By Cynthia McKinney

(This is an excerpted version of remarks made at a recent Georgia Women's Caucus Brunch. They address the results of a runoff election in August in which Congresswoman McKinney lost.)
I would like to first thank you all for your years of support.

I would also like to take this opportunity to let you know what we've learned over the last 30 days since the election.

1) We have received complaints from voters in DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Rockdale counties complaining that they were able to vote in the 4th district race in the Primary Election, but that when they went back to the polls in the runoff that the 4th District race was not on their ballot. This is interesting because some areas of DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Rockdale are not in the 4th District.

2) What's even more interesting is that we have received complaints from voters in Clayton, Henry, Cobb, City of Atlanta, and Fulton who also were able to vote in the 4th District race in the Primary Election, but not in the runoff. The interesting thing about this is that there is no part of the 4th District that comprises in any way, shape, or fashion Clayton, Henry, Cobb, City of Atlanta, or Fulton. And this is what has come to us without any announcement; we know that once we make this phenomenon that we're calling "phantom voters" public, we know that more people will come forward.

In short, what this is beginning to indicate to us is that we don't really know who voted in the 4th District and we don't have any confidence in the announced results. And let me put it bluntly, I don't have any confidence in the announced results.

I have studied the problems associated with electronic voting machines for the last 4 years. And I can tell you that Georgia's Diebold machines are an election disaster waiting to happen.

I would submit to you that it already did.

Diebold and ES&S

Imagine this. Georgia's Diebold machines are equipped with a wireless capability that allows anyone properly equipped-my treo and the proper passwords-to go in and change the outcome of an election.

Now, add to this the fact that 80% of the electronic voting machine market is controlled by one family, that happens to support the Republican Party.

Diebold is owned by Peter Urosevitch and ES&S, the other leading company, is owned by his brother. So, 80% of all the elections in this country are conducted on machines with Republican ownership and that can be hacked into.

Every expert investigation from every state that has requested one-California, Nevada, Maryland-has come back with a finding that these systems lack transparency, accountability, and most importantly, security.

In other words, that they operate like we know all computers operate. That is, garbage in-garbage out.

And so in the course of our investigation into this past election, we're discovering that the software that your tax dollars buys doesn't belong to you but to Diebold, and that if one wants access to specific information--for example, the nature of the computer malfunction that held up the reporting of the DeKalb numbers--well, the audit log belongs to Diebold, not to the taxpayers, and so the public doesn't have access to that information.

Now, as your elected representative, I was charged with protecting your right to vote and your right to representation. And as a candidate, I have a responsibility to the people who count on me to fully explain to them what happened in this election.

Not Just A Representative

After all, that's the reason we vote. Not just to go through the motions of voting, but to have someone who will take your values into the political marketplace. That is, representation. Having a representative is the mere act of sending someone to represent you whether they do or not. There is a distinct qualitative difference between having a representative and having representation. Black people all over America knew that while I was in Congress, they had representation. In a Constitutional Republic, representation is everything. And so, that's an important distinction I'd like to draw to your attention.

And so we vote. Not in the numbers we should, but we vote. And I believe we have fallen into the trap of voting, but not securing true representation.

After years of struggle with dogs and firehoses, lynch mobs and bullets . . . the powers that be finally agreed on our right to vote. But what they did not agree on was our right to representation. That's why our authentic leaders are always under attack, and we are spoon fed people who look like us, but who have been pre-picked by the powers that be, to lead us. We have not rejected this inauthentic leadership and we have not challenged its result. Clearly, inauthentic leadership results in those statistics.

Dr. King said that we must never stop as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York has nothing for which to vote.

And until we change their lives, we can win the battle for the right to vote and lose the war for representation that will fight the good fight for a substantive change in public policy. The statistics reflect that we're losing the war. Now, what are we prepared to do about it?

How can we have authentic representation in this Republic, if voting, itself, is subverted?

Electronic voting machines are a threat to everything our country ought to stand for.

Spiritual Wickedness

But, I wouldn't suggest for a minute that election fraud started with electronic machines.

Our real enemy is spiritual wickedness in high places.

And we've been dealing with that since the dawn of man.

Voting and representation define the character of our people, and it is our strength and vitality as a community that defines the character of this country.

The current leadership of our country was neither elected nor reelected, yet we are allowing them to define who we are, and who we are seen to be, as Americans.

They are also testing us.

So when they fail to protect us on September 11th; lie to us and start a war; fail to protect our brothers and sisters in New Orleans; and spy on us when we dare to disagree, if we accept that, then we also fail the very warriors responsible for us being here in this room today.

Well, I don't know about you, but I will not let their struggle down.

I vigorously reject what is being done in our name. And as long as there's even the faintest breath in the black body politic, I will continue to try to administer lifesaving techniques to bring it back to life.

I will not allow anyone to stand between me and my convictions. And so, although I won't be your representative in Congress next year, I'm sure you know where to find me, because I'll be on the frontlines in the battle for the integrity of our community and our country-where we all will surely meet one day. Keeping us free.

Cynthia McKinney is the Congresswoman from Georgia's 4th District and has been working with IPPN since 2003.