Rally for Democracy -- Shouldnt the People Elect the President? -- Saturday, December 11, State Capitol, West Steps, Noon

The right to vote was the central issue in the American Revolution, the womens suffrage movement and the civil rights movement. Americans have fought and died for it. It is the main democratic right:

(PRWEB) December 12, 2004 -- Why were voting machines used in Denver and Jefferson County which leave no paper record? Why have private companies been allowed to subvert for profit the gravest public duty: the integrity of the Right to vote? Why have these companies been allowed to keep secret the tapes of the computer programs even from investigation by non-partisan experts?

Why did Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell hold up certifying the election for 36 days to delay the recount if there is no problem? In Cuyahoga County, black voters were held up from voting for 4 to 5 hours. Fewer machines were available than in suburban Shaker Heights. In some precincts, machines were phased in" after lunch resulting in the disenfranchisement of people who came to vote before work or at lunch time. At Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, students had to stand in line 12 hours to vote.

Colin Powell made a dramatic statement about international standards being violated in the Ukraine where exit polls revealed a 6 point majority for the opposition candidate Yuchenko. Why do such standards not apply in the United States where initial exit polls, accurate within 3/10 of a point for Bush and Kerry in Utah, Texas, Georgia and New York, revealed wild swings from Kerry to Bush only in swing states such as Pennsylvania (6.6%), Ohio (6.7%) and Florida (4.9%). Why were women and Bush voters accurately sampled in the former but not in the latter?

Speakers will include Gwendolyn Thomas, member of the Colorado Advisory Committee to US Commission of Civil Rights and professor at Metro, Jeff Campbell, founder and director of Colorado Hiphop Coalition, Rebecca Hunt, historical consultant for PBS documentary One Woman One Vote: the National Womens Suffrage Campaign" and Professor at Metro, Sunny Maynard, former Assistant Attorney General for Colorado, and specialist in election matters, Ken Seaman, international election inspector in Bosnia and former teacher, Joyce Fairchild, Branch President of the National League of American Penwomen, poet and mother of a soldier who served in Iraq, Kali Autumn Lynn, President of the DenverVoice and Alan Gilbert John Evans Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies of the University of Denver and democratic theorist.

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