Chlorophyll

The Ohio Recount lawsuit, which was dismissed by a federal judge earlier this month, should be re-instated because Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is still using the same flawed recount procedures he did in 2004, according to a Motion filed Friday by lawyers for 2004 Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb.

“Our suit was dismissed on the basis that Blackwell’s obstruction of the 2004 presidential recount is now a moot issue. However, in making his ruling, the judge was unaware that Blackwell issued recount guidelines in 2005 which are identical to the inadequate procedures he used in 2004. Our Motion to the Court asks the judge to take this new information into account and to deny Blackwell’s Motion to Dismiss the case,” said Blair Bobier, the Media Director for the Green Party’s 2004 presidential campaign.

Lawyers representing Cobb and his Libertarian counterpart, Michael Badnarik, filed the Motion to Alter and Amend on February 17, 2006, in the U.S. District Court in Toledo, Ohio.

On November 17, 2005, Secretary Blackwell issued Directive No. 2005-32 which established that the recount procedures used in Ohio in 2005 would be identical to those used in 2004.

“Blackwell’s actions constitute a continuing violation of federal and state law. We have clearly met the legal standards to ensure that this case should go to trial,” said Bobier

Cobb’s lawsuit before federal Judge James Carr says the Ohio Recount was marred by:

• “Inadequate procedures to preserve and secure ballots, voting machines and other voting materials;
• Inadequate standards for the random selection of the initial 3% of the statewide votes to be hand counted in the recount;
• The absence of procedures to conduct a recount of votes cast on electronic voting machines; and
• Inadequate procedures to ensure uniform and proper treatment throughout the state of access by recount observers to provisional, absentee, and spoiled ballots, to poll books, to voting machines and to other materials.”

The Ohio election and recount has been the subject of a number of investigations and reports. A report by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic staff states that “there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio.

Information about the Ohio Recount is available at http://iwantmyvote.com. The website for the national Green Party is http://www.gp.org.