Answers to Frequently Asked Questions. I am working feverishly to get some regular business out of the way to concentrate on the petition and this page. Will have more later today, Wednesday, Nov. 10.
If you have questions that are not answered here, email them by clicking HERE.
Questions about the petition:
Who started this petition and why?
When was the petition started?
I entered my full address. Can it be changed?
What about the obvious spoof signatures, and the vulgar ones?
Will duplicates and spoofs be purged from the list?
How many signatures do you expect to get?
Is there a threshold number at which the Congress must act?
When is the petition going to be delivered to Congress?
Who started this petition and why?
This petition was written by me, Rick Gagliano, of 29 Owen St., Rochester, New York 14615. It was started because I saw some strange voting patterns on election night, I had also been aware of potential problems thanks to Bev Harris at blackboxvoting.org so I was particularly attuned to percentage flips in states like North and South Carolna, New Hampshire, Arkansas and elsewhere. There were also many reports of intimidation and problems with registration and voting, long lines, misinformation etc. After the election, information began popping up on the internet and I knew I was not alone. I was actually quite surprised that nobody had started a petition before me.
When was the petition started?
The petition was uploaded to petitiononline.com on Sunday night, November 7, 2004. It has been in that same place ever since.
I entered my full address. Can it be changed?
You only need to enter your city and state. Your email address will be used when and if verification is necessary. Email addresses do not show up on the site. Only petitiononline.com can access them. I cannot, even though I wrote the petition.
What about the obvious spoof signatures, and the vulgar ones?
People writing in under Bill Clinton, Elvis Presley, George W. Bush, etc. are simply fools with nothing better to do. Just ignore them. The ones who put up hateful or vulgar messages need to be caught and prosecuted. Again, this is under the purview of petitiononline.com and I haven't heard from them as yet (Nov. 10) even though I've emailed them twice. It should be pointed out that compared with the enormous number of REAL signatories, these fools will soon see that they are only making themselves look stupid as they constitute a very small number and they will go away.
Will duplicates and spoofs be purged from the list?
Absolutely, at the right time, or as time allows. Apparently, I will have to do this myself. Petitiononline.com, in their FAQ, says this: Petition signature lines using false names and/or unacceptable language are voided promptly, whenever they are discovered. At this time, we haven't seen or heard anything from petitiononline.com indicating that they are removing and phony signatures.
To have obvious spoof signatures or vulgar messages, follow these guidelines:
Send an email to support@petitiononline.com
In the email, mention the petition by it's code name, which is uselect or include the URL which is: http://www.petitiononline.com/uselect/petition.html
Include the NUMBER of the line you wish to be removed. For multiple lines, separate the NUMBERS with either a comma or a space. That way, the techs can pull them all at once.
How many signatures do you expect to get?
An excellent question. I originally thought 50,000 would be good, but then I started thinking and doing some calculations. There are roughly 160 million registered voters. One percent of that is 1.6 million. That's a lot of signatures, and even at 1000 per hour, 16 hours a day, it would take 100 days to reach that total. That may be too late. On the other hand, the rate of signing is accellerating. I'm going to have to take it to Congress with whatever number is up there. The petition would stay active, however, and continue to accumulate signatures.
Is there a threshold number at which the Congress must act?
As far as I know, there's no threshold which would require Congressional action, though I am still researching.
When is the petition going to be delivered to Congress?
Our target date is December 2nd or 3rd, because we need the petition to be in the hands of the Congress before December 7, by which time states must determine any controversy relating to the appointment of electors.
