ANDY MARTIN
“He Works for the People of Illinois”
Republican for U. S. Senator
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-ANDY
Toll-free fax (866) 707-ANDY
Web site: www.AndyforUSSenator.com
E-mail: mailto:AndyforIllinois@aol.com
January 17, 2008
Hon. Michael B. Mukasey
Attorney General
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
via fax (202) 514-4507
with copy to:
Hon. Patrick Fitzgerald
United States Attorney
219 S. Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60604
Via fax (312) 353-4322
ATTENTION, AUSA Gilum Ferguson
Re: Voting machine "malfunctions" in Chicago
Request for emergency action
Dear General Mukasey:
I am writing to ask that you take action to order an immediate emergency investigation concerning possible vote fraud in Chicago, and admitted voting machine malfunctions.
The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners ("CBEC") has admitted that machines in Chicago were mis-programmed to record votes in two hotly contested races, in favor of Barack Obama for President and in favor of S. Sauerberg for U. S. Senator (my opponent). It is simply not credible that these two races were picked out for random programming errors. Therefore, there is at least a rebuttable presumption of vote fraud at this point.
Two days of tainted voting was conducted at dozens of locations across the city (because we are still in the "early voting" period at a limited number of locations, the number of tainted machines is relatively small, probably around 500). The CBEC has refused to reprogram the machines citywide before the February 5th primary.
In addition, it appears that the manufacturer, Sequoia Voting Systems, was aware of the potential glitch and did nothing to alert jurisdictions using Sequoia machines.
All of the facts remain to be disclosed, which us why DOJ needs to take urgent action.
Furthermore since the "defect" in Chicago's voting system would appear to expose non-English-speaking voters to the most confusion, since they would be likely to keep their fingers on the touch screen until their languages appeared, this "error" appears to have been directed at taking votes from vulnerable people who would be the least likely to protest.
The response of state officials has been tepid. They admit there were programming errors and erroneous voting, but they claim they have remedied the problem, but only prospectively. They have taken no steps to undo two (2) days of tainted voting, as well as not explaining why the machines must be used on February 5th with tainted programming.
Because both of the races in which votes were miscounted are hotly contested, even small errors (two days of tainted voting) could affect the outcome. Moreover the refusal of local/state officials to act expeditiously to remove the tainted code suggests that the overall election results will also come under a cloud.
Because my race and Senator Obama's races are both federal elections, the Department has plenary jurisdiction to act under both criminal and civil law.
Most respectfully I urge the Department to take immediate action to impound the tainted machines, and to take steps to ensure that voting on February 5th is not conducted with tainted programming code that could skew the results.
Respectfully submitted,
ANDY MARTIN
AM:sp
W/encl.
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