Thread: Primaryvotes to be recounted Votes cast in New Hampshire's

Primaryvotes to be recounted

Published on Saturday, January 12, 2008.


Source: Concord Monitor

Democratic and Republican presidential primaries will undergo a hand recount, after two candidates who garnered little support here questioned the results.
The Democratic recount was requested by Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who won about 1 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary. In a letter to Secretary of State Bill Gardner, Kucinich cited "unexplained disparities between hand-counted ballots and machine-counted ballots" and pointed to the divergence between opinion polls leading up to the primary - which showed Barack Obama ahead by a wide margin - and the final outcome. Hillary Clinton narrowly won the Democratic contest.

On the Republican side, a Michigan chauffeur and little-known presidential candidate named Albert Howard joined forces with supporters of Rep. Ron Paul yesterday to request a full recount of the Republican ballots from Tuesday's primary.

Howard is a 41-year-old father of eight from Ann Arbor who says he believes an angel of the Lord came to him and told him he would beat Clinton in a run for the presidency. He flew to New Hampshire on Thursday night and was at Gardner's office at 8:30 yesterday morning with the necessary paperwork.

Now, Gardner said, the state is required to conduct a full hand recount of the nearly 240,000 ballots cast in Tuesday's Republican primary and the more than 285,000 ballots cast in the Democratic primary.

By law, the recounts will start Wednesday. Because every ballot in the state must be recounted by hand, "we're talking days and probably weeks," said Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan.

"We're very confident that the results that were reflected after the primary was over are going to be the results that would be the outcome of a recount," Scanlan said.

The last time the state conducted a recount in the presidential primary it was 1980 at the request of perennial candidate Lyndon LaRouche, Gardner said. The recount gained LaRouche 11 votes, from a total of eight to 19.

Under state law, if a candidate finishes more than 3 percentage points behind the winner, he or she must pay the cost of a recount. Kucinich representatives arrived at Gardner's office late yesterday - just in time to meet the deadline to request a recount - with the $2,000 fee required to initiate the process. They also agreed to pay for the full cost of the recount, Scanlan said.

Gardner is working on estimates for the recount costs, but they'll likely be significantly higher than $2,000. Gardner will announce the time and location of the recount after he estimates the total cost and the state has received a payment for that estimate.

The Republican recount is being bankrolled by backers of Paul, the libertarian-minded Texas congressman whose presidential candidacy has become an internet phenomenon. Two Paul supporters, Margaret and Eric Newhouse of Moultonboro, arrived at the secretary of state's office at noon yesterday with a wad of $100 bills totaling $2,000.

The Newhouses they said that an online drive for recount funds has already raised $18,000, and that the $2,000 was some of their own money plus contributions from other Paul supporters.

Kucinich's request for a recount came amid considerable internet speculation about the discrepancy between results of ballots counted by hand and those counted electronically. Bloggers and voters have pointed to Clinton's lead over Obama in towns where ballots were machine-counted as evidence of possible vote tampering.

"I am not making this request in the expectation that a recount will significantly affect the number of votes that were cast on my behalf," Kucinich wrote, according to a press release. But "serious and credible reports, allegations and rumors have surfaced in the past few days. . . . It is imperative that these questions be addressed in the interest of public confidence in the integrity of the election process and the election machinery - not just in New Hampshire, but in every other state that conducts a primary election."

In a letter to the Monitor, Alton residents Nick and Patty Diliberto also questioned the results. "In cities and towns that counted ballots by hand. . . . Obama came out the winner, 39 to 36 percent," compared with communities with machine counts, where Clinton led, they wrote. Voting machines "can be hacked into and votes can be flipped. A hand recount of all ballots might reveal a different outcome."

But speculation about the disparity in the vote counts overlooks a crucial fact, said Dante Scala, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire.

"People expected Clinton to do well in cities, blue-collar cities, many of which have these automated balloting," Scala said. "And towns, where Obama was expected to do better, do hand counts, because they don't have the electronic machines." Cities where Clinton won convincingly - such as Manchester, Somersworth, Rochester, Nashua and Berlin - all rely on electronic counting.

"The people who are espousing all these theories have no understanding of the New Hampshire electorate, so they leap on these things," Scala said. He added that such recounts will only "strengthen the credibility of New Hampshire's system."

An Obama spokesman didn't return a phone call yesterday.

On the Republican side, the Newhouses said they were spurred to action by concerns about the integrity of Diebold voting machines plus word that some 31 votes for Paul were not at first recorded in the town of Sutton. (State officials say the votes were counted but were not originally passed on to the state due to a transcription error.)

"That's pretty huge," said Eric Newhouse, a carpenter and father of five who brought a videotape to record him handing the money over.

They hoped the recount in New Hampshire would be watched across the country.

"If we can prove something with the election voting machines in this state, we've changed this entire election," said Newhouse, who deemed the recount fee "the best money I've ever spent in my life."

Paul spokeswoman Kate Rick didn't return a phone call yesterday.

Howard said he grew concerned watching the results roll in on C-SPAN on Tuesday. With 12 percent of the precincts counted, Howard said, C-SPAN showed he had 150 votes, then 187. Suddenly, Howard said, his name disappeared and his vote total dipped down to 30.

"I was actually ahead of Alan Keyes for a while," Howard said. "That's what triggered some real emotion in me."

According to unofficial tallies, Howard won 44 votes in the primary. Keyes snagged 203.

http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5253

Let's hope they have a reliable source doing the recount. If there is a discreptancy in the results, they should have the Iowa votes recounted, too.

I hate to be cynical, but they probably will tamper with the re-count too....

Originally Posted by ndmibby

I hate to be cynical, but they probably will tamper with the re-count too....

I agree!

By law, the recounts will start Wednesday. Because every ballot in the state must be recounted by hand, "we're talking days and probably weeks," said Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan.

Why can an ordinary hand ballot vote in an election take one night, but a RECOUNT takes "days and probably weeks"?

Originally Posted by minnie

"If we can prove something with the election voting machines in this state, we've changed this entire election," said Newhouse, who deemed the recount fee "the best money I've ever spent in my life."

How do you recount a vote cast electronically? Is there a paper printout?

With 12 percent of the precincts counted, Howard said, C-SPAN showed he had 150 votes, then 187. Suddenly, Howard said, his name disappeared and his vote total dipped down to 30.

Be interesting to see what the recount is.

Originally Posted by Bowman

How do you recount a vote cast electronically? Is there a paper printout?

It seems that they have something on paper.

http://grannywarrior.chipin.com/recount

"Update from NH


To all supporting or considering supporting the recount effort.

I am writing to share with you what I know about the New Hampshire Recount process.

At this time the paper ballots are sealed and in the possession of the Towns and Cities where they were cast. As with all great magicians the greatest illusions are done right before our eyes, and this is our concern with the Diebold Scanners and voting machines.

Past demonstrations have shown that these machines could skew the vote without the public or election officials knowing anything has happened. For this reason we have asked for a HAND RECOUNT of the ENTIRE STATE.


For anyone who may be concerned that a potential fraud could be covered up between now and Wednesday please sit back and consider this.

I live in New Hampshire because of the quality of life, a quality that starts with the honest hard working people who live here. Just think, for any funny business to take place from this point on, it would have to be a massive coordinated effort in over two hundred cities and towns, done right in front of the good people who live here. To pull that off in a few days would take real magic.



Now back to the processâ?¦. The Sec. of State will provide State Police Escort for the officials picking up the sealed paper ballots, each person who handles the ballots at any time will have to sign off on a ledger just like when you send registered mail. From there they will go to the location chosen for the recount. Each candidate can have their own team of observers if they so choose. Some of the logistics of the vote count still need to be worked out and as we (all those supporting Albert Howardâ??s efforts) are paying for the Recount we will have some input into the process. I personally suggested several video cameras streaming live to monitors and to the Internet. They liked the idea but we will definitely need help from our more tech savvy supporters.



Letâ??s keep up the positive excitement and make this thing happen.



Sincerely,

Eric

We are going to see alot more of this until photo ID is mandated for ALL states again.

Dead people and illegal aliens with multiple fake ID's cannot vote, but DO. Make everyone show a valid drivers license when voting and this should reduce the fraud.