Petition Florida Senate President on Naming Electors

A new online petition drive, based at the Web site

Florida legislators, including House Speaker Tom Feeney, are attempting to block Vice President Al Gore from stealing the election. They want the Legislature to exercise its power to name Florida's slate of members of the Electoral College. That action would bring a halt to Gore's efforts.

But the state's legislators are under intense pressure to stand aside and let Florida's Democrat-dominated courts resolve the controversy. Senate President John McKay, in particular, is reported to be having second thoughts. The petition drive is designed to ensure that McKay and Florida's other Republican legislators "stick to their guns," said BeCounted.com publisher Richard A. Viguerie. "To do their duty, the legislators need courage, and they need the support of people in Florida and across the country.

"If the legislators do what's right, they will be called every name in the book. They will be attacked unmercifully, from now until the end of their political careers. Just look at what happened to Secretary of State Harris when she tried to enforce Florida law!"

The petition urges legislators to "join with Tom Feeney, Speaker of the Florida House" and "quickly hold a special session of the Florida legislature" to name the state's presidential electors.

The U.S. Constitution gives legislators the power to name electors, in order to ensure that natural disaster or abuse of the legal system does not rob that state's citizens of their choice. The Gore campaign is seeking to use various types of election fraud, including selective recounts in Democrat strongholds and the counting of "dimpled" non-votes as votes for the vice president, in order to ensure that Florida's electors go to Gore.

Failing that, the Gore campaign is delaying any final outcome in Florida, so that Florida will have no electors. Depending on which version of constitutional law is accepted, such a result either would give Gore the election or would result in a deadlock with no winner.

In the

"We're trying to 'steel the spine' of the Florida legislators," said Viguerie. "We're trying to show them that millions of Americans will stand behind them if they do the right thing."

BeCounted.com is a Web site designed to give a voice to millions of grassroots Americans – in Viguerie's words, "the kind of people who are never contacted by most public opinion polls."

At the Web site, petition signers are urged to tell their friends about the site and to send messages about the site to their e-mail lists.

"If each person lets five or 10 friends know about the petition, and each of those persons does the same, and so on, we will gather the signatures we need to have a significant impact," said Viguerie.

He said the petition to the Legislature is perhaps the most important of the various recount-related petitions floating around the Internet.

"Despite the election results, in which Bush won Florida, Gore is working to have his cronies such as the Florida Supreme Court engineer the selection of a pro-Gore slate of electors from Florida. If that doesn't work, they will try to stop the appointment of ANY electors from Florida. Either way, Gore wins."

That's why the Florida Legislature should use its power to bring the process to a quick conclusion, Viguerie said.

To sign the petition, go to