive (the administration)." snip!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=25138
The Memo [PDF, 9 pages] http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL32471.pdf ============================== "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time
and your government when it deserves it." --Mark Twain
Leigh Meyers leighcmeyers at yahoo.com
=============================== ----- Original Message ----- From: R To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 2:56 PM Subject: [lbo-talk] Whassa problem?
Rumsfeld's 75% Election in Iraq - Whassa problem? by Major6th Mon Sep 27th, 2004 at 15:09:38 GMT
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledges that elections may not be held at all in 20 percent to 25 percent of Iraq because of continuing violence. (International Herald Tribune) Just so we can see how insanely ridiculous this is, removing 25% of our population from our electorate would roughly eliminate all of the following states from the election: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~