Alabama Riley(R) say Bush Called to Congratuate Him on Winning

Me

[LowOiL]

Bob Riley on TV now claiming victory.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

I'm not getting ANY news here -- admittedly, though, I'm listening to the local talk radio which has ABC news and Rush. Any more comments from Siegelman???

[RiVer19]

Latest from local media:
(BAY MINETTE, Ala.) November 6 - What happened with the Baldwin County vote? No one is exactly sure, but they suspect it had to do with some of the software inside the voting machines. There was a snafu in an unofficial summary sheet. The summary sheets contain results early in the election process.

Election officials went back and checked the electronic boxes with the votes and came up with some new numbers. At 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, the canvassing board met on the steps of the Baldwin County Courthouse and signed a paper certifying the election results. The results give Bob Riley 69 percent of the Baldwin County vote and Don Siegelman 28 percent.

The Baldwin County democratic party says that these numbers are not reliable, but the probate judge says that they are because of call in sheets. "Those call in sheets come from the very first tape that comes off each machine. So those things, could be others too, tell us that the detailed print out precinct by precinct, is accurate," Baldwin County Probate Judge Adrian Johns tells NBC 15 news.

"Now, sometime in that time period, somebody went back in and recalculated the votes without the presence of poll watchers, without the presence of.....we don't even know who was present. All we know is that we weren't there. No representatives of the party were there. No representative of Governor Siegelman was there. This was all done in the dark of night and somewhere thousands of votes disappeared, " says Bill Pfeifer, a representative of the Baldwin County democratic party.

There is obviously a lot of interest to find out exactly what went wrong. A representative from the software company will come from Birmingham to speak with the probate judge to determine what happened.

Link:http://www.wpmi.com/Global/story.asp?S=1001614

[ambrose]

What's the Alabama Supreme Court like? It looks like Siegelman will go to court to fight this...

[RiVer19]

Story from AP on Mobile Press Register site:
Siegelman, Riley disputing results in governor's race


By PHILLIP RAWLS
The Associated Press
11/6/02 12:49 PM


MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Baldwin County officials put their stamp of approval Wednesday on vote totals giving Republican Bob Riley victory over Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman, but a dispute left the outcome in doubt.

Election officials in the Republican-dominated county said the correct number for Siegelman was 12,736, not the 19,070 initially reported by county officials on election night.

Probate Judge Adrian Johns said Wednesday that "a programming glitch in the software" showed Siegelman with 19,070 votes, the number given to The Associated Press by Baldwin County officials on Tuesday night. That figure was enough to give Siegelman the victory in the unofficial count.

But Johns said the mistake was corrected later and that the call-in sheets from poll workers match the 12,736 number that was made official Wednesday morning.

Riley said the official Baldwin County results make him the winner by a tiny margin out of 1.3 million votes cast statewide.

"We win with over 3,000 votes," he said.

But Siegelman insisted the vote numbers in Baldwin County changed after midnight when poll watchers had left, and he stood by the higher number.

"Votes were changed after midnight with nobody present," Siegelman said in Montgomery.

Both sides sent lawyers and campaign supporters to courthouses statewide to recheck numbers, including photographing election tallies that were posted at courthouses.

Election officials in Republican-dominated Baldwin County originally showed Siegelman with 19,070 votes, but later reduced his tally to 12,736.

Baldwin County's initial tally put Siegelman on top 674,052 to 670,913, a margin of 3,139. The revised number put Riley in the lead 670,913 to 667,718, a margin of 3,195. Libertarian John Sophocleus polled 23,242 votes by both accounts.

The 19,070 vote total for Siegelman was given in a printout of Baldwin County votes that was provided to news organizations, including The Associated Press. But Riley said his campaign received the 12,736 figure from the beginning.

"The votes never changed; the reporting did," he said at a news conference in Hoover.

Capt. Marvin Ussery of the Baldwin County Sheriff's Department said Siegelman's numbers were lowered after voting machine cartridges from polling places were rerun because of a suspected error.

The dispute stirred images of the presidential election in Florida two years ago.

"Do you remember what happened in Florida and how close the vote was and the hanging chads?" Riley said early Wednesday.

Alabama does not have a law providing for an automatic recount in tight races. Instead, a voter can seek a recount with each county canvassing board, but it requires putting up a security bond, said Chuck Grainger, attorney for the secretary of state's office.

Rain fell across the state throughout election day and a killer tornado hit Abbeville in southeast Alabama, but with 1.3 million votes cast, the total exceeded the 1998 race for governor, when turnout was 57 percent.

Riley, 58, was a three-term congressman making his first bid for statewide office. He accused Siegelman of presiding over a corrupt administration and promised "honest change" if elected.

Siegelman, 56, built his campaign around raising money for public education by making a second attempt at passing a state lottery and raising corporate taxes.

For many voters, the lottery was the main reason to brave the weather, and it played both ways.

Montgomery construction worker Steven Law said he voted for Siegelman after working in Texas and Florida and seeing how lottery revenues have helped their schools.

"They're way ahead of us," Law said.

Mary Dueitt, a 72-year-old homemaker who voted in Deer Park in southwest Alabama, said she got disgusted with both candidates for running negative campaigns, but ended up voting for Riley because she dislikes a lottery.

"I am not for that at all," she said.

Link:http://www.al.com/newsflash/election/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?j7602_BC_ELN--AlabamaGovernor&&news&al_election

[blam]

"What's the Alabama Supreme Court like? It looks like Siegelman will go to court to fight this..."

Eight Republicans and one (conservative) Independent. Chief Justice Roy Moore is known as the "ten commandments" judge.

[au eagle]

If you know a Het-lin Rescue Squad member, tell them thanks for the good job last night in Ab-vul (as the natives say).

[RiVer19]

Here's Alabama's Supreme Court Makeup:
JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT
Roy S. Moore
Chief Justice. Elected in 2000. Republican. Term expires 2006.

J. Gorman Houston, Jr.
Appointed in 1985 by Governor Wallace. Elected in 1986; reelected in 1992 and 1998. Republican. Term expires 2004.

Harold F. See
Elected in 1996. Republican. Term expires 2002.

Champ Lyons, Jr.
Appointed in 1998 by Governor James. Elected in 2000. Republican. Term expires 2006.

Jean Williams Brown
Elected in 1998. Republican. Term expires 2004.

Douglas Inge Johnstone
Elected in 1998. Democrat. Term expires 2004.

Robert Bernard Horwood, Jr.
Elected in 2000. Republican. Term expires 2004.

Thomas A. Woodall
Elected in 2000. Republican. Term expires 2006.

Lyn Stuart
Elected in 2000. Republican. Term expires 2006.

***Looks pretty DARN good to me!!!! 7 Repubicans to 1 Democrat. I'll take them odds!

Here's their web site :http://www.alalinc.net/appellate_supreme.cfm

Got the info from:http://www.ajs.org/js/AL.htm

[RiVer19]

Oooops. 8 to 1. Stayed up till 3:30 last night....LOL. I consider this my World Series and Super Bowl. :-)
And, MY TEAM WON!!!

Thanks blam. Just missed your post.

[cksharks]

I was the Supt when we added the two wings and basement on the Baldwin County Ct House. When we built the basement we had to reroute piping thru a crawl space. Low and Behold we found 14 Ballot Boxes from 1942.They contained all the no votes from the election to allow fences for cattle. This made the national news.

[southland]

I am not offended at all.. Sure looks good to me.

[Darlin']

God is good. Yes,indeed.

[RetiredArmy]

Justice Moore is also the Justice who has put up the 10 Commandments in his court and has all the left in a tizzie about it.

[LowOiL]

Looks like the APT finally got with the bandwagon. I sent them a few sharp emails about keeping the old false information up on their web site show Siegelman as winning.

2002 Election Results for Governor

Candidate

Party

Vote

Percent

Bob Riley

Republican

670,913

49.26%

Don Siegelman (I)

Democrat

667,718

49.03%

John Sophocleus

Libertarian

23,242

1.71%

100% of Precincts Reporting

Last Update: 11/6/2002 2:35:57 PM

You know the liberals at Alabama Public Television hated to change the results. But they do respond to emails when they know they can't hide the light anymore....

Source: http://www.aptv.org/ftr/electdetails.asp?Race=Governor

and http://www.aptv.org/ftr/election.asp

[commish]

I wonder if Gov. Singleterm and his band of loonies could LIE ANY HARDER. There was never 19,070 votes and they damn well know it!

The 12700 number was on the call sheets and on everybodies sheets ALL NIGHT!!!! the 19,070 only showed up ONCE - on this mystical "printout" that the AP used to send out the number to all the PRESS!!

[LowOiL]

Justice Moore is also the Justice who has put up the 10 Commandments in his court and has all the left in a tizzie about it.

Sorta correct..Justice Roy Moore had the ten commandments up in a lower court (in northeast alabama). He was then elected to Supreme court and elected to put the ten commandments in a display building outside of building (not in the court room itself). It was a wise move that has twarped Demo's attempts to remove it so far (court decision due I think soon, ACLU sued). If Judge Moore had the good commandments still in his courtroom the liberals probable would of won by now.

[RiVer19]

Great work! If only CNN would catch on....

What am I saying???? LOL!
About as likly as Dan Rather covering this story without a slant.

[Quilla]

Our local news (WTVY) is reporting that no winner has been declared. They are saying that both candidates have made acceptance speeches. Sheesh! Now I'm glad we aren't getting national media attention - these local yocals sound like idiots. Who would have thought APT would have posted an accurate count first?

[LowOiL]

NEW GOVERNOR'S RACE NUMBERS RELEASED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP) Wed Nov 6, 4:17 PM ET

2,648 of 2,648 precincts - 100 percent

Bob Riley, GOP, 670,913 - 49 percent

Don Siegelman, Dem (i), 667,718 - 49 percent

John Sophocleus, Lib, 23,242 - 2 percent

For more information, visit our website at www.bobrileyforgovernor.com

I just got this from the Riley camp. It has AP notation as being from them.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I still don't have a URL to verify the source though... The web site did not help much...

[briant]

Alabama Riley(R) say Bush Called to Congratuate Him on...

..his great strategery.

[RiVer19]

*****THURSDAY UPDATE*****

Both Riley, Siegelman say they won election as governor


11/07/02

By SEAN REILLY, JEFF AMY, SAM HODGES and SALLIE OWEN
Staff Reporters


Alabama emerged Wednesday from one of the tightest governor's races in memory with the two leading candidates claiming victory and the possibility that the Legislature may have to choose the winner. Out of more than 1.3 million votes cast in Tuesday's statewide election, unofficial returns show Republican challenger Bob Riley of Ashland leading incumbent Democrat Don Siegelman by about 3,200 votes--a hair's-breadth margin of 0.2 percentage points.

After a sleepless night spent in the same suit of clothes, Riley called an 11 a.m. news conference to announce that he had won and was naming former state Sen. Bill Cabaniss, R-Mountain Brook, to lead his transition team.

"I think the governor knows in his heart that this is over," Riley, a three-term congressman, told jubilant supporters at a Birmingham-area campaign office.

If so, Siegelman, who is seeking a second four-year term, gave no sign of that knowledge earlier in the morning.

"We won this race yesterday," he said at his own news conference pointedly held in his state capitol office at about 10:30.

At the epicenter of the budding fiasco was the Baldwin County probate judge's office in Bay Minette, where officials blamed a computer snafu for mistakenly reporting Tuesday night that Siegelman got 6,300 more votes from the heavily Republican county than he actually received. Based on the higher figure, the Associated Press called the election in Siegelman's favor at about 2 a.m. Wednesday. Before the sun was up, the usually authoritative media organization had retracted that pronouncement after learning of the possibility of an error. It now declines to predict a winner.

At an extraordinary outdoor meeting Wednesday morning in front of the Bay Minette courthouse, the county's three-member canvassing board quickly certified that Siegelman received only 12,736 votes, not the 19,070 reported earlier. Probate Judge Adrian Johns told reporters that the error resulted from "a programming glitch in the software."

Back at the state capitol, Siegelman suggested a more nefarious origin for the revised numbers.

"After midnight, after the poll watchers were sent home, with none of the other people present who are required to be present under the law, a different and a lower vote total was established."

Asked whether he planned to seek a recount in Baldwin County, Siegelman would only say Wednesday morning that the "appropriate people" will handle it. Amplifying the uncertainty, his office later called a 6 p.m. news conference, only to cancel it without explanation shortly before it was supposed to occur. Spokesman Rip Andrews said the Siegelman campaign is continuing to inves- tigate alleged irregularities around the state, but could not say when that inquiry would be completed. Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Redding Pitt did not return phone calls.

Republicans were quick to note, however, that no other Democrat running for statewide office received anything close to 19,000 votes in Baldwin County.

"You can just look at the other candidates' numbers, Democrats, and Siegelman's numbers are way above that," said U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile. "It looks very odd."

The next move:



The next move appears to rest with Siegelman. Under state law, county canvassing boards have to certify the accuracy of local election returns by noon Friday. On Nov. 20, the state canvassing board plans to do the same for the state as a whole. The three-member board is made up of Siegelman and two Republicans, Secretary of State Jim Bennett and Attorney General Bill Pryor, although all three may name designees to carry out their responsibilities. Assuming that a majority of the board certifies Riley as the winner -- and state GOP Chairman Marty Connors is confident that it will -- Siegelman could then take the election to the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

Neither Bennett nor several other authorities could remember a precedent, but under state law, the process would unfold this way:

When lawmakers open their once-every-four-years organizational session Jan. 14, the House speaker will proclaim the statewide election results from the podium. Within 10 days, a candidate may file a certificate of protest and post bonds to cover the contest's costs. The House and Senate would then hold a joint trial to hear the evidence and declare the winner. A legislative commission would be elected in advance to gather evidence. Although certified election returns and the result of county-level recounts would be admissible as evidence, it's unclear whether lawmakers would have to reconstruct returns based on testimony and evidence.

"The procedure appears that they can declare a winner without having to commit to a vote total," said Charles Grainger, the top lawyer in the Secretary of State's office. It's also unclear how long the process could take. Grainger said that if a contest dragged on, the person shown as ahead in the certified state returns could take office in the interim.

Inevitably, the standoff evokes memories of the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential election and the 1994 absentee ballot dispute that stalled the selection of an Alabama Supreme Court chief justice for almost a year. But to find anything close to a parallel in an Alabama governor's race, historians have to flip back to the aftermath of the 1894 campaign. Charging that the election had been stolen by forces allied with Democrat William Oates, Populist candidate Reuben Kolb led an alternative inauguration ceremony from a mule-drawn wagon across the street from the state capitol. The protest was mostly symbolic, however.

While continuing to call himself "governor," Kolb made no attempt to wield power.

The close conclusion to Tuesday's governor's race finished a mutually nasty campaign that had been marked by months of accusations of corruption and failure to pay taxes. The election ended in a virtual dead heat, with Riley receiving 670,913 votes, compared to 667,718 for Siegelman -- 49 percent for each, according to unofficial returns. Libertarian John Sophocleus of Auburn garnered only 23,242 votes, or 2 percent; some Republicans credited him with making the race even closer than it would otherwise have been.

Poll favored Riley:



For most of the contest, surveys had shown Riley and Siegelman running neck and neck. But one poll conducted last week showed Riley pulling away with an eight percentage-point lead. On Monday, his campaign had exuded confidence that the margin of victory would be at least that large or greater.

No one had a sure explanation for why the opposite occurred. Riley campaign spokesman David Azbell pinned the blame on the exceptionally bad weather, including a tornado that killed one person in southeast Alabama.

Others speculated that the Riley campaign fell victim to overconfidence or that the reports of Siegelman's slippage in the polls fired up the governor's supporters. Possibly "it spurred them on to make an even better effort to mobilize their base of voters," said Wil liam Stewart, a retired University of Alabama political scientist.

The ultimate winner will take the reins of a state facing crises on numerous fronts. Still to be seen is whether the fracas affects the incoming administration's ability to govern.

"I tend to think it would hamper Siegelman more than Riley because Siegelman has a more specific agenda in terms of a lottery and corporate taxation, " Stewart said.

In the past, Alabama election officials have promised that the state would not find itself flailing for a credible final vote count as Florida did after the 2000 presidential election.

Alabama, they pointed out, had moved away from the punch-card voting machines that create "hanging chads" and other challenges in determining voter intent.

Two bad marks:



But since the Florida controversy, Alabama twice saw itself get a "D" rating for election procedures by Common Cause, a nonpartisan group that lobbies for election and campaign financing reform. A committee Siegelman himself appointed to recommend improvements in state elections never got around to issuing a report.

Bennett on his own pushed for election procedures reforms, but with limited success. Alabama entered the 2002 election with counties having different poll hours, different voting equipment and widely varying rates of voting by absentee ballot.

Alabama also has nine coun ties that have only one optical-scanner to count all the paper ballots marked in various precincts in the particular county. Elections experts strongly argue in favor of precinct counters, which allow a voter to try again if a ballot inserted into the machine is rejected for some reason.

In counties with only one scanner available, the sheriff or some other official has to haul all the paper ballots to a central location, which can present en-route ballot security problems. Voters in those counties don't get a chance to vote again if they mismark their ballots, which means that some Alabamians have a better chance of voting successfully than others.

That could lead to legal challenges under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, experts say. And while some states require an automatic recount in case of close statewide elections -- a recount paid for by the state and done by elections officials -- Alabama requires candidates to mount the challenge.

"Anytime you're on the losing end, you want to allege there was mismanagement or fraud or chicanery or uneven application," said Doug Lewis, director of the Election Center, a Houston-based organization that advises elections officials. He said an automatic recount -- done by the state -- is a better way to go. "That way you don't have to allege fraud or mismanagement," he said. "You just say it's close enough that we need another look."



Link:http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/1036664261229330.xml