Institute for Public Accuracy Report

Report from Institute for Public Accuracy:
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Institute for Public Accuracy"
To:
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 10:44 AM
Subject: Ohio: Official Recount Now Expected


> Institute for Public Accuracy
> 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
> (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
> ___________________________________________________
>
> 1 p.m. ET -- Monday, November 15, 2004
>
> Ohio: Official Recount Now Expected
>
> DAVID COBB, [via Blair Bobier, b2@bobierlaw.com], http://www.votecobb.com
> Cobb was the 2004 presidential candidate for the Green Party. He said
> today: "We announced our intention to seek a recount of the vote in Ohio.
> Since the required fee for a statewide recount is $113,600, the only
> question was whether that money could be raised in time to meet the filing
> deadline. That question has been answered. Thanks to the thousands of
> people who have contributed to this effort, we can say with certainty that
> there will be a recount in Ohio." The Green Party is working with the
> Libertarian Party -- both parties were on the ballot in Ohio -- in
> securing a recount. The presidential candidates for the two parties have
> demanded that Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican who
> co-chaired this year's Bush campaign in Ohio, recuse himself from the
> recount process.
>
> The media director for the Cobb-LaMarche campaign, Blair Bobier, said
> today: "The Ohio presidential election was marred by numerous press and
> independent reports of mis-marked and discarded ballots, problems with
> electronic voting machines and the targeted disenfranchisement of
> African-American voters. A number of citizens' groups and voting rights
> organizations are holding the second of two hearings today in Columbus,
> Ohio, to take testimony from voters, poll watchers and election experts
> about problems with the Ohio vote. The hearing, from 6 to 9 p.m., will be
> held at the Courthouse, meeting room A, 373 S. High St., in Columbus." For
> more information, see: .
>
> JOHN BONIFAZ, JBonifaz@nvri.org, http://www.nvri.org
> Executive director for the National Voting Rights Institute, Bonifaz is
> the lawyer for the recount effort. He said today: "We must ensure that all
> votes are properly counted."
>
> JONATHAN TURLEY, jturley@law.gwu.edu, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6452480
> Turley is a professor of constitutional law at George Washington
> University; he is not connected to the recount efforts. Turley said today:
> "Electors are certified on Dec. 7. They actually vote on Dec. 13. But
> those votes are not opened by Congress until Jan. 6. So there is still
> time to challenge the results in Ohio -- as well as other close states
> such as New Mexico, Iowa and Nevada."
>
> Turley added: "I was surprised on the morning after the election. I was
> legal analyst with CBS News for the election and we did not go off the air
> until 6 a.m. At that time, due to the reports and my conversation with
> Kerry attorneys, I expected a challenge. Kerry's statement the day after
> the election that there were not enough provisional ballots to have any
> chance to alter the result of the election may have been true, but it was
> a bit misleading since provisional ballots are only part of the story.
> There were also absentee ballots, there were reports of substantial
> pockets of election problems, and allegations of over-voting and machine
> malfunction. In addition, over 70 percent of Ohio's votes were done with
> punch cards. We know that when you do a challenge to those, they tend to
> turn over. So there is room to challenge Ohio and other states. This is
> not to say that a recount is likely to change the result of the election,
> but it is not an impossibility."
>
> For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
> Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
>
> ***********
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