Posted on 11/13/2004 6:12:58 AM PST by comebacknewt
The Indiana Democratic Party requested a recount in the 9th District U.S. House race lost by Rep. Baron Hill amid questions over whether optical-scan voting systems used by some counties recorded straight-party votes erroneously.
The Indiana Recount Commission called an emergency meeting Friday afternoon to impound election materials in both that race and in the Indiana House District 9 race won by incumbent Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City.
Hill, who lost to Republican challenger Mike Sodrel by 1,485 votes in the southern Indiana congressional district, filed for the recount after a recount Thursday in Franklin County showed about 600 straight-Democratic Party votes had gone to Libertarians in initial tabulating.
Franklin County is not in the 9th U.S. House District, but three counties that are -- Ripley, Scott and Switzerland -- also used optical-scan voting systems provided by Fidlar Election Co. of Rock Island, Ill.
The Franklin County recount resulted in a Democrat winning a county council seat that initially had gone to a Republican.
The Indiana Election Division was aware of the problems in Franklin County but did not know of any other counties with similar troubles, said spokeswoman Kate Shepherd.
Ten Indiana counties in all had used Fidlar optical-scan voting systems on Election Day.
Hill, a Democrat who was seeking election to a fourth term in Congress, conceded defeat to Sodrel the day following the Nov. 2 election. Hill's apparent defeat was the first time in 10 years that an incumbent lost a congressional election in Indiana.
"I think legitimate questions have been raised," said Hill spokesman Stefan Bailey, referring to the Franklin County problems. "We need to make sure the voters know the final and legitimate outcome of this election."
The recount in the Hill-Sodrel race was requested by the state Democratic Party before Friday's noon deadline.
Sodrel issued a written statement Friday saying he remained confident of his victory.
"The people of the 9th District have spoken and county clerks of both political parties across southeastern Indiana have confirmed the results," said the statement from Sodrel, the millionaire owner of a Jeffersonville-based trucking company who had lost narrowly to Hill in 2002.
Of the three counties in question, Hill carried two, Scott and Switzerland, and lost Ripley County by 2,682 votes in unofficial results. Libertarian Al Cox tallied only 153 votes in Ripley County.
The Franklin County problem was caused by an error in an election tabulation database that assigned straight-party Democratic votes to Libertarians and vice versa, Franklin County Clerk Marlene Flaspohler said Friday.
"That was an isolated incident in a single jurisdiction," Bill Barrett, national sales manager for Fidlar, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Detroit.
LaPorte County, across the state in northwest Indiana where Indiana House District 9 is located, is not among the 10 counties that used the Fidlar optical-scan voting systems.
Pelath, a three-term incumbent, won 89 percent of the vote in unofficial results over Libertarian Gregory D. Kelver.
Could John F'n still try to pull something similar?
Look for all of the little serpents to come slithering out....
"Could John F'n still try to pull something similar?"
I don't think that is going to happen.
All the Liberal pundits, including many from the Kerry campaign, have said Bush won it 'fair and square'.
Only the leftwing nuts in the blogosphere won't give it up, just like in 2000, but it won't do them any good.
I wasn't paying attention to this one. What happened to Baron Hill? I thought he was reasonably safe.
There will probably be an Ohio recount but Kerry's campaign won't be the one asking for it (though they may be behind it, anyhow). Nader, Cobb, and Badnarik have all said they'll ask for it. In Ohio, any candidate can ask for a recount no matter the margin, even if the candidate only got write-in votes (Nader and Cobb weren't on the ballot).
And, when they lose this re-count, they'll sue.
Hill has always had pretty close races, but he had always managed to win until this year. His district went overwhelmingly for Bush and he got swept under the tide.
Sounds like Hill has a serious case of Sore-Loserman.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.