NOV 01 - 15, 2004

VOL. 2 ISSUE 21

NOVEMBER 14, 2004 – All sorts of things moving forward - even if the rest of the media doesn't feel much like talking about it.

First, the provisional ballots have begun, at last, to be counted in Ohio.  County by county, the vast majority of the 155,000 provisional ballots are being accepted as legitimate, in percentages ranging from 75% to 90%, according to The Plain Dealer out of Cleveland.

Just to make things seem as much like Florida last time as possible, overseas ballots were still coming in up until Friday, which means they may well have been filled out and sent after the election ended.

In any case, the counting of the provisionals has begun, but rather than being the final word, this will only be the beginning, as, according to the now-combined website of Green Party candidate Cobb and Libertarian candidate Badnarik, where you can go to make a donation in support of the recount, already 1,500 people have donated.  Our buddy Keith Olbermann at MSNBC reports that they have already raised about $110,000 dollars.  Cobb/Badnarik say they need about $113,000 total, while Olbermann states it at about $150,000.

Whichever is more accurate, it seems they are pretty certain to get it (you can make sure by dropping them a few bucks at the site above.)

Once that recount is official, that will mean not only will we get to the bottom of the districts in which cute things like over 1000% of registered voters casting ballots occurred, but an additional 92,672 "spoiled" ballots - ballots which were made using that familiar old punch card technology, and so which may be valid votes but just have had a hanging chad issue - will be reviewed and, when appropriate, counted.

Oh yeah, and apparently it is official that New Hampshire will be doing a recount thanks to Ralph Nader.  For those of you unfamiliar with why this is significant, Nader initiated a recount there as a challenge to the electronic voting apparatus, the idea being to conduct an audit in a small, inexpensive state which, if foul play or error are found, will give legitimacy to the call for a full nationwide recount wherever electronic voting was used.

And of course, John Kerry has ceded and is not involved in any of this.  Right?  "Lawyers from Kerry's campaign have said they want to find out about any voting irregularities in the state," The Plain Dealer article says.

And still on the horizon a massive mess to clean up in North Carolina, where the e-voting went so badly they may need to revote things for the sake of local elections.

Stay tuned...