Diehard Democrats declare election fight not over in Ohio
Groups demand statewide recount of presidential race

By Bob Dart   Cox News Service   09 December 2004

WASHINGTON | One diehard Ohio voter predicted Wednesday that Nov. 2, 2004 ? Election Day ? will go down with Pearl Harbor Day as a similar symbol "of infamy" in American history.

Others vowed the day of decision was yet to come in whether Ohio's 20 electoral votes would go to re-elect President Bush or to present John Kerry, the currently defeated Democratic nominee, with a belated surprise victory.

Three days after Bush was officially proclaimed to have carried Ohio by nearly 119,000 votes, disgruntled congressional Democrats invited an assortment of disbelievers to Capitol Hill to express their displeasure. In this forum, the minority members of the House Judiciary Committee said they would not let the issue of allegations of election manipulation die.

"The one question that I am asked more than any other about voting irregularities in Ohio is whether John Kerry was the true winner of the election," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., ranking minority member of the committee. "My answer is I do not know."

"It's unfortunate that more Americans are not appalled at the situation we see in Ohio," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. "It is plain to see that the Republican Party at the local, state and national level is doing everything it can to ensure that all the votes are not counted."

On Monday, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, issued the final tally.

"Ohio had a great election," Blackwell's spokesman Carlo La-Paro said Wednesday. He said the state's newspapers have investigated "these conspiracy theories" and found them baseless.

There were Democratic and Republican poll workers at every voting place and Democratic and Republican challengers at many, he said. The election was run by bipartisan county boards of elections ? each of which consist of two Republicans and two Democrats ? and these officials unanimously endorsed the final results, he said.

But Democrats and third-party groups are still demanding a statewide recount.

This recount will take place even if the Electoral College has already formally voted for Bush as president, predicted John Bonifaz, attorney for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik. By federal law, the Electoral College is scheduled to meet on Dec. 13.

"If, at the end of the recount process, it is determined a different set of presidential electors should be representing the people of Ohio, that set of electors will meet and cast their votes for president," Bonifaz testified.

"And if that happens, the United States Congress will receive the votes of two competing sets of presidential electors from the state of Ohio when it convenes on Jan. 6, 2005."