Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb's pending request
to have the flawed recount of Ohio's presidential vote be done again, this
time in conformance with state and federal law, moved a step closer to
judicial resolution with the filing last week of the final necessary
documents before the matter can be heard by a federal judge.
Attorneys acting on behalf of Cobb and Libertarian presidential
candidate Michael Badnarik, filed a legal Memorandum on February 3,
countering the "remarkable assertion" of Secretary of State J. Kenneth
Blackwell that he is not a proper party to the recount litigation and that
the lawsuit filed by the presidential candidates should be dismissed.
"Mr. Blackwell and Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro are doing
their utmost to keep the public and the proper authorities from finding out
what went wrong with Ohio's presidential election and the bungled recount
which followed it. Collectively, they have refused to testify before
members of Congress and they have sought sanctions against attorneys
prosecuting legitimate election claims. It is not at all surprising that
they are claiming a federal court has no jurisdiction in the oversight of a
federal election. It's not surprising, it's simply ridiculous," said Blair
Bobier, Media Director for the Cobb-LaMarche 2004 Green Party presidential
campaign.
The matter is pending in the Eastern Division of the United
States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, before Judge Edmund
Sargus.
Whether the Ohio election and subsequent recount were conducted
fairly and with uniform standards has become a national issue since Cobb and
Badnarik first demanded the Ohio recount back in November. The recount set
the stage for investigations conducted by Representative John Conyers of
Michigan, rallies featuring the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and the historic
challenge to Ohio's Electoral College votes on January 6, before a joint
session of Congress. The issue has galvanized activists all across the
country and has resulted in Congressional legislation, a well-attended
national conference and the emergence of a New Voting Rights Movement.
Problems with the recount included a lack of security for the
ballots and voting machines-including allegations of interference with
voting machines by representatives of the Diebold and Triad corporations-and
the refusal of some counties to do a full hand recount when Ohio law
required them to do so. One of the most significant problems with the
recount was that few of Ohio's 88 counties randomly selected sample
precincts for the recount as is required by state law.
Additional information about the recount and the New Voting
Rights Movement can be found at http://www.votecobb.org. The website for
the national Green Party is http://www.gp.org.
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