Dear Friends and Supporters,

Ken Calvert is facing his most serious challenge of his 16-year Congressional career --- the race for the 44th Congressional District remains too close to call.

Earlier this week, Mr. Calvert declared victory and he did so before in excess of 200,000 uncounted vote-by-mail and provisional ballots had been tallied.  GOP lawyers are descending upon registrars' offices in Orange and Riverside trying to influence the vote counting.

As was reported earlier this week in the Huffington Post,

Calvert's team has apparently been having private conversations with the registrar's office in Riverside County, which was the last county in California to report its election results. There were numerous reports from Democratic Party officials, voters and even a poll worker in Riverside County that voters were ‘forced to use provisional ballots’ or ‘denied ballots entirely’ on Tuesday.

Countywide, we understand there are still more 58,000 absentee and  48,000 provisional ballots remaining to be processed, as well as thousands of poll votes rejected by scanning machines that have yet to be counted.  Our number one priority is to support a fair and accurate accounting to ensure every vote is counted and every voice is heard in this election.

I want to thank the leadership and staff of the Registrar of Voters in Riverside and Orange Counties who have been working around the clock since Tuesday, processing the uncounted ballots, and for their transparency in accurately reporting the results.

We need to allow the process to be completed.   The margin is certain to go up and down over the next three weeks.  The election in the 44th Congressional District is not over yet and won’t be until all the votes have been counted.

We have assembled a legal team to make sure the process is fair and that all valid ballots get counted. We have the best lawyer money can buy, but good lawyers are expensive.

Do not let Calvert steal this election.  We don't need another Florida 2000 popping up here in Riverside County. We are making waves and even the national press has taken notice that the race for the 44th isn't over yet

I need your help today to fight back.

Please consider making a contribution to the Hedrick Ballot Fund right now to help pay our legal costs and make sure thousands of votes are counted.

http://actblue.com/page/ hedrickballotfund

As an individual you can contribute up to $2,300 toward our effort.  Your previous contribution to the Hedrick for Congress Campaign does not count toward the limit.  Even if you contributed the maximum amount to my 2008 campaign, you can still make a contribution to the Hedrick Ballot Fund.

http://actblue.com/page/ hedrickballotfund

Sincerely,

Bill Hedrick

Candidate for Congress 44th CD