Back in November there was a blatant case of a defective election. Without accusing anyone of wrongdoing, SOMEHOW 18,000 votes for Congress were missing (an unprecedented "undervote") the vast majority of them coming from Democratic leaning districts. This loss of 18,000 votes almost certainly altered the result of the election, depriving Democrat Christine Jennings a win. This particularly bothers me since Christine was one of the candidates I raised the most money for last year and I was very impressed with her as a candidate. But partisanship aside, the loss of 18,000 votes is just plain unacceptable. Yet the Republicans in Florida did all they could to prevent an analysis of this problem and Florida remains one of the states with the most dubious of elections. Remember, the Carter Center, which monitors elections all over the world and is one of the most respected election monitoring organization in the world, refused to monitor Florida elections because Florida did not meet their minimum requirement for fair elections.

Christine Jennings is fighting back. As I said, I was impressed with her. She is one of only a handful of women who successfully founded her own bank (she gives credit to the Clinton economy for her success!). She reminded both my wife and myself of Ann Richards in a way. So she clearly is not the type to give up easily.

Here is a message from Christine Jennings about her fight to make elections in Florida more reliable:

Since the very moment I decided to challenge the results of this election, I have strongly believed that the fight to find out what went wrong with Sarasota County's voting system is about more than an individual election - it's about fixing a broken system. Since Election Day, together we have made significant progress both in our election contest and in improving our nation's voting systems.

WE'RE NOT FINISHED YET. I STILL NEED YOUR HELP! PLEASE CLICK HERE AND DONATE $50 OR WHATEVER YOU CAN TODAY!

This is what we have accomplished together:

1. U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein stated that she will order the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) to investigate Sarasota's election from "top to bottom".

2. U.S. Representative Russ Holt has introduced legislation in Congress requiring voter-verified paper ballots and random audits.

3. Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced his plan to end paperless voting in Florida citing the controversy surrounding Sarasota's voting machines as a factor in his decision.

4. Lee Hamilton - one of our nation's most respected leaders with a reputation for a common-sense, non-partisan approach to issues - has joined our ranks by publicly stating " . . . Sarasota County [is] yet another reminder of a serious problem that our representative government faces and that Congress needs to address. Our voting system is fragile and desperately in need of shoring up." Mr. Hamilton served as co-chair of the Iraq Study Group and Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission, his full column can be read here.

These are very significant achievements, none of which could have been accomplished without your support...

PLEASE CONSIDER A SMALL CONTRIBUTION OF $100, $50 OR EVEN $25 TO HELP CONTINUE OUR FIGHT FOR FAIR ELECTIONS. Click here and donate today.

Thanks again for your support,

Christine Jennings

PS - With the next presidential election just around the corner, our fight for fair and honest elections is more important than ever.