Kucinich Requests Recount of New Hampshire Ballots

Posted by Manila Ryce, The Largest Minority at 6:07 AM on January 11, 2008.

Hillary has not only taken policy advice from the Neocons, but advice on how to "win" elections as well. Exit polls are never wrong, yet they predicted that Gore would win Florida in 2000, that Kerry would win Ohio in 2004, and that Obama would win New Hampshire last week. What's the variable that ties all of these anomalies together? Diebold.

Only 20% of New Hampshire's primary ballots were counted by hand. The other 80% were counted exclusively by Diebold machines. Obama secured his predicted lead on the hand-counted ballots, but Diebold-counted ballots ended up giving the lead to Hillary. Stalin once said, "The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." Or was it John Kerry who said that after he conceded the 2004 election? Well whoever said it, it's Kucinich who has had the courage above his slighted contenders to request that the New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner recount Tuesday's election.

"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 stressed in a letter to Secretary of State William M. Gardner. 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."

Also, the reports, allegations, and rumors regarding possible vote-count irregularities have been further fueled by the stunning disparities between various "independent" pre-election polls and the actual election results," Kucinich wrote. "The integrity, credibility, and value of independent polling are separate issues, but they appear to be relevant in the context of New Hampshire's votes."

He added, "Ever since the 2000 election - and even before - the American people have been losing faith in the belief that their votes were actually counted. This recount isn't about who won 39% of 36% or even 1%. It's about establishing whether 100% of the voters had 100% of their votes counted exactly the way they cast them."

Kucinich, who drew about 1.4% of the New Hampshire Democratic primary vote, wrote, "This is not about my candidacy or any other individual candidacy. It is about the integrity of the election process." No other Democratic candidate, he noted, has stepped forward to question or pursue the claims being made.

"New Hampshire is in the unique position to address - and, if so determined, rectify - these issues before they escalate into a massive, nationwide suspicion of the process by which Americans elect their President. Based on the controversies surrounding the Presidential elections in 2004 and 2000, New Hampshire is in a prime position to investigate possible irregularities and to issue findings for the benefit of the entire nation," Kucinich wrote in his letter.

"Without an official recount, the voters of New Hampshire and the rest of the nation will never know whether there are flaws in our electoral system that need to be identified and addressed at this relatively early point in the Presidential nominating process," said Kucinich, who is campaigning in Michigan this week in advance of next Tuesday's Presidential primary in that state.

Tagged as: elections, clinton, obama, kerry, diebold, paper ballots, kucinich, electronic voting, election fraud, new hampshire, ohio 2004

Manila Ryce is a regular blooger for The Largest Minority