Nader-requested recount in N.H. moving slowly
By Erik Stetson, Associated Press   19 November 2004

CONCORD, N.H. ? A recount Ralph Nader requested for some New Hampshire towns went slower than expected Thursday and won't resume until next week, state election officials said.
"It's impossible," said Secretary of State Bill Gardner, declining to predict when the recount would end.

Assistant Attorney General Bud Fitch said recounts in Nader's targeted precincts would not resume until at least Wednesday, virtually ensuring they won't end until after Thanksgiving.

Nader, an independent presidential candidate this year, paid $2,000 to begin a recount of 11 of the state's 126 precincts after an analysis showed wide differences in voting trends between the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

The analysis, performed by Michigan programmer Ida Briggs, said Sen. John Kerry's votes were much worse in some locations than former Vice President Al Gore's in 2000, even though Kerry carried the state and Gore didn't.

Election officials hoped to finish recounts in five of Nader's 11 precincts Thursday, Gardner said. Ballot counters only finished two by 4 p.m., and had only partial returns in two others by nearly 8 p.m., when work ended for the night.

The completed areas, Litchfield and Manchester's Ward 7, showed little change from the official tallies.

Briggs said Gore lost Litchfield by eight percentage points, but Kerry lost by 15. Gore won the Manchester ward by eight points, but the candidates were even this year, she added.

She called the results strange. But she acknowledged the early recount results showed the changes from 2000 may reflect the actual vote accurately.

"What we're seeing is just oddness in New Hampshire," she said. "That may just be the way it is."

Briggs' analysis showed about three quarters of precincts with severe changes from 2000 were using Diebold's Accuvote optical scanning machines. Nader campaign representatives said they wanted to ensure the machines were accurate.

"That was enough of a coincidence that we thought a recount made sense," said Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese. "It's an audit, if you will."

He said the campaign wasn't assuming the machines were flawed or their manufacturer involved in wrongdoing.

"This is just getting the information," he added. "This is pre-conclusion."

He said the campaign would continue with the recount at least until results were in from the initial 11 precincts.

Briggs stressed that even if the recount does eventually show serious discrepancies, the errors could stem from nothing more serious than an accidental programming glitch.

"It doesn't have to be a big conspiracy theory," she said. "It can just be a screw-up."

State election officials have said in past recounts they haven't found significant miscounts by Accuvote machines.

Briggs and Zeese said a recount that supported existing results would underscore important Democratic Party losses. Several affected precincts are in Manchester, the state's largest city.

"I think if this has happened," Briggs said, "Democrats have to take a look at why they've lost urban centers in New Hampshire."

Zeese said the campaign could request more recounts in New Hampshire or other states if the initial results merited the decision. The scheduling of other precinct recounts depends on the campaign. More money, about $3,500 to $4,000, would be required for those precincts, Fitch said.

The Nader campaign didn't expect to change the outcome. In New Hampshire, Democrat John Kerry defeated President Bush, 50% to 49%, while Nader got less than 1% from the state's 301 precincts.