February 28, 2005

National Voting Rights Institute Update on Ohio Recount Litigation

The National Voting Rights Institute, the public interest law firm representing Presidential Candidates Cobb and Badnarik in their lawsuit to compel a lawful recount in Ohio, have issued this update on the status of their ligitation:

The National Voting Rights Institute

Protecting the Right to Vote for All Americans


NVRI E-News Update - February 25, 2005

The Ohio Recount -- The Saga Continues -- New Filings From The Kerry-Edwards Campaign Support NVRI's Claim That The Recount Was Simply Not Done Right

Dear Citizen:

NVRI continues to press the state of Ohio to do the right thing, and conduct a consistent and fair recount. The announced winner of the campaign is obviously not an issue. But the justness of American democracy has still not been shown. Earlier this week, the Kerry-Edwards Campaign filed documents with the federal district court in Ohio, supporting NVRI's motion to have a hearing on the inconsistent standards used in the recount.

The Kerry Edwards filing is mentioned below, and here are the most recent developments in this case.

On February 11, 2005, on behalf of our clients David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, NVRI filed a motion for a hearing before the Federal District Court on previously filed claims regarding inconsistent and inequitable recount procedures. The earlier filings had claimed that the recount of the 2004 presidential vote had been conducted with inconsistent standards throughout the state, in violation of the equal protection and due process guarantees under the US Constitution.

On February 14, Judge Sargus issued an order granting our motion to dismiss the Delaware County Board of Elections' complaint (which had sought to prevent the recount in that county) and asking for briefing in 15 days on the question of whether the case should be transferred to Judge Carr in Toledo (for the Northern District of Ohio) where a prior case seeking to expedite the recount had been filed in November 2004.

On February 23, NVRI filed the attached statement on the transfer question (http://www.nvri.org/updates/cobb_badnarik
_transfer_statement_022305.pdf
).

And on February 24, the Kerry-Edwards Campaign filed a document in support of that statement. Most significant, the Kerry-Edwards Campaign also filed a separate document in support of our motion for hearing with two critical attachments: 1) a declaration from Kerry-Edwards attorney Don McTigue (http://www.nvri.org/updates/kerry_edwards_mctigue_decl_022405.pdf) regarding a survey he conducted of Kerry-Edwards county recount coordinators; 2) a summary chart of the results of that survey (http://www.nvri.org/updates/kerry_edwards_summary_chart_022405.pdf), which highlight the inconsistent standards applied during the recount. Attached are these two critical Kerry-Edwards filings.

Once again, thanks for all of your support. Our work continues. All Americans should be concerned about the unconstitutional manner this recount was conducted.

Best Regards,

Stu


Stuart Comstock-Gay

Executive Director

National Voting Rights Institute

617-624-3900

scg@nvri.org

National Voting Rights Institute

27 School Street, Suite 500

Boston, MA 02186

Phone: (617) 624-3900 ¤ Fax: (617) 624-3911

http://www.nvri.org ¤ nvri@nvri.org

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