Quote of note:

MEETING TOMORROW – TELL THEM TO PRESERVE DEMOCRACY: The U.S. Election Assistance Commission tomorrow is holding a public meeting at 1:00pm at 1225 New York Ave, N.W., Suite 1100 in Washington, D.C. Go to the meeting and tell the Bush administration to preserve American democracy and back off its plan to hijack the election for its own political gain. If you're not in Washington, e-mail them at this address:  [email protected]

VOTING

Postponing the Election?

In a major exclusive, Newsweek reports the Bush administration is exploring legal justifications for postponing the November 2004 election in the event of a terrorist attack close to the election. In pushing for the authority to suspend democracy for the first time in America's history, the White House is seizing on the right-wing myth that the Spanish election was won by al Qaeda, instead of being lost by a government that lied to its people. And while the administration has trumpeted the prospect that al Qaeda might seek to disrupt the U.S. election, "counterterrorism officials concede they have no intelligence about any specific plots."

MEET BUSTER SOARIES – THE NEXT KATHARINE HARRIS?: Newsweek reports the plan to give the president authority to postpone the election is being pushed by DeForest "Buster" Soaries Jr. – the White House's recent appointee to the newly-formed U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Soaries wants the administration "to seek emergency legislation from Congress empowering his agency to make such a call." But while Soaries is using his agency to feign nonpartisanship, he is anything but. As a GOP candidate for Congress less than two years ago, he relied on major Republican big wigs to assist his campaign. In a New Jersey speech during the campaign, President Bush called out, "My friend Buster Soaries, thank you, Buster, for coming. I'm glad you're here."

PLAN IMMEDIATELY PANNED: The administration's power grab effort was immediately panned by lawmakers concerned that the White House is using the fear of terrorism for its own political gain. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) said, "I think it's excessive based on what we know," pointing out that the administration's warnings about an imminent election threat have been "a bust" because they were based on old information. Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) said postponing the election "would be the ultimate surrender to terrorism for a democracy" and noted the proposal itself "just creates more fear."

JUST ANOTHER TROUBLING SIGN: The administration's effort to empower itself to postpone elections is just the latest troubling sign in the lead up to the election. Already, states have contracted Diebold to manufacture new voting machines – a company whose CEO wrote in a fundraising letter last August that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." And the voting machines themselves have severe problems. Meanwhile, the state of Florida flirted with using a "list of 48,000 ex-felons" that civil rights groups note "contains inaccuracies that could cause local election officials to wrongfully purge eligible voters."