It's Time To Start Thinking About Elections

My Fellow Americans,

I'm not trying to sound like the president, but I am trying to send a message to the American people. Even though the next major election isn't until November 7th, it's time for us to start preparing for this most critical of events.

At least 3 elections over the past 6 years have taught us one very crucial lesson - that the neo-conservative hacks in Washington (and beyond) are well capable of stealing elections through a multitude of devious methods and schemes. The specifics of those schemes and dirty tricks are way beyond the scope of this message, but they are well documented in a variety of publications. The point is that we must prepare for a fight of fights to take our country back from the war-mongering, self-serving, military-industrial-complex known as the Bush Administration.


Verify your voter registration

The first thing that every American should do, upon reading this message, is to contact your local voter registration authorities (city hall, perhaps) and verify your voter registration information. I know this may sound stupid, particularly if you've voted in the past, but believe me it's a necessary step.

One of the dirtiest of dirty tricks the Republicans used in the 2004 election was to phantomly accept registrations in their voter registration drives, and discard registrations which were for the Democratic Party. This caused a countless number of voters to go the polls only to discover that they weren't really registered. Even if they were lucky enough to be provided provisional ballots, their votes would not be accepted.

The point is that every American who registered in the last 6 years should verify that they are truly registered properly. Don't wait until November 7th to vote, only to find out that your registration was never recorded.


Take an active role in the election

Black Box voting has published a 'tool kit' for Americans to step up in our democratic process and help ensure a fair election. You can download the pdf here:

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.pdf

This document will give you a variety of ideas, suggestions, and guidelines for taking part in our democracy. This is not a specifically Democrat vs. Republican divisive thing. This is for ALL Americans. It should be a concern to every citizen of the United States that our elections are fair and honest. Let's face it - over the last 3 elections, it has been anything but fair and honest as many of us believe that Bush & the Neo-cons stole the presidency in BOTH 2000 and 2004.

Ladies & gentlemen, we must take an active role in the 2006 election. We must do everything we can do ensure the election is fair & honest. And we must spread the message, to as large an audience as possible, that status quo in Washington is NOT acceptable. "Stay the course" is not a strategy - it's empty Republican rhetoric born out of failed policies. It's time for a change. A change in leadership. A change in direction. And a change in how the United States of America behaves in this world.


Thank you,

Scott Shuster
American Citizen