More recounts in the offing

In Focus

Chris Graham   Augusta Free Press   29 November 2004

With a recount about to get under way in Ohio, third-party presidential candidates Michael Badnarik and David Cobb aren't ready to stop at a second count of ballots cast in the Buckeye State.

The two announced on Monday that they had filed official requests for recounts in Nevada and New Mexico.

Badnarik, the Libertarian Party candidate, and Cobb, the Green Party candidate, polled a combined 7,500 votes of the nearly 1.6 million votes cast in the two states, both of which were won by Republican incumbent George W. Bush.

Badnarik's weak showing in New Mexico was a bit surprising - the campaign had run commercials in the swing state and was registering as much as 5 percent of the vote in polls conducted there in the late summer.

Both Badnarik and Cobb cited widespread problems associated with the use of electronic-voting machines in Nevada and New Mexico as being among the reasons that they decided to request the recounts.

"We want to ensure that every vote is counted and verify the accuracy of the electronic-voting machines, particularly those which produce no paper trail," Cobb said on Monday.

"It is absolutely critical that we verify the accuracy of electronic-voting machines," said Cobb's media director, Blair Bobier. "Voting without independent checks and balances is a meaningless exercise. There is no reason why Americans should settle for second-best when it comes to protecting our democratic rights."