[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 137 (Monday, December 6, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               REPORTS OF VOTING FRAUD AND IRREGULARITIES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 6, 2004

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, like many of my constituents, I am very 
concerned about the widespread reports of voting irregularities 
surrounding the recent election.
  Reports about voter intimidation, discrimination, fraud, partisan 
election officials, misplaced ballots, discarded provisional ballots, 
malfunctioning electronic voting machines, delays in mailing absentee 
ballots, and countless other suspicious or illegal activities, all 
raise potential doubts about the legitimacy of our system of elections.
  And there is mounting credible evidence that indeed some potentially 
illegal and fraudulent activity did occur before, during, and after the 
election.
  That is why I have joined onto the efforts of my colleagues, 
Representatives John Conyers, Jerrold Nadler, and Robert Wexler, in 
asking the GAO to investigate the 2004 election. And I am pleased to 
say that the GAO has agreed with the necessity and urgency of our 
request and is moving forward with a formal investigation.
  As history has repeatedly shown, the right to vote and the right to 
have our votes counted are fundamental to our democratic system of 
government.
  The moment that we become complacent and cease to insist on the 
fundamental value and equality of every individual vote is the moment 
that we begin to undermine the democratic ideal that this nation was 
founded upon.
  That is why I believe it is so important to investigate any reports 
of voting irregularities.
  And that is also why in July, I was one of the leaders in Congress to 
call for international monitors to observe our system of elections.
  Although the administration refused to invite the United Nations to 
send an observation team, the 55 member Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was invited.
  While the OSCE was severely hamstrung in its ability to fully observe 
the election, according to their preliminary report, they did observe 
many of the same problems that were reported by the media.
  I hope that with the GAO report, and the forthcoming report from the 
OSCE, we can take a hard look at our current election system and make a 
concerted bi-partisan effort to fix the problems that still clearly 
remain with us from the 2000 election.
  As elected representatives of the people, we hold a sacred 
responsibility to every voter across this nation to ensure that their 
vote is counted and recorded properly.
  We cannot, and we should not accept any flaws in our election 
process.

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