I'm worried about it... as is ex CIA guy Ray McGovern... "For the Bush administration, the nightmare is losing the November election—a prospect believed to be unlikely until just recently. For many of us citizens, the nightmare is the president and his associates resorting to extra-legal measures to ensure that there is no “regime change” in Washington for four more years. Logic and human nature would suggest that possible liability to prosecution under the War Crimes Act are among the more weighty factors they take into account. ... The key question for the next five months, then, becomes how far the administration will go. An elevated threat level justifying martial law and postponement of the election? No doubt such suggestions will seem too alarmist to those trusting that there is a moral line, somewhere, that the president and his senior advisers would not cross. I regret very much to note that their behavior over the past three years leaves me doubtful that there is such a line. If my doubts are justified, the sooner we all come to grips with this parlous situation the better." I'mn even more worried about this kind of thing happening now that I know the legal minds in this administration have put forth an argument that the President can sanction torture and order people to ignore the laws of the land. Most. Important. Election. Of. My. Lifetime.
My greatest fear at this moment is that I can't come up with enough scratch to pay for my first semester of Law school. Oh selfish me.
After careful reconsideration, I've decided that my biggest fear in life at the moment is still karl malone getting a championship.
Here we go again... __________________ ELECTIONS Elections chiefs to discuss purging of voters The conference of Florida's 67 election supervisors will be dominated by talk of the possible purging of nearly 48,000 voters before fall. BY GARY FINEOUT The Miami Herald gfineout@herald.com The 67 men and women responsible for running this fall's presidential election in Florida will meet in Key West next week, where they are expected to eat, soak up some sun and maybe decide the fate of nearly 50,000 voters. Twice a year, Florida's election supervisors gather to talk about technology, voter outreach and other issues. But the five-day event that begins Sunday night will be dominated by discussions about purging people whom the state Division of Elections has identified as felons. Under state law, felons are barred from voting unless they have had their civil rights restored by the state. In early May, the state said it had identified nearly 47,700 voters as potential felons and asked county election supervisors to begin the process of purging their names from the rolls. STARTING LAWSUITS The decision has sparked an outcry from groups that sued over the controversial 2000 election. Cable News Network (CNN) has gone to court in Leon County to obtain the list of felons from state officials, who have declined to turn it over because they say state law prohibits it from being copied. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are threatening another round of litigation over the voter rolls. On Friday, Sen. Bill Nelson jumped into the fray, saying he would file a court brief on Monday on behalf of CNN's effort to obtain the list of voters. ''This list should be open to the public because of the potential for mistakes,'' Nelson said. The stakes are clear: In a state that handed the 2000 presidency to President Bush by only 537 votes, talk of the elimination of thousands of voters, many of whom could be black Democrats, has created a firestorm. That's because the felon list used to purge voters four years ago was riddled with errors and led to a lawsuit against the state and a handful of counties. The NAACP and other groups reached a settlement in 2002 that required the state to use stricter criteria to determine felon matches, including relying solely on arrest data from Florida. Civil rights groups and others say the new list is still subject to errors. On Thursday, several groups sent a letter to state election officials contending Florida may be violating federal civil rights law if it pushes ahead with the new voter-roll purge. Florida has five counties that must ''pre-clear'' any changes to voting procedures with the Department of Justice. PATIENCE URGED The outcry has prompted Kay Clem, Indian River County elections supervisor and current president of the statewide supervisors' association, to ask that counties refrain from purging any voters until supervisors can meet and discuss how much independent research should be done in advance of removing names from the rolls. State law says that anyone on the state list should be mailed a certified letter and given 30 days to explain why they shouldn't have their name purged. But state law also charges supervisors to have the responsibility to remove names from the rolls. Clem says she's worried that elections offices don't adequately understand the criminal justice system and how to research someone's criminal record. ''We have been given this jet plane and told to fly it,'' Clem said. ``But we don't have the expertise.'' While supervisors such as Theresa LePore in Palm Beach and Constance Kaplan in Miami-Dade say they have not acted on the list, Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Fred Galey said he has sent out letters to 700 people on the list sent to him by state authorities. ''I'm interesed in following the law,'' said Galey, who insists that by acting now, he's giving people a chance to clear their names. ``I'm just trying to help them help themselves.'' But Galey added that if someone registered without getting their rights restored, then they should be removed from the rolls. ''They did the crime,'' said Galey. ``It's their responsibility to get their rights restored.'' GETTING INFORMATION Meanwhile, Secretary of State Glenda Hood -- who oversees the state Division of Elections -- asked on May 25 that each supervisor give her office an ''overview'' and ''time frame'' for how they plan to carry out the purge of felons. Hood's spokeswoman said the secretary was trying to gather information in time for the association's meeting in Key West. ''The secretary really doesn't have that authority to guide their performances,'' said Jenny Nash. ``The secretary's letter was more for information and aid in the discussions for next week.'' But some groups have reacted very angrily to Hood's letter. They say Hood is pushing for information on purging the rolls, yet she has not asked some counties why they have not responded to another list sent out in September that includes people who may be eligible to be restored to the voting rolls. The state sent out the list of nearly 20,000 voters who may have been improperly removed from the rolls in 1999 and 2000. The Herald reported in May that only 33 of 67 counties had responded to the restoration request, which was required under the settlement reached between the state and the NAACP. ''I would hope everyone involved in elections from the secretary of state on down wants to make sure [the purging of voters] is done in an effective way,'' said Elliot Mincberg, vice president and legal director of the activist group People for the American Way. ``They need to get it right, not pushing to hurriedly remove people from the rolls.'' VERIFYING RECORDS Ion Sancho, Leon County supervisor of elections, said he plans to ask his colleagues in Key West to take no action on any names until each elections office independently verifies the record of every person on it. ''To place the burden on the citizen to prove that they are not guilty runs counter to the American system of justice,'' Sancho said.
