Recounts pending as state certifies presidential election

ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS

Associated Press   06 December 2004

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The state certified a 2 percentage-point election victory for President Bush on Monday even as independent candidates, strengthened by a federal court ruling, prepared to demand recounts in all 88 counties.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certified Bush as the winner based on official results from county election boards, with the final tally of 2.86 million votes for the Republican, or about 51 percent of the vote, and 2.74 million or 49 percent for Democrat John Kerry.

The 118,775-vote lead was closer than unofficial election night results but not enough to trigger a mandatory recount. Absentee ballots and provisional votes counted after election night made most of the difference.

"This was an election where you had some glitches, but none of these glitches were of a conspiratorial nature, and none of them would have overturned or changed the election results," Blackwell said.

The election hung on Ohio, a battleground state prized for its 20 electoral votes. Not until the morning after the election did Kerry, presented with the state's results, finally concede.

Presidential candidates for the Green and Libertarian parties planned to file requests for recounts beginning Tuesday morning. The campaigns raised the $113,600 needed to pay for the recount under Ohio law, and will write individual checks to all 88 counties.

Counties have ten days to start those recounts, allowed under state law, following Blackwell's certification.

The recount's goal is "to ensure that every citizen's vote is properly counted," said John Bonifaz, general counsel for the Boston-based National Voting Rights Institute, which represents the independent candidates.

The candidates, David Cobb of the Green Party and Michael Bednarik of the Libertarian Party, together received less than 0.5 percent of the Ohio vote.

Recount advocates have cited numerous Election Day problems, from long lines, a shortage of voting machines in predominantly minority neighborhoods and suspicious vote totals for candidates in scattered precincts.

Republicans said the recount won't change anything.

"If there's a recount, there's going to be two losers - John Kerry and the Ohio taxpayer," said Mark Weaver, a lawyer representing the Ohio Republican Party. "It's going to cost more than $1.5 million to find out what we already know."

The amount the independent candidates have raised is based on state law calculating the cost of a recount to be $10 a precinct, but Blackwell's office has said a more realistic price tag is $1.5 million.

A Friday ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus, striking down Delaware County's attempt to stop a recount, ensured the process will go forward.

"Every county will do what's required by law," said Keith Cunningham, Allen County election board director and vice president of the state election boards association. He bristled at suggestions that the election was plagued by fraud or widespread error.

"To actually assert that elections officials in Ohio have intentionally done something is beyond insulting," he said Monday. "I know election officials all over the state - it's just fantasy run wild."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Monday the Ohio Supreme Court should investigate Bush's win in Ohio because of "massive problems" with the voting.

The required filing with the Supreme Court, planned for Monday, was put off until at least Tuesday because of its complexity, said Cliff Arnebeck, a Columbus attorney representing the voters.

About 20 people protested outside Blackwell's office Monday, demanding Blackwell postpone the Dec. 13 electoral college vote in Ohio until the recount is finished. Blackwell said the vote will take place.

"This is about whether people have the right to not only vote, but to have their votes counted," said Dan Hamburg, a former congressman and Green Party gubernatorial candidate in California who came to Ohio to support the recount.