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Democrats Prevail in Washington Ballot Lawsuit •
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Presidential Ballots to Be Recounted
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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Democrats Prevail in Washington Ballot Lawsuit
The Associated Press
Saturday 13 November 2004
Seattle - A judge Friday ordered election officials in the state's largest county to turn over the names of about 900 voters whose provisional ballots are in dispute.
Judge Dean S. Lum said it would burden the county little to release the names, and that state law favors openness in government.
"No right is more precious than the right to vote," he said.
A lawsuit by Democrats had sought to block election officials in King County, home to Seattle, from discarding the disputed ballots.
The legal wrangling stems from the closest gubernatorial race in state history. As of Friday afternoon, Republican Dino Rossi led Democrat Christine Gregoire by about 2,000 votes out of more than 2.7 million counted. The count could continue into next week.
State party chairman Paul Berendt said volunteers would work through the weekend to contact the voters.
Counties estimated they had about 85,000 ballots left to count, mostly provisional ballots. King County has about 25,000 ballots left to count, mostly provisionals - which are essentially backup ballots that are cast when a resident's registration is in dispute.
Democrats demanded that King County not discard hundreds of provisional ballots and give the party - and the voters - a chance to fix technical problems, such as not signing the ballot envelope.
The move was criticized by Republicans, who said Democrats threatened to turn the gubernatorial election into "another Florida."
The county had declined to count the 900 provisional ballots because they did not include a proper signature. Voters were being notified of the deficiency and have until Tuesday to submit the proper signature verification.
Also Friday, election materials from an Indiana congressional district were impounded after Democrats requested a recount amid concerns that optical-scan voting systems did not work properly.
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