Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-Fla.) legislation to abolish the Electoral College (article, June 6) is eight years too late and it won’t solve the problem of what really happened in Florida in 2000.

Having spent 15 years volunteering on election campaigns when I lived in Florida, I know the laws and the disputed territory like the back of my hand. What happened in Florida in 2000 is that the Bush campaign illegally stopped the legal vote count with an illegal, broad-daylight coup d’état and got it rubberstamped by five Republican crooks on the U.S. Supreme Court who, according to the U.S. Constitution, had no legal authority to do so. These justices had been appointed when Bush’s father was vice president or president.

Florida law clearly required that all votes where the intent of the voter is clear be counted and it further allowed for the hand duplication of ballots that the counting machines couldn’t read. Sen. Nelson and the rest of his Democratic colleagues were nowhere to be found when the Congressional Black Caucus filed its challenge to the fraudulent Florida vote count. Our country has paid an unrepairable price for their failure to act to make sure that all of the votes cast on Election Day are counted.

The Republicans can’t win when all of the votes are counted, as was the case in Florida in 2000. How many more elections will the Democrats allow the Republicans to steal before they finally act to stop it?

Scottsdale, Ariz.

Electoral College, Senate rooted in same principle

From Tara Ross, author, Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College

There is something a bit disingenuous about a U.S. senator pushing for elimination of the Electoral College because “[it’s time] to really give Americans the power of one person, one vote.”  U.S. senators themselves are not elected based on the principle of one person, one vote.

The Founders recognized the importance of incorporating protections for the small states in the U.S. Constitution. Both the Senate and the Electoral College resulted from the same idea: America should be a self-governing nation, but safeguards should be afforded to the small states in order to protect them from potentially tyrannical rule by the large states.

I suspect Nelson would not want to get rid of the Senate. He shouldn’t get rid of the Electoral College, either.

Dallas

Heartened to see unity by candidates on Darfur

From Sam Russ

The presidential candidates’ united commitment on the Darfur crisis — to take a personal leadership role as president to make this need a high priority for their administration — holds great promise for the future. However, there is a need for effective action now! I ask that you use the full editorial resources of your newspaper to bring to bear the “power of the press” in an urgent call for immediate action by the president and the Congress to apply all possible channels, means and measures to bring relief rapidly to the continuing human suffering in Darfur.

Chantilly, Va.