The Nashua Telegraph
Presidential Ballots to be Recounted
Sun Nov 14, 2004 02:10
64.140.158.26

[New Hampshire]

Presidential Ballots to be Recounted
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041113/NEWS02/111130045/-1/news02

By Kevin Landrigan
The Nashua Telegraph
Saturday 13 November 2004

Concord - Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader set in motion the hand-recounting of ballots in New Hampshire, wiring a mandatory, $2,000 deposit an hour before a state-imposed deadline Friday.

Nader has initially asked state election officials to count ballots in eight communities, including Litchfield and Pelham, but he has the right to a statewide recount as long as he pays the entire cost, Secretary of State Bill Gardner said.

Nader campaign manager Theresa Amato specified in a letter to Gardner what precincts should be counted first.

"We are requesting that the state undertake this recount with these wards first. We look forward to working with you and are available to discuss the logistics at your earliest convenience to enable the recount to proceed as quickly as possible," Amato wrote.

Gardner said it's entirely up to Nader how extensive this review of the ballots will be once it has begun.

"There's no such thing as a partial recount. The person making the request can decide to halt the recount at any point they choose, but this makes all ballots subject to a recount," Gardner said.

The earliest this recount could begin is Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving Day. That's because the next two weeks are already packed with more than a dozen recounts of legislative races.

The recount of votes in eight communities could take more than a day depending on how many teams of volunteers are assembled to help, Gardner said.

Four years ago, Nader was a decisive factor in New Hampshire, getting 3.6 percent of the vote, or nearly three times the margin of victory for Republican George W. Bush over Vice President Al Gore.

On Nov. 2, however, Nader got only six-tenths of 1 percent of the vote on Nov. 2, less than half of the margin of victory for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry over President Bush here.

Nader has alleged that "irregularities" in the optical scanning voting machines appear to have inflated the totals that Bush should have gotten in several key states.

Cities and towns in New Hampshire all either use paper ballots or these optical scan ballots manufactured by the Diebold Corp., whose chief executives contributed to Bush's re-election.

Gardner estimates he's overseen 300 recounts of elections using these ballots and none have uncovered widespread tampering with the vote.

"Years ago, New Hampshire got rid of the lever machines and punch-card ballots that caused so many problems with the hanging chads in Florida during the 2000 election," Gardner said.

"In the past, these AccuVote machines have proven to be very accurate."

Last week, Nader wrote that he either wants a complete recount or a "statistically significant sample audit" of the votes statewide.

Nader campaign officials questioned Gardner this week about why Bush got a much higher percentage of the vote in southern New Hampshire communities against Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry than he did four years ago against Vice President Al Gore.

All eight communities that Nader has asked to be recounted first - Litchfield, Pelham, Sandown, Newton, a ward in Somersworth, Danville, Salem and four wards in Manchester - are within a half-hours drive from the Massachusetts border.

"They couldn't understand why Senator Kerry could do so well in these communities in the primary and then under-perform compared to the 2000 election against Bush," Gardner said.

"There surely are plausible reasons why that would be the case, but, at first glance, this raised questions for them."

The recount covers all but one Manchester ward in state Senate District 18 where Republican Sen. Andre Martel of Manchester narrowly defeated Manchester Democrat David Gelinas.

Gelinas has filed for a recount that will take place next Friday.

"We had questions about some of the totals for our candidate in Manchester wards, so maybe Ralph Nader is raising the same questions we are," said Dick Bouley, a Gelinas supporter assisting with the recount.

Nader first made the recount request last Friday, but failed to provide the minimum $2,000 check needed as a deposit.

Gardner set a deadline of this Friday at 4:30 p.m. for Nader to come up with the money.

Gardner has estimated a statewide recount would cost the state as much as $80,000.

"We made every effort to accommodate the Nader campaign's recount request, and as a result it will come to pass," Fitch added.

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For some, Ohio still is not decided

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041113/NEWS01/411130389

Kerry voters demand investigation of count

November 13, 2004
By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - You thought the presidential election was over in Ohio?

President Bush, Sen. John Kerry, the Ohio secretary of state, and both national and state Democratic and Republican parties certainly think so.

But on the Web, in e-mails, on radio and on television, a mounting chorus of Kerry supporters is pushing the notion that Bush won Ohio through fraud, conspiracies or voting machine malfunctions.

"We know there have been way too many voting irregularities for this to be a glitch," said Lisa Kelly, 45, of Middletown, Del., one of the army of Kerry supporters calling and e-mailing anyone she can to reopen the election in Ohio. "I think it is a concerted effort to affect the outcome of the election in a fraudulent manner."

"A shroud of Kremlinesque secrecy surrounds the entire process," said Simon Glickman, 40, of Los Angeles, who wants to see an investigation into Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's activities. "It's abundantly clear, now, that there's funny business going on."

Through Web sites like www.democraticunderground.org, www.blackboxvoting.org, www.dailykos.com, www.indyvoter.org, www.freepress.org and even one called www.recountohio.org, anti-Bush forces are pushing for investigations, recounts and even a retraction of Kerry's concession.

Today in Columbus, several groups will rally at Capitol Square to call for an investigation, then hold "hearings" at a Columbus church on the matter.

In Washington, a rally is scheduled today in front of the Democratic National Committee headquarters to urge them and Congress to investigate fraud in Ohio and Florida. One demand: that John Kerry "unconcede."

Two minor-party candidates, the Green Party's David Cobb and the Libertarian Party's Michael Badnarik, announced this week they will try to raise the estimated $110,000 for a statewide recount.

And all this comes as county boards of elections begin counting the estimated 155,000 provisional ballots. Today is the first day boards are allowed to open the envelopes, though most boards plan to wait until Monday or later.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, the Kerry campaign, the secretary of state and political experts say that while there were hiccups and glitches on Election Day, there's no chance that the election was stolen, or that the results will be overturned.

"Grow up! That's what I'd tell them. Grow up. Because I frankly think this is childish," said Ryan Barilleaux, a Hanover Township resident and chairman of the political science department of Miami University of Ohio.

Barilleaux credited groundswell to Ohio's pivotal role in the election - if Kerry backers can yet swing Ohio, they'll have Kerry in the White House - to avenge for the 2000 election, and to the nation's "culture of litigation."

"For the last half century, anytime anyone has not liked something, they've litigated it," he said. "Why should elections be any different?"

Dan Trevas, a spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, said many voters are driven to espousing conspiracies because they just can't believe that after such a fierce campaign, after they turned out so many votes, they lost.

"They're still a little shocked that Republicans turned out that many more voters considering they weren't doing the registration at the levels (Democrats) were. There's kind of this awe out there," he said.

Terry McAuliffe, the national DNC chairman, was forced to issue a statement Wednesday noting that the election outcome is "undisputed."

"Unlike 2000, the Republicans simply received more votes than the Democrats in this election," he said. "We are not contesting the outcome of this election."

James Lee, a spokesman for Blackwell, said poll workers and Ohio's entire electoral process were subject to astonishing scrutiny on Election Day. International observers, the media and lawyers looked for anything that seemed amiss.

"With any election, there is a minority of voters who are dissatisfied with the outcome," he said. "It is a testimony to our democracy that in spite of all the scrutiny and criticism and lawsuits, overall the election went off smoothly in Ohio."

Even Trevas, the spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said some of the calls that have come into state headquarters have been "crazy."

"We're trying to ferret out any suspicious activity, and if somebody has something then we'll go after it," he said. "But at this point, everything that seems to be suspicious is getting an answer provided ... The Internet is just fueling this stuff. What can you do?"
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Enquirer reporters Jim Siegel, Erica Solvig and Gregory Korte contributed.
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EXAMPLES OF WHAT SOME VIEW AS ALLEGED FRAUD OR UNFAIR RULES

• In Cuyahoga County, some areas showed more votes counted than actual voters.

Explanation: A quirk in the way Cuyahoga County allots ballots. Even the county admits it's complicated; it posted an explanation on its Web page at www.cuyahoga.oh.us. Cuyahoga is a Democratically controlled county.

• Rumors that provisional ballots that don't include a date of birth were being thrown out. New or less-educated voters, who were more likely to be Kerry supporters according to exit polls, would be disproportionately disenfranchised.

Explanation: There was some confusion, but Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's office has ordered that lack of a date of birth on a provisional ballot can't be used to throw it out. "There is a place on the paperwork for a provisional ballot for voters to write in date of birth. It is optional, and it does not nullify a ballot," said James Lee, a Blackwell spokesman.

• A machine in Gahanna, Ohio, near Columbus, spit out more Bush votes than there really were.

Explanation: It did count an extra 3,893 votes for Bush, but the glitch was caught and corrected.

• Warren County had exceptionally long lines, and barred the media and observers from watching the vote counting. "The Warren results were part of the last tallies that helped clinch President Bush's re-election," according to www.votersunite.org, a group suspicious of the results.

Explanation: The county did have long lines at polls that stayed open late in fast-growing Mason and Maineville. They did lock down the vote counting, claiming a terrorist threat. But there's no evidence either had any impact on the final vote count in the traditionally GOP county.

Kerry boosted the Democratic vote count, compared with Al Gore in 2000, by 33 percent. But Bush boosted his vote count by about 38 percent. Even without a single one of Warren County's 66,523 votes, Bush would have won Ohio.

-Enquirer Washington Bureau
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PROVISIONAL OHIO PRESIDENTIAL VOTES WAIT TO BE COUNTED

The unofficial results from Election Day showed Bush getting 2,796,147 votes in Ohio to Kerry's 2,659,664, according to the secretary of state.
That's a difference of 136,483 votes.
Yet to be counted: overseas ballots that came in after Election Day and provisional ballots, cast by voters who for some reason were not listed on the rolls. The state estimates there were 155,428 provisional ballots cast.
Starting today, county boards of elections can begin counting provisional ballots, as part of the official final vote count or canvass.

Hamilton County
• Number of provisional ballots: 14,386
• Will begin canvass: May not begin until week of Nov. 22

Warren County
• Number of provisional ballots: 1,465
• Will begin canvass: Starting Monday

Clermont County
• Number of provisional ballots: 1,818
• Will begin canvass: Tuesday, set to finish Nov. 23

Butler County
• Number of provisional ballots: 5,793
• Will begin canvass: May not begin until week of Nov. 22.

Results are due Dec. 1 to Ohio secretary of state's office.
If the margin of victory is within one-quarter of 1 percent, there will be an automatic recount.

-Enquirer Washington Bureau