DeForest Soaries, who was appointed by Bush last year to the elections commission, is seeking a process for cancelling or postponing elections due to terrorism, using 9/11 as an excuse.

At this point, it's just a process, but it's potentially the first step for justifying not having an election to start with. If they succeed, they could cancel outright an election using terrorism as an excuse, or postpone it indefinitely.

With citizens groups rising up across the country putting pressure on their reps to go back to paper ballots, thereby bypassing the potentially rigged machines, and with the impact Michael Moore's movie has had on millions of people, the timing is suspicious to say the least.

Nothing may come of this, but I believe it's important that people get the word out that something like this is even being considered, and keep in mind this administration's past history of cavalierly discarding civil rights using terrorism as a justification. This administration has typically started out this way, with the suggestion for a problem needing to be solved, usually concerned with limiting or removing rights due to terrorism, then coming up with bogus information to back up their stand, then cramming the bill or action down our throats.

I'll be writing and phoning and going face to face with as many of my reps as possible, to do what I can to forestall something like this taking place. I'm hoping that others will also do the same.

Is this in the news, Navybrat? This is the first I have heard of them actually doing it. I've heard people say things like this but only in conjecture..or in conspiracy theory mode. They are really coming up with a contingency for this? Unreal. I don't put it passed them...they will do anything to stay in power.

Where did you hear this? Please provide a source.

http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm20449_20040625.htm

Voting official seeks process for canceling Election Day over terrorism

Friday, June 25, 2004

BY ERICA WERNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.

Such guidelines do not currently exist, said DeForest B. Soaries, head of the voting panel.

Soaries was appointed to the federal Election Assistance Commission last year by President Bush. Soaries said he wrote to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge in April to raise the concerns.

``I am still awaiting their response,'' he said. ``Thus far we have not begun any meaningful discussion.'' Spokesmen for Rice and Ridge did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Soaries noted that Sept. 11, 2001, fell on Election Day in New York City - and he said officials there had no rules to follow in making the decision to cancel the election and hold it later.

Events in Spain, where a terrorist attack shortly before the March election possibly influenced its outcome, show the need for a process to deal with terrorists threatening or interrupting the Nov. 2 presidential election in America, he said.

``Look at the possibilities. If the federal government were to cancel an election or suspend an election, it has tremendous political implications. If the federal government chose not to suspend an election it has political implications,'' said Soaries, a Republican and former secretary of state of New Jersey.

``Who makes the call, under what circumstances is the call made, what are the constitutional implications?'' he said. ``I think we have to err on the side of transparency to protect the voting rights of the country.''

Soaries said his bipartisan, four-member commission might make a recommendation to Congress about setting up guidelies.

``I'm hopeful that there are some proposals already being floated. If there are, we're not aware of them. If there are not, we will probably try to put one on the table,'' he said.

Soaries also said he's met with a former New York state elections director to discuss how officials there handled the Sept. 11 attacks from the perspective of election administration. He said the commission is getting information from New York documenting the process used there.

``The states control elections, but on the national scale where every state has its own election laws and its own election chief, who's in charge?'' he said.

Soaries also said he wants to know what federal officials are doing to increase security on Election Day. He said security officials must take care not to allow heightened security measures to intimidate minority voters, but that local and state election officials he's talked to have not been told what measures to expect.

``There's got to be communication,'' he said, ``between law enforcement and election officials in preparation for November.''

Contact her at: dsoaries@fbcsomerset.com

The article is linked on Citizens for a Legitimate Government....North County Times.

The timing of this, with a huge push to bypass the rigged machines, along with who is considering it, namely an election official appointed by Bush just last year, combined with how they've done things over the past three years just sets off all my red alerts.

Nothing may come of this...but I just don't think we can afford to assume it will go nowhere. It would fit perfectly with this administration's obvious lust for power. No one who steals an election respects due process or the people, and power hungry tyrants have no desire to have a populace that can just vote them out.

Democracy stands in the way of those who seek to consolidate power to themselves, and this administration has systematically unravelled our Democracy over the past three years. For them, this would be easier than ramming the Patriot Act through.

Navybrat, apparently that source pulled the article. However, I posted it above from another source.

So it turns out this is true. This is crazy!

Thanks for providing a source.

Wow That's crazy. :blink:

This sounds just like talk, but the real question is who would have the authority to make such a decision?

When you find something like this, you don't want to be an alarmist.

But, frankly, I think everyone needs to be alarmed.

This came to me in the CLG newsletter I get (I'm signed up with several so I can keep up with all these crazy events). I was absolutely shocked when I saw it.

In reading the article, I tried to step back and give some "credit" that it was a legitimate search for some solution to some problem. But I can't, I just can't.

Terrorism has been used by this administration to justify a host of wrong policies, and it nearly always starts out with some comment like this. Their own history makes it impossible for me to dismiss it as nothing, most especially how determined they were to get into the White House to start with, by hook or crook.

I've said on other boards ever since he first stole the office that we might not even have another election. But seeing this shocked me.

I'm deeply disturbed by this. This administration has abused every policy they've rammed through Congress. There can be no doubt to a thinking person who considers the whole picture that this, too, would be abused. It would far too easy to postpone the election indefinitely, using terrorism as an excuse.

As an American citizen, I am truly concerned. While we were worrying about paper ballots, they seem to be preparing to sidestep the whole thing by not even having an election. As I said, maybe it'll be a tempest in a teapot...but I don't think we can ignore the implications.

Just as Al Gore said, they are playing on people's fears by using 9/11 and terror related things to disrupt everyday life. The bastards are afraid if we do have another attack before election time, that the american people will revolt just as the Spainish did after their attack a few days before their election. This is just sad.

I sincerley hope Al Gore will address this soon.

I am so deeply concerned about this that I just tracked down the email for Moveon.org and emailed them about it. Since they are in close contact with Al Gore, maybe they can alert him and even research it themselves further.

You know, I haven't been really afraid for a long time, not even after 9/11. I always viewed that as a horrific event that was unlikely to occur again, especially on that scale. For the first time, as an American citizen, I am truly afraid...of my own government.

this is so wrong.

Thank you guys for at least hearing me out and not thinking I was being an alarmist. At least I know I'm not the only one who sees the potential threat!

Also, if I see Al in the near future I will ask him to address this and ask his opinion on it. However, I don't know when the next time I will see him.

Bump for those who didn't see this last night.

Navybrat, I am just curious, why did you say this on another site about the issue that has been discussed above?

So far, this is the only site that seems to be aware of that danger.

Just wondering. ;)

I like your Al Gore quote GSC Admin but I'm just curious. Did Al spell believe that way?

It wasn't an indictment of anyone, just a recognition that it was the only forum I'd found that had heard about it before I did and already had it posted. They beat me to the punch. That's all that was meant by that.

apologies if it read differently!

Right now, I'm just disgusted with the whole thing. I'm starting to wonder if, no matter how hard we try, we're just up against powerful monied people with the reins in their hands and they're going to steamroll right over us, as they did in 2000 and have done ever since.

I'm not quitting, but I'm not blind to the facts, either. I like Kerry okay, but he's no Al Gore, he didn't stand up for Gore in 2000, and neither did the rest of the Democratic senators. Someone elsewhere has suggested they may have decided it might give Bush's illegal presidency more weight if the Republican dominated Congress had actually done lip service to an investigation and still rule in Bush's favor.

I don't know. All I can hope is there was some strong reason behind the scenes that we just don't know about, but I'm frankly tired of being treated like a child who has to be protected from the truth. Secrecy tends to favor those who like to work in the dark, and rarely offers true protection to the people.

So here I sit, typing away, knowing I'll keep supporting Kerry since Gore isn't running and has given no indications I've been told of that he would accept a write in nomination, and wondering if I'll even get to vote. I'm starting to feel like a wishbone, pulled in one direction by my deep respect for Al Gore and frustrated that no one with the clout to do so has listened to us and fought to get him in his legitimate position, and pulled in another by my concern that we've got to get Bush out before it's too late and Kerry is who I need to support, all while I now wonder if the election will even take place. I'm tired!

All I've found out so far is that the House IS discussing measures to reschedule elections if something happens, but that they weren't aware of Soaries comments about possibly cancelling elections because of terrorism.

So true. I don't know if any of us can stop this. However, I say it is worth to die trying.

White House says terror won't halt elections

Talk of delay options was spurred by letter to Ridge from Jersey's Soaries

Tuesday, July 13, 2004
BY ROBERT COHEN STAR-LEDGER WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON --The Bush administration said yesterday it has no plans to delay the November presidential election in the event of a major terrorist attack.

"No one is thinking of postponing the elections," White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said on CNN...

http://www.nj.com/elections/ledger/index.s...05286265020.xml