Kucinich Asks for Recount of New Hampshire

Via Donailin at the Booman Tribune, Dennis Kucinich wants a recount of the New Hampshire primaries to assure voters of the integrity of the vote:

from the detroit business wire

DETROIT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, the most outspoken advocate in the Presidential field and in Congress for election integrity, paper-ballot elections, and campaign finance reform, has sent a letter to the New Hampshire Secretary of State asking for a recount of Tuesday's election because of "unexplained disparities between hand-counted ballots and machine-counted ballots."

"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."

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."

This is excellent news. This matter needs to be settled. Anyone with any common sense would agree we should verify the vote when the results are wildly off all predictions by every pollster that worked NH.

BooMan adds his reasons why, even if there appears to be only minor discrepancies in results of polls and the actual vote and there are already some rational explanations for them, it is worth doing this integrity check.

Also, from Connecticut Bob, we have this interview with Kucinich on the night of the New Hampshire Primary:

I was very lucky to get a moment to ask Rep. Kucinich (DK2008.COM) a brief question about impeachment at Jillian's Pub where his campaign was set up to watch the returns from the New Hampshire primary.

Transcript of interview is available here.

[update] Welcome to Buzz Tracker readers and thanks for linking in!

[update deux] From the AP:

Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said Kucinich is entitled to a statewide recount. But, under New Hampshire law, Kucinich will have to pay for it. Scanlan said he had "every confidence" the results are accurate.

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.

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. Also, the results can be checked against paper ballots.

Kucinich may need a few bucks to help pay for this little integrity check... And just in case you are wondering if it is only the left side that does not trust these machines:

Both Republican and Democratic candidates have asked the state of New Hampshire to conduct a hand recount of all primary ballots statewide, citing internet rumors about vote discrepancies and voting machine fraud in the primary results.

Democratic presidential nominee candidate Kucinich was the first to make headlines in calling for a statewide recount of the Democratic primary results in response to the internet fury around a post made by a woman named Lori Price that compares votes counted by optical scan machines made by Diebold Election Systems (now re-named Premier Election Solutions) to votes counted by hand.

Today the New Hampshire secretary of state's office announced that Republican presidential nominee candidate Albert Howard also asked for a statewide recount of the Republican primary results.

[update trois] Kucinich has an appeal up to help pay the costs of the recount:

Dennis Kucinich has asked for a recount of the New Hampshire Primary vote and we need your help to raise the funds for this important action. Dennis is asking for a recount of Tuesday’s election because of "unexplained disparities between hand-counted ballots and machine-counted ballots."

Please help with a contribution. Thank you