Bob Fitrakis provides new details on How the Ohio election was rigged for Bush, based on the growing body of evidence collected at hearings in Ohio. DailyKos adds important First Hand Reports from Ohio Volunteers. William Rivers Pitt cites the 14th Amendment, which would require a reduction in Ohio's Congressional delegation if it disenfranchised voters, and helpfully summarizes the worst electronic voting problems around the country. Marjorie Cohn helpfully summarizes ongoing election lawsuits in Ohio, Florida, and elsewhere.

Keith Olbermann notes that the 3 recount plaintiffs - the Cobb/Badnarik Recount bid, the Alliance for Democracy legal challenge, and the Ohio Democratic Party suit over provisional ballots  - are concerned that Ken Blackwell and local election officials are dragging their feet. Olbermann says they shouldn't worry - but Olbermann is wrong this time.

Cobb, Badnarik, Arnebeck, and everybody else actually has more time than they think. I addressed this topic with the wonderfully knowledgeable George Washington University Constitutional Law professor, Jonathan Turley, back on Countdown on November 9th. He noted the election process is a little slower— and has one more major loophole— than is generally known. It begins on December 7th, the date “when you essentially certify your electors… it gives a presumption to the legitimacy to your votes. And then, on the 13th, the electors actually vote.”

But, Turley noted, “those votes are not opened by Congress until January 6. Now, if there are controversies, such as some disclosure that a state actually went for Kerry (instead of Bush), there is the ability of members of Congress to challenge.” In other words, even after the December 13th Electoral College Vote, in the extremely unlikely scenario that a court overturns the Ohio count, or that the recount discovers 4,000 Gahanna-style machines that each recorded 4,000 votes too many for one candidate, there is still a mechanism to correct the error, honest or otherwise.

“It requires a written objection from one House member and one senator,” Turley continues. Once that objection is raised, the joint meeting of the two houses is discontinued. “Then both Houses separate again and they vote by majority vote as to whether to accept the slate of electoral votes from that state.”

Which means House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will tell their majorities to vote for Bush, and Bush will steal another term.

In these super-heated partisan times, it may seem like just another prospective process decided by majority rule instead of fact. But envision the far-fetched scenario of some dramatic, conclusive new result from Ohio turning up around, say, January 4th. What congressman or senator in his right mind would vote to seat the candidate who lost the popular vote in Ohio? We wouldn’t be talking about party loyalty any more - we’d be talking about pure political self-interest here, and whenever in our history that critical mass has been achieved, it’s been every politician for himself (ask Barry Goldwater when Richard Nixon trolled for his support in July and August, 1974, or Republican Senator Edmund Ross of Kansas when his was to be the decisive vote that would have impeached President Andrew Johnson in 1868).

Keith, you've obviously missed the fascist takeover the GOP. Bush/Cheney/Rove/DeLay Republicans do not believe in the rule of law - they believe in the rule of force.

In 2000, much of the Florida legal battle was precisely about this issue - "safe harbor" deadlines. If you want to discuss this with an expert, ask David Boies - he had to answer this before Rehnquist, Scalia, and the rest of the Felonious Five.

One major reason why Florida's recount ended up in the Supreme Court was because Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Republican judges kept delaying action. Remember the Republican judge who ordered all the ballots sent by truck from south Florida to Tallahassee? Republicans used their judicial and administrative power to delay a recount, and then when the Florida Supreme Court finally got the opportunity to order one, the Felonious Five immediately stopped it on the grounds that our elections needed "finality" - whatever that meant.

Two years ago, DeLay broke every campaign finance law in Texas to seize control of the legislature, then used his illegal new majority to impose 100% partisan Congressional redistricting in the middle of the decade - the first time in America's 225-year history. When Texas Democrats left the state to deny DeLay's forces a quroum, DeLay used Homeland Security as his personal political police force to track them down. And when DeLay's original crime - breaking campaign finance law - came under scrutiny last week, DeLay coerced Republicans into changing the rules to permit DeLay to continue serving as Majority Leader even if he is indicted.

The point of this dip into the world of political science fiction is that the Ohio timeframe is a little less condensed than it seems. The drop-dead date is not December 13, but January 6.

No Keith, here's the reality: if Ken Blackwell delays the recount past December 13, Republicans will insist that December 13 is the drop-dead date - and no argument by you, Prof. Turley, Democratic lawyers, or the 55 million Americans who voted for John Kerry will persuade one single Republican - not even the media's annointed Saint John McCain - to risk his life by voting against Bush.

Footnote: In fact, the Republican De-Lay of Game is underway in Ohio.

Election official calls recount request frivolous, insulting
TERRY KINNEY, Associated Press
Posted on Mon, Nov. 22, 2004 

CINCINNATI - Third-party candidates for president said they would sue in federal court Monday to force a recount of Ohio ballots before returns are certified next week - prompting one election official to say he might mobilize fellow counties to resist a recount.

"Counties are very upset," said Keith Cunningham, director of the Allen County Board of Elections and incoming president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials, who called the lawsuit "frivolous."

"Commissioners are beginning to understand - and if they don't, will understand soon - what kind of financial impact this is going to have on them, in a year when elections already cost a great deal more than expected," Cunningham said.

Libertarian Michael Badnarik and the Green Party's David Cobb said last week that they had raised more than $150,000 to cover the state's fee for a recount. Ohio law requires payment of $10 per precinct, or $113,600 statewide, but election officials say the true expense would be far greater.

"It's going to crush county governments," Cunningham said.

Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, has estimated the actual cost at $1.5 million.

Guys & Gals, we're sorry about the cost - but Ohio law specifies $10 per precinct. If you want to raise the fee for the next election be our guest - but don't De-Lay this recount!

Even though the two third-party candidates received a combined 0.26 percent of the vote in unofficial results, they contend a recount is necessary to ensure accuracy and that an immediate recount should begin, even though the official canvass is not complete.

Counties have until Dec. 3 to report official vote counts, and LoParo has said results will be certified by Dec. 6.

"There's no final count. There's no number from which to begin a recount," LoParo said Monday.

Sure there is - when each county reports its final result to the state. Lake County has already done so - and they say a recount would only take 2 days.

The third-party candidates contend that would not allow enough time for a recount of Ohio's 5.5 million votes before the state's presidential electors meet Dec. 13.

Exactly - that's the crucial deadline, Olbermann.

"Nothing could be more important to our country than ensuring the results of the Ohio presidential election are accurate and complete," Cobb said. "Our faith and trust in the democratic process all hinge on a fair, unbiased and transparent counting of ballots in Ohio."

That assertion offends Cunningham.

"The inference is that Ohio election officials will not count every vote," Cunningham said. "That's just insulting; it's frivolous and simply harassment."

Hey Cunningham - recounts are routine, and the results often change for various reasons such as misplaced ballots, clerical errors, and machine errors. Such events can affect hundreds or thousands of votes. In 2000, a recount would have made Al Gore the President. The leader of the free world is hanging in the balance - and you call that insulting and frivolous??? You're insulting the 120 million Americans who voted!

Cunningham said he was consulting with officials in several counties before deciding whether to pursue legal action to prevent a recount.

"I need to see if this is merely my opinion or reflects the opinion of the association," he said.

"If, indeed, we are all forced to do the recount, the negative economic impact far outweighs any positive good that could come from this recount. My intention would be to attempt to argue in court that it's time for the secretary of state to take a stand and attest that every vote is being counted by local boards."

Hey Cunningham - the rules for requesting recounts are clearly specified under state law, and Cobb/Badnarik are following the law. Go lobby to change the law for next time - but as a public official it is your duty to observe the law as it is currently written!

LoParo had no comment about the intention by the third-party candidates to file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Toledo. But he said there is no provision for a recount before the secretary of state certifies the final tallies from all 88 counties.

He said the state already is operating under an accelerated timetable because of the Dec. 13 meeting of presidential electors.

Hey Cunningham - if you put your energies into organizing a prompt recount - rather than fighting it in court - you could get it done. Are you interested in serving all the voters in Ohio - or are you just another Republican tool?