Posted on 11/08/2002 3:55:57 PM PST by commish
Edited on 05/07/2004 5:12:17 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
"On election night, when Don Siegelman thought he was ahead by 2,500 votes, he declared victory. He said, 'How sweet it is.'" He didn't say it was so close that we needed a recount. He didn't say there was uncertainty.
(Excerpt) Read more at montgomeryadvertiser.com ...
GET OUT OF GOVERNOR RILEY'S HOUSE DON SEIGELMAN!
ON a related note:
Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor just announced that Seigelman will have to file suit against the State of Alabama and go to court to get any SEALED BALLOTS opened and recounted.
Any county that has already certified it's total (which is all or almost all I believe) has already SEALED their ballots. BALDWIN COUNTY has definately SEALED their ballots since they have been Certified since Wednesday.
Frisk him on the way out.
PLus if Dirty Don doesn't like that he can go to the 11th Circuit (OOPS that is not the Liberals friend either), but he could also go to SCOTUS (OH wait they already ruled in one election case this year that they won't get involved in STATE ELECTIONS) -- oh well to bad so sad -- BYE BYE DON
LOL. Eight Republicans and one conservative Independent. Judge Roy Moore (The 'ten commandments' judge) is the chief justice.
(WASHINGTON) The nation’s leading gay and lesbian partisan political organizations united today to condemn the recent legal opinion by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in a state custody case, where Moore called homosexuality a "detestable and an abominable sin...a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an inherent evil," and ordered three teenaged children to be kept in abusive custody of the biological father instead of the children’s mother, solely because she is a lesbian.
I would agree with you, if the law allowed for such a recount under these circumstances. If it doesn't, and Riley agreed to have one anyway, how is that any different that the Dems in FL or NJ or MN ignoring the laws of their states?
| Recount in Alabama Dealt Setback |
Story Filed: Friday, November 08, 2002 6:40 PM EST
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman's call for a statewide recount suffered a blow Friday when the Republican attorney general said sealed ballots can't be opened just because the governor trails his GOP challenger.
``You can't break the seal based on not liking the count,'' Attorney General Bill Pryor said in an opinion awaited by elections officials across Alabama.
In response, Siegelman campaign spokesman Rip Andrews said: ``The bottom line is it's a Republican conspiracy at its worst.''
It wasn't immediately clear whether the governor would go to court to try to force a recount or take the issue before the Legislature, which doesn't convene until January.
According to unofficial returns from Tuesday's election, Siegelman lost to GOP Rep. Bob Riley by 3,195 votes out of 1.3 million cast statewide.
All 67 counties began certifying their vote totals Friday and any changes were not expected to change the overall outcome. Riley has proceeded as if he is governor-elect, even appointing a transition team chairman.
Siegelman demanded a recount Thursday. He pointed in particular to Baldwin County, where elections officials reduced his tally by about 7,000 votes late Tuesday -- enough to give Riley the victory.
The county blamed a glitch in its computer system for the revision, but the first-term governor said the switch was made after poll workers left for the night.
Alabama law does not provide for an automatic recount in tight races, but voters can ask for one, county by county, if they put up a bond to pay for it. Democratic supporters began filing recount petitions across the state Friday, with Siegelman's campaign or the Democratic Party offering to pay for the bonds if necessary.
However, elections officials were advised by Secretary of State Jim Bennett to wait for Pryor's opinion in part to ``avoid the situation that arose in Florida.'' Alabama has never had a statewide recount and some of its election laws date to the 1800s.
Pryor said the governor's petitions aren't sufficient to unseal the ballots and other election records. He said Siegelman could get the ballots opened under only two scenarios:
--He files an election contest with the Legislature and shows that illegal ballots were counted or legal ballots weren't counted and they would change the results. The new Legislature would consider an election contest in January.
--He gets a judge to order a recount in a county after finding that a voting machine or precinct did not make a report on election night.
``It is a crime to break a seal without following these procedures,'' Pryor said. The crime is a misdemeanor.
Siegelman's attorney, Joe Espy, disagreed with Pryor's interpretation and said a recount is needed to settle the issue in voters' minds.
``Whatever happened, happened. Let's just count the votes,'' he said.
In Baldwin County, Republican District Attorney David Whetstone said the ballots would remain sealed, based on Pryor's advice.
``As of right now, no one is going to recount the votes in Baldwin County,'' he said.
I heard on the Mobile radio this afternoon that there have been nor were there any complaints of 'wrong-doings' filed anywhere in the whole state.
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