Posted on 11/12/2004 1:45:45 PM PST by sigtux
The (Indiana) state Democratic Party on Friday requested a recount of the congressional race which Rep. Baron Hill lost by a narrow margin in last week’s election., The Associated Press reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at tribtown.com ...
Had I lost by 1,485 votes, I would call for a recount, too. But unless there were some serious screw-ups, that is way too many votes to make up in a recount of a congressional district.
Thank God that the GOP controls the U.S. House of Representatives and Hill won't be able to steal the seat. The last time there was a really close House race in Indiana the Republican challenger was certified as having beaten Congressman Frank McCloskey, but the Democrats in the House did their own "recount" of the absentee ballots and as soon as McCloskey took the lead they stopped counting and seated McCloskey.
That would be Richard McIntyre.
Was this one of the counties where the straight party ticket voted Libertarian?
"Was this one of the counties where the straight party ticket voted Libertarian?"
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/local/10164008.htm
Vote-total anomalies force Franklin recount Associated Press BROOKVILLE – A computer glitch in optical-scan voting systems that recorded straight-party votes for Democratic candidates as Libertarian votes has prompted officials in one Indiana county to a recount ballots. Democrats discovered the error in southeastern Indiana’s Franklin County, where ballots were scheduled to be counted again Thursday night. The county’s election equipment vendor, Fidlar Election Co., notified officials Wednesday of the error. Libertarian candidates received7 percent to 8 percent of the votes in Franklin County, about 30 miles south of Richmond. County Democratic Chairman Jim Sauerland questioned the results Tuesday after seeing information on the final tally he could not decipher, county Clerk Marlene Flashpohler said. She said she then contacted Fidlar officials, who agreed Wednesday there was an error. Rock Island, Ill.-based Fidlar has optical-scan machines in nine Indiana counties. Flashpohler said company officials have said Franklin County was the only county where a vote-counting error occurred. A message seeking comment was left Thursday for Fidlar officials. Kate Shepherd, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, said Thursday the state Election Division was aware of the vote-counting problem in Franklin County. She said tests with Fidlar’s optical-scan equipment before the election found no problems. Shepherd said the state was waiting to learn more from the vendor and the county and was aware of no other counties with similar troubles. Franklin County’s Republican chairman, Bob Jewell, said he is hoping today’s noon deadline for contesting the election can be extended because Thursday’s Veterans Day holiday meant that no party or state election officials could be contacted for advice. “Hopefully (the recanvassing) won’t change the outcome of the election,” Jewell said. Preliminary tallies showed that Libertarian Chad Roots received 740 votes, or 7.7 percent, of the 9,609 votes cast in Franklin County for the 6th District congressional seat, which Republican incumbent Mike Pence won by a wide margin. Those 740 votes were the second-most Roots received in any county, including some that are much larger. For instance, Roots received 701, or 1.3 percent, of the 54,343 votes cast for the congressional seat in Madison County. Roots received 1.8 percent of the vote districtwide. Fidlar has optical-scan machines in nine Indiana counties, including Ripley and Switzerland counties in the 9th Congressional District. In last week’s election, Democratic Rep. Baron Hill was defeated by Republican Mike Sodrel by fewer than 1,500 votes, according to unofficial results tabulated by The Associated Press. The Libertarian candidate in that district, however, only received a total of 202 votes in Ripley and Switzerland counties, according to figures from the secretary of state’s office.
BROOKVILLE – A computer glitch in optical-scan voting systems that recorded straight-party votes for Democratic candidates as Libertarian votes has prompted officials in one Indiana county to a recount ballots.
Democrats discovered the error in southeastern Indiana’s Franklin County, where ballots were scheduled to be counted again Thursday night. The county’s election equipment vendor, Fidlar Election Co., notified officials Wednesday of the error.
Libertarian candidates received7 percent to 8 percent of the votes in Franklin County, about 30 miles south of Richmond.
County Democratic Chairman Jim Sauerland questioned the results Tuesday after seeing information on the final tally he could not decipher, county Clerk Marlene Flashpohler said. She said she then contacted Fidlar officials, who agreed Wednesday there was an error.
Rock Island, Ill.-based Fidlar has optical-scan machines in nine Indiana counties. Flashpohler said company officials have said Franklin County was the only county where a vote-counting error occurred.
A message seeking comment was left Thursday for Fidlar officials.
Kate Shepherd, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, said Thursday the state Election Division was aware of the vote-counting problem in Franklin County. She said tests with Fidlar’s optical-scan equipment before the election found no problems.
Shepherd said the state was waiting to learn more from the vendor and the county and was aware of no other counties with similar troubles.
Franklin County’s Republican chairman, Bob Jewell, said he is hoping today’s noon deadline for contesting the election can be extended because Thursday’s Veterans Day holiday meant that no party or state election officials could be contacted for advice.
“Hopefully (the recanvassing) won’t change the outcome of the election,” Jewell said.
Preliminary tallies showed that Libertarian Chad Roots received 740 votes, or 7.7 percent, of the 9,609 votes cast in Franklin County for the 6th District congressional seat, which Republican incumbent Mike Pence won by a wide margin.
Those 740 votes were the second-most Roots received in any county, including some that are much larger. For instance, Roots received 701, or 1.3 percent, of the 54,343 votes cast for the congressional seat in Madison County. Roots received 1.8 percent of the vote districtwide.
Fidlar has optical-scan machines in nine Indiana counties, including Ripley and Switzerland counties in the 9th Congressional District. In last week’s election, Democratic Rep. Baron Hill was defeated by Republican Mike Sodrel by fewer than 1,500 votes, according to unofficial results tabulated by The Associated Press.
The Libertarian candidate in that district, however, only received a total of 202 votes in Ripley and Switzerland counties, according to figures from the secretary of state’s office.
Nope. It's not. Franklin County is in SE Indiana, alright. But it's not in the 9th District.
See the last few lines of the story you posted, which specifically identifies the 9th District as a separate race.
"Franklin County is in SE Indiana, alright. But it's not in the 9th District."
Here is a followup to the Indiana 9th Congressional District recount story written by the Indianapolis Star's Mary Beth Schneider:
http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/195304-5528-103.html
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