Kudos To Kucinich
Sue Sturgis at Facing South notes Kucinich asks for N.H. recount. There have been questions about the vote counting in the New Hampshire primary and Dennis Kucinich is willing to put up the money to find the truth. It can’t be expected to help his chances much, but he wants people to have confidence in the system. Fortunately the Granite State sensibly uses paper ballots, so a hand count is possible.
Thank you, Mr. Kucinich. People need to know the truth about their voting system, and this will ensure they do.
6 comments
Good for him. Our votes should never be taken for granite. Granted… granted… that’s what I meant.
th is is just the prelude to ’08….
Except he isn’t willing to put up the money. N.H. law says if you lose by less than 3% is costs you $2000 for a recount. Otherwise, if you want a recount, you have to pay for the full thing, so that the state doesn’t throw away money on a frivolous activity. Kucinich is willing to give $2000, despite losing by more than 3%. I’m not sure why he’s trying to do it this way.
i got an email from his campaign on this, which includes this paragraph:
“If New Hampshire agrees to a recount, this campaign will have to pay for it. And we can’t investigate what happened in New Hampshire – or protect every other state in the Union – without your help.”
the link in the paragraph takes you to kucinich’s campaign contributions page. annoying.
i was impressed with his demand for a recount, feeling as i do about the elections process, and i’d happily give money to help pay for recounts, but the wording and linkage in his request were just awkward enough that it comes across a ploy for more campaign donations in general. i’d have liked it better if the link had gone to an explanatory page on his website, rather than directly to the form for donating money.
he’s got no chance of getting elected, but he does have an excellent national platform for highlighting problems with how we elect our president, and i’m happy to see him using it for that.
Hipparchia explains it, Kenneth, the $2K is the down payment if the difference is ≥ 3%.
I’ve seen it reported that someone down-ticket on the Repub side is also funding a recount, so I wonder if someone inside the process is unhappy or saw something weird.
The scanners are the same type used for test scoring, and I had a few of those go weird on me over the years. I had to have students verify their own answer sheets and make grading corrections a few times. The problem is usually paper or graphite dust blocking sensors. We went to calibration runs before and after grading to verify the equipment was working properly, because the self-test didn’t work as advertised.
A major problem in Palm Beach County, in addition to the butterfly ballot design was full chad collection boxes, something I encountered in San Diego County in the 1980s. Maintenance on election equipment is spotty at best, and non-existent in many cases. I go back to the punch card equipment in computing, so I’m all too familiar with its problems.
It will be a major red flag if something is found in New Hampshire. If there are significant problems with the scanners as well as the touch-screen trash, 2008 could be a very slow election process.
Okay, that makes more sense.