by D. Cupples (photo from House.gov) | Yesterday, presidential candidate and Congressman Dennis Kucinich -- who endorsed Barack Obama for the second ballot during the Iowa Caucus -- called for a recount of New Hampshire's primary election. Unlike some (big) counties in Ohio and Florida, New Hampshire's voting system has a checkable paper trail. Kucinich is reportedly inspired by discrepencies between primary results and pre-primary polls, as well as online reports alleging that hand-counted ballots tended to favor Barack
Obama, and machine-counted ones tended to favor Hillary Clinton. The Associated Press reports:
"Candidates who lose by 3 percentage or less are entitled to a recount for a $2,000 fee. Candidates who lose by more must pay for the full cost. Kucinich's campaign said it was sending the $2,000 fee to start the recount.
"[Deputy Secretary of State David] Scanlon said his office had received several phone calls since Tuesday, mostly from outside the state, questioning the results. New Hampshire's voting machines are not linked in any way, which Scanlon says reduce the likelihood of tampering with results on a statewide level...
"'Perhaps the best thing that could happen for us is to have a recount to show the people that ... the votes that were cast on election day were accurately reflected in the results,'" (AP)
In a letter to New Hampshire's Secretary of State, Kucinich emphasized: “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.” ( Business Wire) Kucinich had received less than 2% of the vote. (CNN) Given what happened in Ohio and Florida, a recount would be a good thing. Memeorandum has other bloggers' commentary:
Captain's Quarters, Dallas Morning News and First Friday Collective. Other BN-Politics Posts: * Blackwater Gassed Iraqis, Taxpayers Fund Lobbying Efforts? * Dueling Videos Emerge from U.S.-Iran Boat Incident * Why We Need Campaign-Finance Reform: Complaint Against Senator * It's not Just New Hampshire: Some Polls Favored Wrong Candidates Before Iowa
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