The Post reports: It took over 16 months to seat them, but the Cedar Bluff Town Council finally has three new members, as of last week. Candidates Evan Smith, Jack Bond, and Mark Hicks will join Lenora McWhorter, also recently elected, and Leatha Harp on the five-member Council.

Evan Smith defeated incumbent Billie Jean Burkhalter by 11 votes for the District 1 seat. In District 3, longtime town official Martha Baker -- who has served as mayor and on the Town Council in the past -- was defeated in her bid to return to the Council. In District 4, sheriff's deputy Mark Hicks defeated Tammy Crane, 55-45.

Election results are scheduled to be verified Dec. 15 at 11:45 a.m. at the Town Hall.

The town's municipal election was originally held on Aug. 28, 2008. But mayoral candidate Jimmy Wallace -- who finished third in the initial voting -- challenged the results, claiming over 30 absentee ballots were improperly handled by town officials or marked by someone other than the voter for whom the ballot was originally intended. -- Read the whole story --> The Post Online - Cedar Bluff election results (finally) in

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The Birmingham News reports: State Rep. John Rogers backed away Tuesday from his allegations of voter fraud in last week's City Council runoff, saying he might have been confused about the number of disqualified ballots cast.

The Oct. 6 runoff results were certified by city officials Tuesday afternoon, and Rogers said he won't contest the numbers. But he said that does not diminish the need for reforming an election system he said makes fraud, confusion and disenfranchisement too easy. ...

Rogers said late Monday he would protest the election, after being told there were 1,400 provisional ballots cast in the runoff with only about 150 counted. Provisional ballots are given to voters when there are questions about their eligibility to vote.

Officials in the city clerk's office have said there were just 73 provisional ballots cast, of which 32 were counted. -- Read the whole story --> Rogers eases off allegations - al.com

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The Birmingham News reports: Alabama State Rep. John Rogers said he will challenge last week's Birmingham City Council runoff elections.

Rogers said he was told there were 1,400 provisional ballots cast in the runoff and only about 150 were counted. Provisional ballots are given to voters when there are questions about their eligibility to vote in that location. -- Read the whole story --> John Rogers says he will challenge Birmingham City Council election results | Breaking News from The Birmingham News - al.com

UPDATE: a more complete version of the story is available.

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The Troy Messenger reports: After nearly a year in office, Pike County Commissioner Karen Berry has been ordered to vacate her seat.

Berry was declared the winner of the District 6 spot in the November 2008 election, victorious by just a six-vote margin.

But, her opponent Oren Fannin filed suit in December 2008, alleging her win came with illegal votes. After a long battle, Fannin received his desired verdict Thursday. ...

Judge Joel Holley, who presided over the case, ruled Thursday declaring Fannin the winner of the 2008 election, ordering him to take office and Berry to vacate her seat. His ruling said 10 votes were cast illegally for Berry in the election. -- Read the whole story --> Troy Messenger | Fannin declared District 6 winner

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: City attorney Terry Davis recommended the city appeal part of a judge's decision in the ongoing challenge of last October's mayoral vote, a move one councilman called "bull crap."

Davis said an order issued a week ago by specially appointed retired Mobile County Circuit Judge Edward McDermott declared challenger Pete Wolff III winner of the election, but incumbent Mayor Larry Fluker was "in the process of appealing" the ruling. ...

Davis said part of the order "changed the way Evergreen has been doing elections since time began" and that the city should appeal that portion of the ruling.

"It said that instead of using the voting list we have used and the process we have used for a number of years, we should have been using the secretary of state's voter list," Davis said. "The court directed in this order the city must use a process we have never used before, and we raised an objection in court that he did not rule on."

Davis said the secretary of state and the league of municipalities agreed with the way the city conducted the election, and he believed the judge was wrong. He said it would cost the city money to change the process. -- Read the whole story --> Evergreen city attorney advises appeal of judge's ruling in mayoral election challenge - al.com

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: Four days after a special judge ruled that Mayor Larry Fluker had lost his runoff last October, Fluker remained in office Friday conducting duties as usual, while the declared winner couldn't find a local judge to swear him in.

"We are still trying to work our way around this legal maze," said Pete Wolff III, who won the hotly contested Evergreen runoff by five votes according to Monday's ruling.

But Fluker said, "I am still the mayor, and I'm acting as mayor." He said Friday, "I'm just taking care of business. I have 14 days to file an appeal, and it will be public record when I do. ... There will be a public announcement."

Specially appointed retired Circuit Judge Edward McDermott issued the ruling that declared Wolff the winner, effectively ending Fluker's term as the town's first black mayor. -- Read the whole article --> Wolff unable to take Evergreen mayor's office despite judge's ruling - al.com

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: A judge Monday overturned last year's Evergreen mayoral election results and declared challenger Pete Wolff III winner over incumbent Larry Fluker.

"Mr. Wolff is the winner, and is mayor as we speak," said James Anderson, the attorney representing the challenger. "Mr. Fluker will have 14 days to appeal the ruling" and that appeal could delay Wolff's taking office.

"In that case, Fluker could remain in office pending the appeal," Anderson said.

Perry Roquemore, an attorney and executive director of the Alabama League of Municipalities, said Wolff is due to be sworn in immediately, and "unless and until some other court ruling says different, he is the mayor."

Officials were still trying to determine late Monday what the next step would be. -- Read the whole story --> Judge declares Wolff mayor of Evergreen; Fluker vows appeal - al.com

Disclosure: I served as trial counsel to Mayor Fluker.

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The Atmore Advance reports that the Election Board of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians has denied the election challenges brought by 4 candidates. Read the whole story --> The Atmore Advance > Breaking News

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The Atmore Advance reports on an election contest filed against the results of the special election held by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians' election for the offices of vice-chairman and two member-at-large positions. -- Read the whole article at --> The Atmore Advance > Archives > Breaking News > UPDATE: PCI election results challenged

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The Gadsden Times reports: In an opinion released Friday, all nine justices of the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee County Circuit Court did not have jurisdiction to decide the election contest case that evolved from the Cedar Bluff municipal election of Aug. 26, 2008.

After the results were certified in Cedar Bluff's general election on Sept. 2, three candidates - two for council positions and one for mayor- filed a contest suit saying that absentee ballots were not handled properly and that those votes should not be counted. ...

Justice Michael Bolin, in writing the court's opinion, said an election contest cannot be brought until a candidate is "declared elected" after a run-off election. In addition, he emphasized that an election contest cannot be brought in any court unless allowed by state statute.
Bolin wrote, "It is well settled that the Legislature, by enacting Title 17-16-44, has restricted the jurisdiction of the circuit courts in regard to elections." -- Cedar Bluff election ruling overturned | GadsdenTimes.com | Gadsden Times | Gadsden, AL

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The New York Times reports: Al Franken, the comedian turned politician, won a potentially decisive court ruling on Tuesday in his bid to replace Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican trying to hold on to his Senate seat.

A three-judge panel ruled that only 400 absentee ballots — far fewer than Mr. Coleman had sought — should be examined for possible counting. If the ruling stands, it could be devastating for Mr. Coleman, who trailed his Democratic challenger by 225 votes out of some 2.9 million cast and had hoped that nearly 1,400 absentee ballots might be recounted.

Even if the results put Mr. Coleman further in the hole, as expected, he could fight on, before the Minnesota Supreme Court or perhaps in the federal courts. His lawyer said Mr. Coleman had not given up. ...

The ballots in question appear to include many that Mr. Franken had identified as wrongly rejected, as well as ballots that Mr. Coleman wanted opened, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on its Web site. About half come from Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis Counties, places Mr. Franken won by significant margins, The Star-Tribune said. -- Franken Wins Favorable Court Ruling in Minnesota Senate Race - NYTimes.com

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The Mobile Press- Register reports: The outcome of an election challenge in this city of some 3,630 people could change the way municipalities conduct elections in Alabama, a circuit judge said Thursday.

In a hearing five months after a hotly contested runoff vote, rife with allegations of racism on both sides, specially appointed retired Mobile Circuit Judge Edward McDermott questioned why the Alabama secretary of state's office did not maintain a city registered voter list as outlined in a 2006 law.

The hearing is the latest in a months-long case pitting challenger Pete Wolff III, who is white, against Mayor Larry Fluker, who is black. Fluker won by two votes. Both sides claim illegal votes were cast for their opponent. -- Judge says Evergreen case could shape future city elections - al.com

Disclosure: I represent Mayor Fluker in the case.

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TPM-DC reports on the Coleman-Franken contest: This afternoon the Coleman team was bringing in rejected absentee voters to show that their ballots were improperly tossed. So far the court has heard from six people, most of of whom said they were contacted by the Republican Party in the last few weeks. They mostly seemed sympathetic enough, putting a human face on the disenfranchised Coleman voter -- but at least two of them appeared to have been rejected properly under the conditions of Minnesota law.

One of the voters was Douglas Thompson, who admitted under oath that his girlfriend filled out his absentee ballot application for him, signing his name with her own hand and purporting to be himself. His ballot was rejected because the signature on his ballot envelope (his own) did not match the signature on the application (his girlfriend's). The Coleman team's argument appears to be that he is still a legal voter in Minnesota, as the signature on the ballot was his own, even if admitted dishonesty was involved in getting the ballot.

Keep in mind: Thompson's story came up during the direct examination by Coleman lawyer James Langdon. So the Coleman camp fully knew this information and decided to make him into a witness. -- TPMDC | Talking Points Memo | Coleman's Supposedly Friendly Witnesses Backfire

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Eric Black at MinnPost.com criticizes the Coleman Notice of Contest: The petition has an almost generic quality. Think of every imaginable way that a vote for Coleman that should have been counted was rejected, add every way that a ballot given to Franken should have been disqualified, assert that all of these things happened and that if the courts will simply revisit the entire recount they will come to a different outcome. -- Senate recount: It's unlikely Coleman will win in court

I don't know anything about Minnesota election contests (and don't intend to find out), but in Alabama a notice of contest is just about the first and last pleading in the case. There are only six legal grounds to contest an election, and any good notice of contest alleges them all. The notice cannot be amended after the (very short) deadline for filing it. So the practice in Alabama is to allege everything and figure it out later.

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TPM Election Central reports: I've been reading through the lawsuit that Norm Coleman has filed against the result of the Minnesota Senate race, and it's a marvelous thing.

The complaint ignores the existence of counter-evidence, employs one maneuver when it is self-benefiting and opposes the same maneuver when it goes against them, attacks not just the recount but votes that were counted for Franken all along, and overall throws everything against the wall to see what sticks. -- TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Coleman's Lawsuit: This Whole Election Stinks -- And I Won

NOTE: The article has more details and a link to the Notice of Contest.

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: The multimillion-dollar Alabama Supreme Court race may turn on thousands of outstanding ballots.

Trailing Republican Greg Shaw by a margin of 13,207 votes — out of more than 2 million cast — Democrat Deborah Bell Paseur's campaign is waiting for county boards to begin tabulating provisional ballots, cast by those whose eligibility to vote was uncertain at election time.

The parties estimates there are between 10,000 and 16,000 outstanding ballots left to be tabulated. ...

The Board of Registrars delivered provisional ballots to the individual county probate courts Monday. Canvassing boards will begin tabulating the provisional ballots Wednesday, and the counties will make their official reports, including the provisional ballots, to the Alabama Secretary of State's office Friday. -- Alabama Supreme Court race drags on

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The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: State law triggers an automatic recount in races decided by one-half of a percentage point or less. Starting Nov. 19, after unofficial results are certified, election auditors in nearly 100 county and city election offices will begin going over each ballot by hand as representatives from each candidate's campaign look over their shoulders.

What are the officials looking for?

The voters' intent. If names are circled or checked, those ballots will go in the proper candidate's pile. Disputed ballots will be sent to the State Canvassing Board. The Canvassing Board will include Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, plus two state Supreme Court justices and two Ramsey County District Court judges who will be named soon. If the board can't agree on which pile a contested ballot belongs, they will vote on it.

How long will the recount take?

Ritchie said Friday that the counting must be done by Dec. 5 and that the Canvassing Board will meet Dec. 16 and hope to finish up by Dec. 19. But things also might depend on legal challenges. A recount after the 1962 gubernatorial election took 139 days. -- Ballot by ballot, victor to emerge

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A post on Doc's Political Parlor begins: Most of the municipal elections Alabama this year have gone smoothly however, some still remain in doubt

In Hodges, one vote seperates the two candidates and a petition for a recount has been filed. There are also concerns that election procedures were not followed. Related story at the Times Daily.

In Centre, a lawsuit has been filed by three candidates over possible mishandling of absentee ballots. -- Election contests and small town Alabama

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The Miami Herald reports: In the final seconds of the new HBO movie Recount, a box labeled Palm Beach County ballots is shown sitting inside a gigantic warehouse. As the camera pulls slowly back, it reveals row after row of boxes stacked to the ceiling.

While the image is a pure Hollywood creation, the truth is the ballots from the chaotic 2000 presidential election are still around.

Five years ago, the state of Florida gathered up boxes of ballots from 65 of the 67 counties and stashed them inside the cramped, air-conditioned confines of the state archives in Tallahassee.

After much hand-wringing and debate, state officials decided in 2003 that they should hold onto the more than six million votes cast in the historic election between Al Gore and George W. Bush that Bush ultimately won by just 537 votes. Normally, ballots are destroyed after 22 months.

But now Secretary of State Kurt Browning says he would just as soon junk them and free up the space in his archives that hold the ballots -- more than 4,000 cubic feet. -- Future uncertain for Florida s Bush-Gore ballots from 2000 race - 06/01/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

Note: We all know Justice Scalia's advice: "Get over it."

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Pacific News Center reports: The Democrat Party Nominating Committee said officials will look over the large amount of spoiled ballots in the coming days.

At issue is the small margin of victory of Senator Barack Obama. He beat his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton by 7 votes, but well over 500 ballots were deemed invalid during the tabulation process.

Herbie Perez, chairman of the nominating committee, said she will not certify the results because the Committee needs to ensure that all the uncounted ballots were properly identified as spoiled. -- Pacific News Center

Hat-tip to TalkLeft for the link.

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Reuters reports: Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday challenged the results of his party's weekend caucus in Washington state, where he ran a close second to likely Republican nominee John McCain.

The Huckabee campaign said it was exploring all available legal options to ensure a full accounting of the Saturday vote after "dubious final results." Lawyers for the campaign arrived in Washington on Sunday evening. ...

He said Republican party officials stopped counting with only 87 percent of the vote in. McCain was leading Huckabee by only 242 votes out of approximately 12,000 at the time, with 1,500 votes uncounted, according to the Huckabee campaign. -- Huckabee protests Washington state caucus vote | Reuters

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The Birmingham News reports: Patrick Cooper's appeal challenging Larry Langford's election as Birmingham mayor may be argued before the Alabama Supreme Court by mid-January, one of Cooper's lawyers said Tuesday.

Cooper filed notice last week that he would appeal a Jefferson County judge's ruling upholding Langford's Oct. 9 election, when he won 50.3 percent of the vote in a 10-person race.

On Tuesday, Circuit Judge Allwin Horn ordered an expedited deadline of Dec. 12 to prepare the trial transcript and court record and file it with the Alabama Supreme Court, said Jim Ward, one of Cooper's lawyers.

Ward said he plans to ask the Alabama Supreme Court to fast-track the schedule for Cooper's and Langford's sides to file briefs. -- Patrick Cooper wants appeal to be fast-tracked in suit challenging Larry Langford's election as Birmingham mayor- al.com

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I requested that each of the parties in the election contest, Cooper v. Langford, dealing with the residency of the new Mayor of Birmingham, make their briefs available to me for uploading here. Mayor Langford's side has provided the following:

Brief in support of Motion to Dismiss PDF
Langford Reply Brief PDF
Langford Supplement to Reply Brief (without the attached case) PDF

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The Washington Post reports: Virginia's tightest General Assembly race of the year, for a state Senate seat from Fairfax County, is headed into overtime.

Democrat Janet S. Oleszek, trailing Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R) by about a quarter of a percentage point in unofficial returns, announced yesterday that she will seek a recount of the more than 37,000 votes cast in the Nov. 6 election. Ninety-two votes separate the two candidates. ...

To start the process, Oleszek said she will file a petition requesting a recount with the Fairfax County Circuit Court after the State Board of Elections certifies the results at the end of the month. She has 10 days after certification to do so. A special panel of state judges will be set up to monitor the recount. Electronically tabulated ballots make up the majority of ballots. Under state law, recount officials review those votes using printouts. A smaller number of votes -- such as absentee ballots -- were tabulated on paper, and those will be recounted by hand, Fairfax County officials said. -- Senate Challenger to Seek Recount - washingtonpost.com

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The Washington Post Virginia Politics blog reports: Sen. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II R-Fairfax , who holds a 91 vote lead over Democrat Janet Oleszek, sent an appeal to GOP supporters at 3:30 this morning asking for donations to help him finance an expected recount.

Because Cuccinelli s margin is less than a half percent, Oleszek can ask for a state-funded recount. In his appeal, Cuccinelli says he is also looking for 10 volunteer lawyers who can help him oversee a district canvass of the votes cast in yesterday s election. -- Sen. Ken Cuccinelli preparing for recount - Virginia Politics -

Note: I have a special interest in this race because I used to live in this district.

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My co-counsel and I have filed a motion to dismiss or affirm the State of Alabama's appeal in Riley v. Kennedy, No. 07-77 in the U.S. Supreme Court. The State's jurisdictional statement is available here.

The case was brought by my clients under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for an injunction against the Governor's appointment of a replacement county commissioner in Mobile County. Our suit asserted that the Governor had not obtained preclearance of an Alabama Supreme Court decision before enforcing it.

Earlier posts are here, here, here, here, and here.

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Catching up on Birmingham News reports of the mayor's race: Larry Langford was officially certified Tuesday as the winner of Birmingham's Oct. 9 mayoral election, but second-place finisher Patrick Cooper said he plans to contest the election on the grounds Langford didn't meet the residency requirements to run for mayor.

"I'm going to contest it," Cooper said. "Larry Langford has perpetrated a fraud on the residents of Birmingham."

Prior to the election, Langford, a longtime Fairfield resident, rented a loft in downtown Birmingham and had his voter registration changed to that address. He said he intended to buy a house in Birmingham after the election.

While he did keep some clothes in the downtown loft, he said the building didn't allow pets, and he and his wife continued to care for their family dog, Zach, at their Fairfield home. -- Langford certified mayoral winner- al.com

Thursday: Lawyer Patrick Cooper on Wednesday morning challenged Mayor-elect Larry Langford's Oct. 9 victory in the Birmingham mayoral election. Cooper finished second to Langford.

Cooper's contest contends that Langford did not reside in Birmingham on the day he filed papers to run for mayor and thus wasn't qualified to be a candidate in the race. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Allwin Horn was assigned to hear the case. No hearing date has been set.

Wednesday afternoon, Langford asked that the election contest be dismissed. His written response says he was a resident at the time of filing, is a Birmingham voter and was qualified to run for and serve as mayor. -- Cooper challenges mayoral election

Disclosure: I represent the City of Birmingham on election-related matters.

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The Birmingham News reports: A Rainsville lawyer who first suggested White House influence in the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman told congressional lawyers last month that Siegelman dropped his 2002 election contest after Alabama Republicans promised to end the federal investigation of him.

Jill Simpson told lawyers for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee that Rob Riley, the son of Gov. Bob Riley, told her that Siegelman ended his challenge of Riley's gubernatorial victory after receiving assurances that "they would not further prosecute him with the Justice Department."

The statement by Simpson, included in a transcript of her Sept. 14 testimony, is a significant addition to an earlier sworn affidavit of hers that Siegelman supporters used to demand a congressional investigation of his prosecution. ...

Simpson added other disclosures in her congressional testimony given under oath, including that Gov. Riley met with former White House strategist Karl Rove to discuss Siegelman's prosecution; that Rob Riley had frequent contact with Rove; and that Rob Riley and others discussed Rove's direct involvement in the Siegelman prosecution in a conference call she previously said included only references to Rove's interest in the case. -- Lawyer adds to her affidavit on Siegelman- al.com

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Michael Richardson writes on OpEdNews.com: The fifth attempt to adopt a constitution for the U.S. Virgin Islands has hit another snag that will likely delay the anticipated October 10th convening of a Constitutional Convention following a ruling by the U.S. Virgin Islands Supreme Court.

Last week the island high court reversed an earlier decision by Superior Court Judge James Carroll III to seat Harry Daniels, a resident of St. John, as a delegate following a disputed June election. Confusing legislative language apportioning delegates from St. Thomas and St. John was at the heart of Daniels' electoral appeal.

The Constitutional Convention was originally slated to begin in July but was delayed by Judge Carroll while he considered Daniels' case. The Supreme Court reversal of the decision to seat Daniels as a delegate drew stinging criticism from Justice Ive Arlington Swan in sharply worded dissent calling for a new election. -- U.S. Virgin Islands Constitutional Convention stalled in delegate election dispute over voting machine ballot design

The case is St. Thomas-St. John Board of Elections v. Daniel.

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The Herald reports: The Scotland Office has indicated that it is willing to change the law to let the Holyrood election inquiry see the thousands of ballot papers which were spoiled on May 3.

Concerns have been raised that the inquiry, under the leadership of the Canadian election expert Ron Gould, may be toothless because it has no statutory powers to order the release of the 142,000 discarded ballots.

But The Herald has learned that the Scotland Office would be willing to introduce a piece of secondary legislation at Westminster which would allow the spoiled papers to be made available. -- The Herald : Politics: MAIN POLITICS

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The Scotsman reported on last Satruday: THE GREENS have demanded to examine every spoiled ballot paper from the election as a major inquiry into Scotland's election fiasco gets underway.

The party emerged from the election with just two MSPs - co-leader of the party Robin Harper, who retained his seat on the Lothians list, and Patrick Harvie, who kept his seat in Glasgow.

This was a dramatic drop from the seven MSPs elected at the 2003 count, and the party confirmed it had submitted a Freedom of Information request to look at the 100,000 spoiled ballot papers to try to work out what went wrong. ...

It also emerged last night that Labour was taking legal advice on whether or not to mount a legal challenge to the result in Cunninghame North, which saw Deputy Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Minister Allan Wilson lose by just 48 to the SNP's Kenneth Gibson. -- Greens demand to see spoiled ballots after dramatic fall in seats

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The Bradenton Herald reports: Another memo from the maker of Sarasota County's touch-screen voting machines has mysteriously surfaced, with critics questioning whether this one showed the company tried to influence a review of the machines' source code.

In a Dec. 15 e-mail sent to a top Florida elections official, an Election Systems & Software vice president outlined several "guidelines" the company wanted an independent team of computer scientists to follow in its review. Among them were prohibitions against any statements about possible causes of more than 18,000 blank votes in the disputed 13th Congressional District race, which prompted the review.

The company also said it wanted to review the team's findings before they were made public, and that anything that violated a confidentiality agreement would be "destroyed (all copies hard of (sic) soft) and rewritten."

Critics quickly pounced Monday on the memo, first posted on a Wired magazine reporter's blog last week. -- Bradenton Herald | 03/27/2007 | Company's memo involving District 13 draws criticism

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Paul Lehto writes exclusively for Votelaw.com: I was lead counsel in this case along with Ken Simpkins assisting in this unpublished 2-1 decision, and at trial and on appeal we expressly argued and pointed to the various and severable kinds of relief available in an election contest, and we expressly waived one small part of that relief, that of an order directing Congress to unseat Bilbray -- since that would be unconstitutional for any Court to do under Art. I, sec. 5.

But despite carving this out of the case, many other issues remain, like vindicating the strong public policy in accuracy in elections, and the many other issues that could be summed up by saying: THE TRUTH IN ELECTIONS STILL MATTERS. The voters still have a California constitutional right to have their votes counted properly and tabulated properly, and time has not run out to have a look at vindicating those rights. The Court of Appeals ignored them, however, thus ignoring the voters.

Continue reading "More on the Bilbray decision" »

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The North County Times reports: The appeal of a lawsuit that challenged the June 2006 election of Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, to fill the remaining six months of disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's term in office was dismissed Tuesday because Bilbray already has completed that term.

Bilbray won the election in November 2006 to his own full, two-year term in office.

A state appeals court in San Diego ruled Tuesday that the appeal of a judge's dismissal of the lawsuit was moot. ...

Voters Barbara Gail Jacobson and Lillian M. Ritt filed a lawsuit July 31, 2006, in which they alleged problems existed with the voting machines used in the June 2006 election and asked for a hand-recount of the votes and a declaration that the candidate who received the most votes be declared elected to congress, the appeals court's written opinion stated. -- Appeals court dismisses challenge to Bilbray election - North County Times - San Diego / County -

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Reuters reports: Black Cherokee Indians said on Tuesday they will challenge a weekend vote to kick them out of the tribe that once owned their ancestors as slaves.

They threatened legal action to overturn the vote on Saturday in which 77 percent of those who cast ballots said they should no longer be Cherokees. ...

The vote would remove from tribal rolls 2,800 people who were mostly "freedmen," or descendants of slaves owned by the tribe before the U.S. Civil War brought their freedom.

They were adopted into the tribe under a 1866 treaty with the United States, but there has long been controversy among Cherokees about whether they belonged. -- Black Cherokees to challenge ouster from tribe | U.S. | Reuters

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The New York Times reports: Florida election officials announced yesterday that an examination of voting software did not find any malfunctions that could have caused up to 18,000 votes to be lost in a disputed Congressional race in Sarasota County, and they suggested that voter confusion over a poor ballot design was mainly to blame.

The finding, reached unanimously by a team of computer experts from several universities, could finally settle last fall’s closest federal election. The Republican candidate, Vern Buchanan, was declared the winner by 369 votes, but the Democrat, Christine Jennings, formally contested the results, claiming that the touch-screen voting machines must have malfunctioned.

Legal precedents make it difficult to win a lawsuit over ballot design, but a substantial error in the software might have been grounds for a new election.

The questions about the electronic machines arose because many voters complained that they had had trouble getting their votes to register for Ms. Jennings, and the machines did not have a back-up paper trail that might have provided clues about any problems. The report said some voters might have accidentally touched the screen twice, thus negating their votes, while most of the others probably overlooked the race on the flawed ballot. -- Panel Cites Voter Error, Not Software, in Loss of Votes - New York Times

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AP reports: Three county elections workers conspired to avoid a more thorough recount of ballots in the 2004 presidential election, a prosecutor told jurors during opening statements Thursday.

"The evidence will show that this recount was rigged, maybe not for political reasons, but rigged nonetheless," Prosecutor Kevin Baxter said. "They did this so they could spend a day rather than weeks or months" on the recount, he said.

Jacqueline Maiden, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections' coordinator, faces six counts of misconduct over how the ballots were reviewed. Rosie Grier, manager of the board's ballot department, and Kathleen Dreamer, an assistant manager, face the same charges. ...

Ohio law states that during a recount each county is supposed to randomly choose 3 percent of its ballots and tally them by hand and by machine. If there are no discrepancies in those counts, the rest of the votes can be recounted by machine. ...

Baxter said testimony in the case will show that instead of conducting a random count, the workers chose sample precincts for the Dec. 16, 2004, recount that did not have questionable results to ensure that no discrepancies would emerge. -- AP Wire | 01/18/2007 | Ohio elections workers on trial

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The Shreveport Times reports: A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit seeking to disqualify U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery, but challenger Patti Cox is not deterred.

"It's not over. It's called appeal," Cox said Monday.

In a one-page judgment, U.S. District Judge Tom Stagg said the U.S. House of Representatives is the only institution permitted by the Constitution to decide Cox's challenge to McCrery's qualifications.

Cox, one of three contenders who tried to unseat McCrery on Nov. 7, filed suit in state and federal court in November claiming McCrery was not a Louisiana resident when he won the election. McCrery sold his Shreveport home in 2004 and moved his family to McLean, Va. McCrery has said he maintained residency in Shreveport. -- The Shreveport Times

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The Shreveport Times reported yesterday: When Rep. Jim McCrery takes the congressional oath of office today, he'll be one of three Republican lawmakers whose elections to the House are still in dispute because of challenges filed by candidates they defeated.

All three elections may be scrutinized by the House Administration Committee, but in the meantime, McCrery and the other two House members will be allowed to serve.

Their challengers stand only a slim chance of victory.

More than 100 election challenges have been filed by losing candidates since 1933, but nearly all have been dismissed by the House. -- The Shreveport Times

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The Herald-Tribune reports: Arguing that her challenge of the outcome of the Congressional District 13 race will be “crippled” if she cannot review voting machine computer codes and hardware, Democrat Christine Jennings on Wednesday asked a state appellate court to overturn a judge’s decision denying her access to that information.

Jennings’ filing at the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee came the day before Republican Vern Buchanan is scheduled to be sworn in as the new representative for the congressional seat previously held by U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Longboat Key.

Buchanan has been declared the winner in the race by a 369-vote margin, although Jennings has legally contested the election outcome.

She contends that the fact that 18,000 voters in Sarasota County went to the polls but didn’t cast a ballot in the race is an indication that the electronic touch-screen voting machines malfunctioned. -- Jennings appeals ruling on voting machines

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AP reports: The Democrat who narrowly lost to a Republican in the race to replace Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record) asked Congress on Wednesday for an investigation.

The state has declared that Democrat Christine Jennings lost to Republican Vern Buchanan by 369 votes. But 18,000 Sarasota County electronic ballots did not record a choice in the race, and Jennings contends that the number is abnormally high and that the machines lost the votes.

She filed with the House clerk an official contest of the election results in Florida's 13th Congressional District.

She said she will ask Congress to consider ordering a revote if her legal challenge in Florida fails. She is seeking to obtain the programming code for the touch-screen voting machines to determine whether a bug or malicious programming could have lost votes. The state has found no evidence of malfunction. -- Congress asked to intervene in Fla. race - Yahoo! News

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AP reports: State attorneys Thursday withdrew a motion to dismiss a lawsuit calling for a new election in a long-contested Southwest Florida congressional race.

Democrat Christine Jennings' lawsuit claims ATM-style, touch-screen voting machines in Sarasota County lost up to 18,000 votes in the congressional contest to replace U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris. State officials declared Republican Vern Buchanan the winner of the 13th District seat by a margin of just 369 votes.

The Department of State decided that trying to get the case thrown out wasn't the most efficient use of resources, said Secretary of State spokeswoman Jenny Nash. ...

Jennings' lawyers are now focusing on a Tuesday hearing to persuade a judge to give them access to the source code that runs the electronic voting booths used in the contested election. Voting machine manufacturer Elections Systems & Software has argued in court that the software is a trade secret. -- State Drops Motion In Jennings Lawsuit

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The Economist reports: SINCE it is a place where alligator wrestling is a recognised pastime and tourists wear hats with Mickey Mouse ears, you might think that Florida would be immune to embarrassment. But after its punch-card ballots threw the 2000 presidential election into chaos, the state made a decisive move. It outlawed punch-cards and spent millions of dollars on touch-screen voting machines instead.

“There'll never be a hanging, dangling, or pregnant chad again,” vowed Katherine Harris who was Florida's secretary of state at the time of the election. In 2002, Ms Harris was elected to the national House of Representatives.

But now voters are realising that a mangled paper record is better than none at all. “At least we had the ability to determine a voter's intentions,” said Dan Smith of the University of Florida. This year's election to Florida's 13th congressional district provides a handy lesson in the pitfalls of electronic voting. Weeks after election day, it is still being contested. In an odd coincidence, it is the seat Ms Harris decided to vacate to pursue a disastrous Senate run. -- Electronic voting | Another election mess in Florida | Economist.com

Note: Dan Smith (quoted in the third graf) called this article to my attention (I wonder why?). I decided to quote because of the wonderful first paragraph. (I wonder what snarky remark they would have about Alabama?)

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The AP reports: A state panel agreed Wednesday to recount votes in four Indiana House races whose ultimate outcomes could threaten Democratic control of the chamber or widen the party’s majority.

The Indiana Recount Commission also granted Libertarian Steve Osborn’s request to retally ballots in 10 precincts in his statewide race for the U.S. Senate against Dick Lugar, even though Osborn lost by more than 1 million votes on Nov. 7 and he acknowledged the recount gives him no chance of winning.

Democrats gained a 51-49 majority in the Indiana House, according to totals cited by the Secretary of State’s Office. Recount requests were made by three Democratic candidates who each lost by fewer than 30 votes, and by former Republican Rep. Billy Bright of North Vernon, who challenged results that show he lost by about 1,600 votes.

Democrats could only lose control of the chamber if a recount determines that Bright won and outcomes in the other races stand. That would give each party 50 members, and under a tie-breaking rule, Republicans would control the chamber. -- Journal Gazette | 11/30/2006 | Recounts granted in 4 races; House in balance

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The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports: The computer source code that tells touch-screen voting machines how to run will be analyzed in the next phase of a state audit to determine what, if anything, went wrong in the Nov. 7 election.

The source code analysis has not started yet, but it is already generating controversy in the contested Congressional District 13 race, in which Republican Vern Buchanan was certified the winner by 369 votes.

The state Division of Elections' top choice for heading the review is Florida State University associate computer science professor Alec Yasinsac, an outspoken Republican who has advocated paperless voting machines in the past.

Democrats and voting rights activists charge that Yasinsac is too partisan to conduct an objective investigation. -- Audit to review computer code

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The Providence Journal reports: Almost a decade ago, Rhode Island retired its mechanical voting machines, peddling the 1,000-pound, 6-foot-tall behemoths for scrap.

The five-decade-old lever machines were replaced by a compact optical scanner called the Optech Eagle in a decision heralded as a leap forward for accurately tallying votes. For years, Rhode Island considered itself in the vanguard of electoral reform, and many states did not integrate similar electronic systems until after witnessing the 2000 presidential-election controversies.

For five election cycles, the new system went largely unchallenged. But last month, candidates in several unusually tight races questioned whether the state went too far in its rush to modernize elections.

On Wednesday, a Superior Court judge agreed, ruling that the state Board of Elections had ceded too much authority to the Optech scanners and mandating that candidates be permitted to view ballots rejected during recounts to determine whether the voter’s intent could be discerned.

State election officials denounced the ruling, saying manual reviews of ballots would undermine the objectivity of the new system. -- Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal | Local News

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The Orlando Sentinel reports: Tuesday kicked off the state's testing of the touch-screens at the center of the dispute. But by the end of the day, few answers had materialized.

The results of the test varied from Election Day totals by five votes, but it was unclear what that meant. Jennings' camp said it suggested the machines were fallible; Buchanan's team said the differing numbers proved nothing.

Today, officials will review videotapes of the tests -- to ensure testers selected the correct candidates -- and the scripts that the testers worked from. At first blush, the five-vote variance didn't alarm state election officials.

"The machines performed as they should," said Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for the Florida Division of Elections. Any discrepancies, she said, are likely to be "human error." -- Testers re-enact Election Day -- results differ - Orlando Sentinel : State News Testers re-enact Election Day -- results differ - Orlando Sentinel : State News

Comment: Oh, I get it: conclusion first, evidence later.

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Hotline reports: It seems good news for Democrats just keeps coming. Going into the election, the party held 94 seats out of 203 in the Pennsylvania State House. The party picked up enough seats to earn a 101-100 lead after most ballots were counted, though two seats – both previously controlled by Republicans – were close enough to require recounts.

Republican Duane Milne kept a narrow 144-vote lead after provisional, overseas and absentee ballots were all cast, creating a 101-101 tie and putting control of the chamber in the hands of the 156th House District. In that race, Republican Shannon Royer led his Democratic opponent, Barbara Smith, by just 19 votes (out of close to 30K cast) going into today’s final counts.

After all the ballots were tallied, Smith reversed the gap and emerged with a 23-vote victory, handing control of the State House to Democrats in a chamber few thought they had a chance of picking off. -- Hotline On Call: Dems Pick Up PA State House

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The New York Times Regional Newspapers reported on 19 November: Democratic state Sen. Larry Means of Attalla has filed amended campaign finance reports following a lawsuit seeking to nullify his Nov. 7 election win over a last-minute write-in candidate.

It’s the second lawsuit seeking to nullify the re-elections of state senators based on alleged noncompliance with Alabama campaign finance disclosure laws. ...

Means originally filed five waivers showing no campaign activity because he didn’t have primary or general election opposition.

“We did what the Secretary of State’s Office told us to do [file waivers] so we went ahead and filed," Means said. “If [the secretary of state] had told us that, that’s what we would have done." -- Senators test campaign finance laws - Tuscaloosa

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The Deseret Morning News reports: Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, will have one fewer Republican in his caucus during the 2007 Legislature, provided Curtis survives an election recount.

After counting provisional and by-mail absentee ballots and having the vote canvass approved by the Salt Lake County Council, Curtis officially defeated Democratic challenger Jay Seegmiller by 19 votes, it was learned Tuesday. That final result was closer than the tallies following Election Day, when Curtis led by 46 votes.

While Democrats likely missed a golden opportunity to take out one of the most powerful Republicans in the state, the minority party in the Legislature did keep another one of its incumbents when Rep. Carl Duckworth, D-Magna, defeated challenger Deena Ely. Duckworth had trailed by 25 votes before the additional ballots were counted but ended up winning by 33 votes, a total large enough to avoid a recount. -- deseretnews.com | Recounts on in 2 races

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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports: Control of the state House could hinge on whether a handful of Chester County voters used their middle initials when they signed their absentee ballots.

That's the kind of technicality being argued in the county over 20 ballots in two elections that are too close to call.

Republicans, who have an edge in both races after unofficial Election Night returns, want to exclude some provisional and absentee ballots from the final vote total, while Democrats want them counted.

Both sides made their cases yesterday during six hours of testimony before the county commissioners, who are acting as the Board of Elections. Testimony was expected to continue today and a decision on whether to include those ballots could come as soon as Tuesday.

Then, the challenged ballots that are deemed admissible, along with 529 other sealed absentee ballots in the two races, will be opened and counted. -- Control of state House may hinge on technicalities

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AP reports: A Republican defeated in his re-election bid for a legislative seat from southern Indiana has filed a challenge to the election results that could threaten Democratic control of the Indiana House.

The challenge by Republican Billy Bright of North Vernon brings to four the number of election reviews expected in the closely divided Indiana House, which Democrats control 51-49 based on preliminary returns of the Nov. 7 election.

Those results showed Democrat Dave Cheatham, who was sworn into office Tuesday, defeating Bright 10,861 to 9,244 in District 69, but Bright is questioning the high number of absentee ballots in Jennings County.

He said 30 percent of the votes cast in Jennings County were absentee ballots, compared with the statewide average of 9 percent.

“We believe that the unbelievably high number of absentee ballots are a concern,” Bright said Tuesday. “We believe there were some real irregularities in Jennings County, and we will find the truth.” -- Journal Gazette | 11/22/2006 | Latest election challenge could split House 50-50

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CQPolitics reports: The number of Nov. 7 House general elections in which the winner has not been firmly established has dwindled to four. But at least one of these, the controversy-plagued contest for the open seat in Florida’s 13th District, is unlikely to be decided for weeks — and even has the potential to kick off the Democratic-controlled 110th Congress in January with a dispute over whether to seat the certified winner.

That candidate is Republican Vern Buchanan: The Florida secretary of state’s office yesterday certified the wealthy car dealer as the victor, by a margin of 369 votes, over Democrat Christine Jennings, a former bank president.

Jennings immediately filed a lawsuit in Leon County, which is well north of the 13th District but includes the state capital of Tallahassee. The crux of Jennings’ complaint — which demands that a new election be called — is that there were more than 18,000 “undervotes” in Sarasota County, the district’s largest jurisdiction and the source of Jennings’ greatest electoral strength.

The “undervotes” refer to ballots in which votes were registered for other offices but not for the House race between Buchanan and Jennings. -- Legal Fight in Florida's 13th Could Stretch Into 2007 - Yahoo! News

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CQPolitics reports: New Mexico Republican Rep. Heather A. Wilson (news, bio, voting record) has survived her toughest race of a House career that dates to 1998. Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid on Tuesday conceded the 1st District contest, in which she trailed Wilson by fewer than 900 votes.

Madrid, the state attorney general, said at an Albuquerque press conference that she did not intend to seek a full recount, even though Wilson led by just 105,916 votes to 105,037, according to the Associated Press.

That 879-vote difference produced a margin of victory of less than one-half of 1 percentage point, a threshold that in several states would have triggered an automatic recount. But New Mexico does not have such a provision, so Madrid’s campaign would have had to bear the cost of a recount unless it changed the outcome of the election. ...

Despite Madrid’s decision to pass up a full recanvass, the vote counting and numbers in the contest still are not completely finalized. New Mexico Democratic Party Executive Director Matt Farrauto told CQPolitics.com it was “reasonably likely” that party officials would request a partial recount, a possibility party Chairman John Wertheim raised in Tuesday’s news conference. -- Madrid Concedes, But New Mexico Dems Aren't Done Yet - Yahoo! News

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WISH-TV reports: The verdict is still out in the race for the seat in the State House of Representatives on the south side of Indianapolis. Democratic incumbent Ed Mahern trails Republican Jon Elrod by just five votes. However there are seven votes not in the final total that could change the outcome.

Several hundred provisional ballots in Marion County are still being sorted. There are four provisional ballots in District 97 that have not yet been counted and may not be. Those four voters did not have the proper id on Election Day. But it is not too late for those votes to be counted..

"They have until Friday at noon to bring that identification, to bring that id to the clerk's office, show it to us. If they do that we will open the ballot and get it counted," Marion County Clerk Doris Ann Sadler said.

Democrats are working to find those voters to urge them to get to the clerk's office. Those votes could potentially change the results. ...

The Democrats want the courts to get involved and open those ballots, again potentially changing the outcome of the race. Republicans say the Democrats do not have the right to ask the court to decide. -- WISH-TV - Indianapolis News and Weather - Parties Have 24 Hours to Submit Proposals on Absentee Ballots

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The Orlando Sentinel reports: As officials begin a manual recount Thursday of more than 18,000 disputed ballots in the race for the 13th Congressional District, a handful of voting-rights and ballot-reform groups seeking to force a new election have put out a call to unhappy voters.

The organizations are holding a public hearing Thursday at a downtown hotel to hear from residents who fear their votes were incorrectly recorded or who failed to choose a candidate in the race because the ballot design was confusing. ...

More than 18,000 ballots cast in Sarasota County showed no choice was made in the hotly contested congressional race between Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings. The so-called "undervote" in that race - which Buchanan now leads by 401 votes - was about 15 percent among voters who used computer touch-screen machines. That compares to undervotes of less than 3 percent in parts of the district with different voting machines.

Dozens of voters complained that they may have inadvertently missed the race because they were confused by the layout of the computer screen ballot. Others - some have sworn out affidavits - insist they made a choice, but noticed on a final review page that it had not registered. -- KRT Wire | 11/16/2006 | Florida officials begin manual recount of 18,000 ballots

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CQPolitics reports: Wyoming Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin (news, bio, voting record) staved off a close challenge by Democrat Gary Trauner, winning a seventh term as the state’s lone House member. Cubin was called the winner of the contest — eight days after Election Day — by the Associated Press based on the vote certified by state officials Wednesday.

It was by far the closest House race ever faced by Cubin in a state that typically is a Republican stronghold, an outcome that was testimony both to the tough political atmosphere for Republicans nationwide and some self-inflicted problems that Cubin brought on herself.

The final tally by the Wyoming Canvassing Board gave Cubin 93,336 votes (48.3 percent) to Trauner’s 92,324 votes (47.8 percent). Libertarian candidate Thomas Rankin won 7,481 votes (3.9 percent) — far greater than the difference between the two major party candidates, though there is no way of knowing whether most of his votes would have gone to Cubin or Trauner had he not been in the race.

Cubin’s 1,012-vote margin over Trauner is outside the threshold to trigger an automatic recount, but the Democrat still had 48 hours after the certification to call for a recount if his campaign were to produce the funds to pay for it, according to an aide at the Wyoming Secretary of State’s office. -- Republican Cubin Survives Close Call, Holds Wyoming Seat - Yahoo! News

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CQPolitics reports: Democratic Rep. John Barrow, according to Georgia’s secretary of state, has won a second term in the state’s 12th District, defeating former one-term Republican Rep. Max Burns (news, bio, voting record) by just 864 votes in the rematch of their close 2004 race.

But it is not yet clear if the state’s certification of the outcome is the last word on the race: Barrow’s winning percentage is less than the 1 percentage-point threshold below which the trailing candidate can request a recount. ...

The election board also officially certified the win by another embattled Democratic incumbent, Rep. Jim Marshall (news, bio, voting record), who won a third House term with a slim 1,752-vote edge over former six-term Republican Rep. Mac Collins in the 8th District.

In a year when Democrats retained all the House and Senate seats they held prior to the election — and most by comfortable margins — the close contests faced by Barrow and Marshall were anomalies. ...

But Barrow and Marshall faced a big new obstacle in their 2006 races, in the form of a mid-decade redistricting map — implemented by the Republican-controlled state legislature — that took away key portions of their previous constituencies and boosted the number of GOP voters. -- Count in Georgia 12 Favors Democrat, But Challenge Is Possible - Yahoo! News

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Paul Kiel writes on TPM Muckraker: Lawyers for Democratic House candidate Christine Jennings threw down the gauntlet yesterday, asking a state court to secure electronic voting machines and data used in the election.

The move would preserve the equipment in Florida's Sarasota County for scrutiny by Jennings' legal team. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for this afternoon.

It's just the first step of what is likely to be a litigious aftermath to a close and ugly election (thanks in part to the NRCC's rampant robo calling in the district). The state began a recount and audit of the election yesterday. Once the audit and second recount is completed and the results certified on November 20th, the Jennings campaign has ten days to contest the results of the election if they still show Jennings down. Before the recounting began, she was down 386 votes.

The fight will center around the district's Sarasota County, where the electronic machines did not register a vote in the Congressional race for 18,000 voters (13%) -- what's called an "undervote." That's compared to only 2.53% of voters who did not vote in the race via absentee ballots.

A study by the local paper, The Herald Tribune, found that one in three of Sarasota election officials "had general complaints from voters about having trouble getting votes to record" on the electronic machines for the Congressional race. Since 53% of voters in Sarasota County picked Jennings over the Republican Vern Buchanan, those missed votes would likely have put Jennings in front. -- TPMmuckraker November 14, 2006 12:56 PM

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Googlicious has two posts on the recount (or are they still counting?): googlicious » Democracy is not a dinner party, it’s scrubbing the floors after everybody has gone home… and Kathy Dent - Sarasota Elections.

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AP reports: Democrat Joe Courtney's lead over Republican Rep. Rob Simmons grew to 109 votes Monday, after dipping to as low as 66 votes earlier in the day.

The roller-coaster recount in one of the closest congressional races in the nation has uncovered significant errors in two communities. Preliminary Election Day returns had Courtney winning by 167 votes out of nearly 250,000 ballots cast in the 2nd Congressional District.

Officials in Lebanon discovered Monday that Courtney was given an extra 100 votes over Simmons. "It was human error," said Lebanon election moderator John Bendoraitis. "It was strictly misreading one number on one machine."

In Lyme, the recount showed that Simmons was wrongly credited with 40 votes because an election worker mistakenly wrote down the wrong number. "It was just an error in hearing the number," said Marion Ewankow, the Lyme moderator. -- 'Human error' muffs vote count in Connecticut - CNN.com

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In Florida, Echoes of 2000 as Vote Questions Emerge - New York Times
The New York Times reports: A Democrat who narrowly lost the Congressional race here is seeking a recount after dozens of people reported problems using Sarasota County’s touch-screen voting machines and a significant number of ballots had no recorded votes in the high-profile race.

The Democrat, Christine Jennings, lost to her Republican opponent, Vern Buchanan, by just 373 votes out of a total 237,861 cast — one of the closest House races in the nation. More than 18,000 voters in Sarasota County, or 13 percent of those who went to the polls Tuesday, did not seem to vote in the Congressional race when they cast ballots, a discrepancy that Kathy Dent, the county elections supervisor, said she could not explain.

In comparison, only 2 percent of voters in one neighboring county within the same House district and 5 percent in another skipped the Congressional race, according to The Herald-Tribune of Sarasota. And many of those who did not seem to cast a vote in the House race did vote in more obscure races, like for the hospital board.

More than 100 voters have told the Jennings campaign that their votes for her did not show up on the summary screen at the end of the touch-screen voting process, and that they had to re-enter them. The candidate’s lawyers said they feared that not everyone had noticed the problem or realized that they could re-enter the vote. --

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AP reports: The touch-screen voting machines Katherine Harris championed as secretary of state after the 2000 presidential recount may have botched this year's election to replace her in the U.S. House, and it's likely going to mean another Florida recount.

More than 18,000 Sarasota County voters who marked other races didn't have their vote register in the House race, a rate much higher than the rest of the district, elections results show.

Sarasota County Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent defended her staff and the voting machines, arguing that the thousands of voters must have either overlooked the race -- which was pushed to a second screen by a glut of minor U.S. Senate candidates on the ballot -- or simply decided not to vote for either candidate in a race marked by mudslinging. ...

Florida law requires a machine recount if the difference between the top candidates is less than half a percent. If the machine tallies find a margin of less than a quarter percent, a manual recount is conducted.

To do a manual recount for touch-screens, officials go back over the images of the electronic ballots where the machine didn't register a choice. But state rules essentially say that if the machine doesn't show that a voter chose a candidate, the voter is assumed to have meant to skip the race -- it would be tough to prove otherwise. -- Florida deja vu: Race to replace Harris could go to recount - CNN.com

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AP reports: Sen. Conrad Burns conceded the Montana U.S. Senate race to Democrat Jon Tester on Thursday, catching Tester on the phone as he headed for a barber shop to get his famous flattop hair trimmed. -- Sen. Burns Concedes Montana Race - washingtonpost.com

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Reuters reports: Virginia Republican George Allen on Thursday conceded defeat in his tight Senate race against James Webb, giving Democrats a majority in the U.S. Congress for the first time in 12 years. ...

Allen trailed Webb by nearly 9,000 votes of the 2.4 million cast, according to state electoral figures. -- Allen concedes Senate loss | Politics News | Reuters.com

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AP reports: Democrat Gary Trauner said Thursday he had no immediate plans to seek a recount in his close race to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin (news, bio, voting record).

Trauner, a businessman from Wilson, said he wants to let the process of certifying Tuesday's election results play out and, unless something unusual occurs, will accept those results. -- Wyo. Democrat not planning on recount - Yahoo! News

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AP reports: A recount in the Senate race in Virginia, where control of the Senate tilted from the Republicans to the Democrats on James Webb's victory over incumbent George Allen, would take time -- lots of time.

There are no automatic recounts in Virginia, but state law allows a candidate who finishes within a half-percentage point to request a recount paid for by state and local governments. With a margin greater than that, but less than 1 percentage point, the trailing candidate can still seek a recount but must pay the costs if the results are unchanged.

Either way, a recount could not begin until after the State Board of Elections certifies the results on Nov. 27. The losing candidate has 10 days after that to request a recount. How long a recount would take is unclear.

An Associated Press count Wednesday night showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236, or less than one-third of 1 percent. -- Virginia recount would be time-consuming - Yahoo! News

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The Hotline reports: Top Republicans in Washington will give Sen. George Allen a few days to take stock of his legal and political options before beginning to pressure him to concede to James Webb. Senior Republican officials and White House aides believe that Webb won the race. -- Hotline On Call: Republicans Will Pressure Allen... Soon

Comment: If I were Allen's lawyer, I would say, "wait a few days till we can find out if all the votes are in. Don't pull a John Kerry by cutting and running away from a possible legal challenge too quickly."

Update: TPMCafe explains why Allen is unlikely to demand a recount.

Update 2:
AP reports: An Allen adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity because his boss has not formally decided to end the campaign, said the Republican likely will not request a recount if a statewide canvass of votes doesn't show significant changes.

Allen wanted to wait until most canvassing was completed before announcing his decision, possibly as early as Thursday evening, the adviser said.

Local officials must complete their canvass by Tuesday. -- Virginia win gives Democrats the Senate

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Slate reports: The Democrats will seize control of the U.S. Senate if their candidates end up victorious in two very tight races. As of early Wednesday afternoon, Democrat Jon Tester was ahead of Republican Conrad Burns in the Montana race by around 3,000 votes. (The Associated Press has called the election for Tester. Burns has, so far, refused to concede.) In Virginia, Democrat Jim Webb led Republican Sen. George Allen by a little more than 7,000 votes—about one-third of 1 percent. How do you contest an election in these two states?

First, ask for a recount. The basic rules are very similar in the two states. In Montana, the losing candidate has five days to petition the state government for a recount, starting as soon as a state "board of canvassers" certifies the initial results. (The certification must occur within 20 days.) He's only allowed to ask for the recount if he came within 0.5 percent of winning the election. If a candidate in Montana came within 0.25 percent, the state automatically pays the costs of the recount; otherwise, he'll have to put up the money himself and will get reimbursed only if he turns out the victor.

Virginia election law gives the loser the right to petition a panel of judges for a recount within 10 days of certification if he came within 1 percent in the popular vote. The state pays for the recount if the margin is less than 0.5 percent or if the petitioner ends up on top. -- What happens next in Montana and Virginia? - By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine

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The New York Times reports: A team of lawyers for the Democratic Party has been arguing with postal officials in Columbus, Ohio, trying to persuade them to process thousands of absentee ballots that have arrived with insufficient postage.

In Pennsylvania, the Republican Party has opened a “recount account” and set aside $500,000 to pay lawyers who will answer telephones on Election Day and monitor polls to see whether officials demand proper voters’ identification. In Maryland, lawyers representing candidates for senator and governor from both parties met recently and swapped cellphone numbers and e-mail addresses to smooth out the logistics of potential litigation.

Several days from what Republican and Democratic campaign strategists expect to be a close election, the legal machinery of a messy fight is shifting into high gear. ...

“Both sides are lawyering up,” said Doug Chapin, director of the nonpartisan Election Reform Information Project. “Election night is not necessarily the finish line anymore.”

Election litigation has grown since 2000, reaching 361 suits in 2004, up from 108 in 1996, according to Richard L. Hasen, a professor at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. -- As Vote Nears, Parties Prepare for Legal Fights - New York Times

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The Southern Voice reports: The Georgia Supreme Court on Oct.16 unanimously confirmed the razor thin re-election victory of lesbian Atlanta City Councilmember Anne Fauver over gay opponent Steve Brodie, erasing doubt over who will continue to represent District 6.

The court’s seven justices ruled that nine write-in ballots that were in dispute were for candidates not qualified to serve if elected.

“Because unqualified write-in candidates cannot assume office, counting the write-in votes for these unqualified candidates would be a futile act by the board,” the ruling states.

Fauver, who defeated Brodie by only five votes in November 2005, said the state Supreme Court’s ruling “vindicated” her. ...

According to state law, in order to win an election without a runoff, a candidate must receive 50 percent plus one of the votes cast. Brodie contended that if the nine write-in ballots were included in the total vote count, Fauver would have received 49.97 percent of the vote. -- Southern Voice Online

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The Tuscaloosa News reports: Greene County Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit brought by a Greene County Democratic Executive Committee member and declared Sheriff Johnny Isaac the rightful Democratic nominee for sheriff.

The judge’s ruling clears the way for ballots to be printed with Isaac as the nominee for sheriff. Thursday is the deadline for county election managers to have ballots ready. In Greene County, Probate Judge Earlean Isaac, Johnny Isaac’s wife, is the election manager.

The suit brought by Lester Brown contended that the Alabama Democratic Party had overstepped its bounds when the Democratic Executive Committee disqualified apparent nominee Ison Thomas and named Isaac the nominee. Thomas had defeated Isaac by 300 votes in the June 6 primary. The state threw out his election because he failed to comply with the Fair Campaign Practices Act.

Brown’s lawsuit contended that it was up to the Greene County Democratic Executive Committee to choose a nominee and that he had been denied that right. -- Judge rules that Isaac is Greene sheriff nominee - Tuscaloosa

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The Tuscaloosa News reports: Democrats likely had the summer of 1986 in mind last weekend when they rejected a challenge in a Birmingham state House race. ...

The committee’s decision, though far from unanimous, was doubtlessly influenced by the tempest that ensued when Democratic Party leaders denied the gubernatorial nomination to Charles Graddick. It’s been two decades since that public relations fiasco accelerated a political power shift in Alabama that’s still resonating today.

Voter backlash over the Graddick matter led to the election of Guy Hunt, the first Alabama Republican governor since the 1870s, underscoring the importance voters gave their ballots in a state with a history of voting shenanigans.

“The election 20 years ago represents the anniversary in which the Democratic Party started its own demise," said Auburn University Montgomery political science professor D’Linell Finley. -- ’86 election changed political scene - Tuscaloosa

Comment: I was one of Bill Baxley's lawyers in that contest. Dr. Finley may believe it was the beginning of the demise of the Democratic Party. I beg to differ. The big-business interests in Alabama wanted to control the Democratic Party with a pseudo-Democratic candidate (Graddick). If Graddick had won, it would have stunted the growth of the real Democratic Party in Alabama. Instead, Graddick would have continued the infiltration of Republicans into the Democratic Party.

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AP reports: A judge on Friday denied a defeated congressional candidate's request for a new Republican primary, saying the state court lacks jurisdiction.

Assemblywoman Sharron Angle lost to Secretary of State Dean Heller by 421 votes the three-way Aug. 15 GOP primary. They were seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, who is running for governor. ...

After a daylong hearing, District Judge Bill Maddox said there was no evidence election officials in Washoe County committed malfeasance when some voting locations opened late because polling workers didn't show up. -- Judge denies bid for new Nev. primary - Yahoo! News

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The Reno Gazette-Journal reports: Reno Assemblywoman Sharron Angle filed papers Tuesday asking a judge to order a new Republican primary election in the 2nd Congressional District.

Angle is contesting her defeat in Washoe District Court, despite the urging of U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to drop her effort.

In court papers, Angle attorneys Joel and Jonathan Hansen cite 17 reasons for nullification, including a lack of training for election workers, polling-place workers not showing up on time or not at all and registered Republicans not being given Republican ballots.

Secretary of State Dean Heller defeated Angle by 421 votes in the Aug. 15 primary and is campaigning against Democrat Jill Derby. -- RGJ.com: Angle asks judge for new election

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The Tuscaloosa News reports: A group of 60 supporters vowed Sunday to make their votes work for Greene County sheriff candidate Ison Thomas.

His 243-vote win in the June 6 primary over incumbent Sheriff Johnny Isaac was shunted aside Saturday when the State Democratic Executive Committee named Isaac the nominee.

Thomas' supporters rallied Sunday evening, making plans to raise $3,000 to $4,000 for his legal fund to challenge the decision of the Democratic executive committee and counter the contest to the legality of his win. ...

A state Democratic subcommittee ruled last month that Thomas had not filed his campaign finance forms properly after Isaac contested Thomas’ win. Since then both candidates have hired attorneys to settle the dispute. -- GREENE COUNTY: Residents rally behind Ison Thomas - Tuscaloosa

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AP reports: A defeated U.S. House candidate said Friday she would seek to toss out the results the Republican primary, citing errors in the voting process, in hopes of getting another shot at the nomination.

Sharron Angle, a conservative assemblywoman in the Nevada Legislature, lost the Aug. 15 contest by 421 votes to Secretary of State Dean Heller. She said a recount was not the right action. ...

Angle campaign spokesman Jerry Stacy said the primary was riddled with mishaps in the Reno area. ...

In official vote tallies announced Thursday, Heller won the five-candidate primary with 24,770 votes, 35.9 percent, out of 68,992 cast. Angle had 24,349 or 35.3 percent. -- Nev. candidate wants special election - Yahoo! News

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AP reports: Openly gay Patricia Todd was reinstated Saturday as the Democratic Party's nominee for a seat in the Alabama Legislature in a vote that turned more on the race of the candidates than sexual orientation.

The Alabama Democratic Party Executive Committee voted 95-87, mostly along racial lines, to reject the ruling of a subcommittee that had voted to disqualify Todd, who is white, and her black opponent, Gaynell Hendricks, in the race for the House seat from Birmingham's predominantly black District 54. ...

The vote fell mostly along racial lines. Committee members were asked to stand to show their vote and no whites were seen standing to vote to uphold the subcommittee report, while a small number of blacks stood in support of Todd.

The vote came at the end of a tense meeting where supporters of both Todd and Hendricks crammed into a large ballroom at a Montgomery hotel and frequently interrupted with cheers or shouts.

The loudest cheers from Todd's supporters and boos from Hendricks' side came during a passionate speech by Todd's attorney Bobby Segall, who also often represents the Democratic Party.

Segall asked the executive committee members to forget race and politics and to do the right thing. ...

A dramatic point in Saturday's meeting came just minutes before the committee voted, when veteran legislator and civil rights worker Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, stood and urged the committee not to use a technicality to disqualify Todd, a tactic he said has often been used in the South to disqualify black candidates.

"Selective prosecution has been done to black people more than to any other people in the state and unless someone can show me the 59 more votes Todd received were illegal votes, there's no way you can deny her victory," Holmes said. -- Alabama Democrats reinstate gay candidate for Legislature

Disclosure: I am proud to have been one of Patricia Todd's lawyers.

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The Birmingham News reports: A Democratic Party committee Thursday night disqualified an openly gay candidate for the Alabama Legislature and the woman she defeated in the primary runoff because both women violated a party rule that party officials said no other candidate has obeyed since 1988.

The committee voted 5-0 to disqualify House District 54 candidate Patricia Todd, who was attempting to become the state's first openly gay legislator, and Gaynell Hendricks.

Committee chairwoman Amy Burks said earlier Thursday the party's executive committee would make the final decision and select a nominee for the Birmingham seat at a meeting in Montgomery Saturday. -- Panel disqualifies both District 54 candidates

Disclosure: Todd is my client.

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The New York Times reports: When Patricia Todd won the Democratic primary runoff for a seat in the Alabama Legislature last month, the big news might have been her sexual orientation. With no Republican opponent, Ms. Todd seemed poised to become what political observers said would be the first openly gay officeholder in state history.

But instead, it is the fact that she is white, in a majority black district in Birmingham, that has become the burning issue. One of the state’s most powerful Democrats, who had earlier urged voters not to support Ms. Todd because she is white, is backing a challenge to her nomination that could end her candidacy. ...

The challenge was brought by Ms. Hendricks’s mother-in-law. But it was tacitly supported by Joe L. Reed, a longtime Democratic kingmaker and the party’s vice chairman of minority affairs. Mr. Reed had urged voters to support Ms. Hendricks, and at one point the Alabama Democratic Conference, a black political organization that he is chairman of, gave a check to cover the $3,000 fee needed to bring the challenge in case Ms. Hendricks missed the deadline. He also controlled the subcommittee; three of the five members were drawn from a pool of Mr. Reed’s appointees.

“This is really not about race,” Ms. Todd said in a telephone interview as she traveled to Montgomery for the hearing. “This is about Joe Reed controlling the party and trying to get his way, and he’s just a bully.”

Mr. Reed disagreed. “She doesn’t even know me,’’ he said, “so she wouldn’t be in any position to know. This is not about lifestyles; this is not about race. This is about whether she complied with the party rules.” -- Issues of Race and Sex Stir Up Alabama Election - New York Times

Disclosure: Todd is my client.

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AP reports: The white victor in the Democratic runoff for a legislative seat called on the party Wednesday to throw out a contest challenging her victory, claiming it was wrongly funded by a powerful black party leader who wants a black to win the position.

Patricia Todd, a white lesbian seeking to become the first openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature, said party vice chairman Joe Reed personally paid for a challenge filed on behalf of her black opponent, Gaynell Hendricks.

Reed, longtime chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, the party's black caucus, denied that he or the ADC paid the contest fee for Hendricks.

Before Todd's 59-vote win over Hendricks on July 18, Reed distributed a letter in which he urged black leaders to support Hendricks because of her race.

After the vote, Todd said, Reed paid the party's fee to consider a challenge filed by Hendricks' mother-in-law. State party rules require that whomever challenges an election pay the fee, Todd said at a news conference. -- AP Wire | 08/16/2006 | Gay candidate asks Alabama Democrats to dismiss contest

The full statement is here, which is also the address of Todd's website.

Disclosure: Patricia Todd is my client in the election contest.

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AP reports: Patricia Todd is openly gay, and she expected her sexual orientation to be an issue when she ran for a legislative seat representing a majority black district. What she didn't anticipate was the fight that broke out over the fact she is white.

Todd, who defeated a black candidate in a runoff election last month, goes before a Democratic Party subcommittee on Tuesday to defend her 59-vote runoff win in House District 54, an area that includes both the richest and poorest neighborhoods of Birmingham. ...

But the issue people are talking about is whether a white woman should get to represent a mostly black district in a state where blacks couldn't vote two generations ago and where race is still an overriding factor in carving out election districts.

A black Democratic leader urged black voters to support Todd's black opponent, Gaynell Hendricks, on the basis of race, and Todd fears racial politics may taint proceedings before the subcommittee. -- Race becomes issue for Ala. gay candidate - Politics - MSNBC.com

Disclosure: I represent Patricia Todd in this contest.

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AP reports: A mix-up over who was supposed to serve on a committee caused the Alabama Democratic Party to delay a hearing Tuesday on the challenge of the apparent primary victory of an openly gay candidate for the Legislature.

Patricia Todd defeated Gaynell Hendricks by 59 votes in the July 18 runoff election in House District 54, a diverse district that includes some of Birmingham's richest and poorest neighborhoods. She has no Republican opposition in the general election Nov. 7. If elected, Todd would become the first openly gay legislator in Alabama.

But a challenge filed by Hendricks' mother-in-law claims that Todd filed a campaign financial disclosure form late to hide a $25,000 contribution from a national gay rights group. -- al.com: NewsFlash - Committee mixup delays hearing on challenge of gay candidate

Disclosure: I represent Patricia Todd in this contest.

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The Birmingham News reports: State Sen. Gerald Dial, D-Lineville, is asking the Alabama Democratic Party to disqualify the primarycandidate who defeated him - along with four powerful senators - saying they violated state campaign finance law.

Dial, in a letter to Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham, asked the party to revoke the nomination of Kim Benefield for Senate District 13. Benefield defeated Dial in the June primary. Dial wrote that Benefield did not list all of her expenditures andcontributions on her campaign report, including her qualifying fee. ...

His petition for a reversal of fortune also targets four powerful Democrats with whom he frequently has clashed through the years. He's challenging the practice, which those four followed, of candidates in the primary not filing campaign finance reports if they are unopposed. ...

Benefield reported receiving $270,161 worth of advertising from the Senate Majority PAC as an in-kind contribution. The PAC works to elect Democrats. Dial, sometimes called a "dissident Democrat," is aligned with the Senate's Republican minority and a handful of Democrats. -- Defeated senator wants foe, 4 others to be disqualified

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: A top election official in DeKalb County said Wednesday morning that she expects U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney to take her complaints about alleged voting irregularities in Tuesday's election straight to Washington -- just like she did when she lost four years ago. ...

One of McKinney’s options would be to file the complaint in DeKalb, because that is where she lives.

Lattimore said local election officials investigated the campaign’s claims.

“We called all the polls right when she complained to get documentation,” Lattimore said. She said she found no evidence of any irregularities.

Kara Sinkule, spokesman for Secretary of State Cathy Cox, said McKinney can request a recount under Georgia law “when it appears that a discrepancy or error, although not apparent on the face of the returns, has been made.” This is the only recount provison McKinney can rely on becasue the vote outcome was not numerically close enough to qualiify under the 1 percent recount rule, Sinkule said. -- Election official expects McKinney to protest to feds | Election Day | ajc.com

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Bloomberg reports: Mexico's Federal Electoral Court rejected presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's demand for a full recount of the July 2 vote, ordering instead a review of the tally at fewer than 10 percent of polling places.

The court's seven judges ruled unanimously that Lopez Orbador, who lost the race according to election authorities by 0.6 percentage point, had no claim to a full recount because he challenged results in only 174 of 300 electoral districts -- and some of his fraud claims didn't stand up. The court agreed to review ballots from 11,839 of more than 130,000 polling places.

The limited scope of the recount makes its unlikely Felipe Calderon's 243,934 margin of victory will be erased, said Todd Eisenstadt, a professor of government at American University in Washington and author of a book on Mexican election law. Mexican bonds and currency rallied on expectations Calderon, a former energy minister under President Vicente Fox, will maintain Fox's policies in favor of free trade, low inflation and spending restraints. -- Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

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Kyle Whitmire writes in the Birmingham Weekly: Last Thursday, Gaynell Hendricks held a press conference in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse where her supporters in her plain sight accused white people of stealing the election for Todd.

I too was accused of fixing the election. This might stem from the fact that, in addition to being white, I, unlike nearly everyone on Hendricks' campaign staff, showed up at the courthouse on election night to watch the returns being counted.

This is what I saw. -- Birmingham Weekly Online

Disclosure: I represent Patricia Todd, the winner of the election, in the contest filed by Hendricks' mother-in-law.

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The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: A lawsuit filed yesterday asks a judge to toss out results of the June 6 special election that saw Republican Brian Bilbray defeat Democrat Francine Busby to finish the remaining term of disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

The lawsuit, filed at Superior Court in downtown San Diego by lawyer Paul Lehto of Everett, Wash., also asks for a recount of all ballots cast in the election in the 50th Congressional District.

Lehto says there is no way to ensure that the voting machines used by county elections officials were not tampered with, which Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas vigorously denied.

The county used paper ballots as part of an optical scanner system and touch-screen machines manufactured by Diebold. The vast majority of votes were cast by paper ballot, county officials said. ...

In an interview yesterday, Busby – not a party to the lawsuit – distanced herself from its central premise that Bilbray's election was illegitimate and should be declared void. -- SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Politics -- Lawsuit seeks to void Bilbray-Busby results

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The Tuscaloosa News reports:
A state Democratic subcommittee has overturned the Greene County Sheriff's race, declaring incumbent Johnny Isaac the Democratic nominee with no opposition in November.

Isaac fell to former Deputy Isom Thomas in the June 6 primary, 2,138-1,895. Isaac contested the election before the Greene County Democratic Executive Commission, which upheld Thomas' election.

However, the state subcommittee ruled unanimously that Thomas hadn’t properly filed his campaign finance forms.

“It’s mandatory," said Walter Braswell, Isaac’s attorney. “State law says that compliance with the fair campaign practices act is a qualification just like age or residency. If you fail to do that, you can’t be certified by the party."

Thomas listed only his filing fee as expenses and only $275 in unspecified contributions. Braswell presented Thomas’ campaign signs and other items, which he said were obviously expenses. These expenses weren’t listed on Thomas’ campaign finance form. -- Isaac is Greene sheriff nominee - Tuscaloosa

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: Almost a third of the 426 absentee ballots cast in the disputed Democratic primary runoff for Alabama House District 98 came from nine addresses, a Press-Register review of public records found.

But the executive director of an Eight Mile nursing home, which produced the most absentee votes from a single location, said the voting practices at his facility were not out of the ordinary.

Runoff winner Darren Flott said his campaign did not engage in any special push to increase his absentee ballot totals. And, he said, neither he nor his volunteers engaged in gathering illegal votes from District 98 residents.

The high number of absentee ballots are at the center of chiropractor James Gordon's accusation that illegal votes delivered Flott, a respiratory therapist, his 65-vote margin of victory in the second round of voting July 18. ...

Of 426 absentee ballots, 15.5 percent of the total turnout, Flott won 283 votes to Gordon's 143. That 140-vote advantage is more than double Flott's margin of victory. Gordon posted a 75-vote advantage among ballots actually cast on July 18 in precincts around the district. -- Arguments continue over absentee ballots

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The McClatchy Newspapers report: The drab concrete building of fortresslike towers, surrounded by a high steel fence of spiked poles, hints little at the momentous history that's about to unfold inside. Only the colorful sidewalk camp of hunger strikers suggests its importance: They're vowing not to eat again until they see a recount.

The seven justices who will decide Mexico's bitterly disputed presidential election work here. ...

For the 10-year-old Electoral Court of the Federal Judiciary -- as well as for Mexico's nascent democracy -- this is uncharted territory: Left-leaning populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador refuses to concede defeat to conservative Felipe Calderón, claiming fraud in a July 2 election that left them separated by barely a half-percent of the 41 million votes.

Although there are faint echoes of the U.S. election crisis in 2000, Obrador vs. Calderón isn't Bush vs. Gore in Spanish.

For one, there's no U.S. equivalent to the tribunal. It was created in 1996 to handle election challenges in a nation with a history of stolen or fixed elections. Presiding over the tribunal is Leonel Castillo, a career jurist who started in 1981 as a district court judge. Those who know him say he's a by-the-book constitutionalist who's not likely to be swayed by the public demonstrations López Obrador has held. -- Metro/Regional News - Mexico judges to get the last word - sacbee.com

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The Birmingham News reports: An Alabama Democratic Party committee has been asked to review the House District 54 runoff after the result was contested by the mother-in-law of Gaynell Hendricks.

Hendricks lost by 59 votes to Patricia Todd for the Birmingham seat in the July 18 election. Todd had 1,173 votes, 51 percent, to Hendricks' 1,114 votes, or 49 percent. There is no Republican candidate.

Mattie Childress, 76, a retired beautician, filed the contest with the state Democratic Party after office hours Thursday. She is the mother of former Birmingham City Councilman Elias Hendricks. ...

Among the claims in the contest is that "illegal votes were given" to Todd, that Todd did not file her report of contributions and expenditures with the secretary of state until July 17 and that Jefferson County elections officials "failed to follow proper chain of custody procedures when handling voting machine tabulations, tapes and voting machine memory cards." -- Hendricks' in-law contests vote

Disclosure: I represent Patricia Todd.

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The Birmingham News reports this non-news: Gaynell Hendricks said she hasn't decided whether she will contest her 59-vote loss to Patricia Todd in the House District 54 democratic runoff July 18.

She rallied supporters at a Thursday news conference where backers vowed support and called for further investigation of voting procedures.

In the July 18 runoff, Todd had 1,173 votes or 51 percent and Hendricks had 1,114 or 49 percent. The Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee has canvassed the votes and determined the totals were accurate. The Alabama Democratic Party is expected to certify the votes today in the secretary of state's office, said Jim Spearman, the state party's executive director. Hendricks would then have until noon Monday to contest the election, he said. -- Hendricks hasn't decided on contesting vote

Comment: Patricia Todd has hired me to represent her in this matter.

Kyle Whitmire wrote this analysis of the election in the Birmingham Weekly: Gaynell Hendricks doesn’t understand why she lost her race for Alabama House District 54. If you ask her, or any of her campaign faithful, you’ll be told that Hendricks was robbed on election night. She was robbed all right, but it happened long before the polls closed Tuesday and she let the thieves through the door herself.

Hendricks could have won. But she listened to bad advice from people — including the mayor of Birmingham — whose understanding of Birmingham’s political landscape is defective. Someone told Hendricks that bigotry was still a shortcut to public office. She took that shortcut, only to end up farther from where she wanted to be. As of the last tally Tuesday night, Patricia Todd nudged past her with 59 more votes.

The race for District 54 was ugly and divisive. Hendricks is a black businesswoman who, before moving to the building she and her husband own downtown, claimed a Mountain Brook address. Todd is a white, openly gay administrator who received campaign financing from gay and lesbian groups who wanted her to win.

Most legislative districts in the county are gerrymandered to skew toward one racial/political majority or the other, but District 54 has become a mix of demographics — a virtual fault line of black and white. -- Turning off whitey

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AP reports: A typo by the Alabama Republican Party gave a civil appeals court candidate 30,000 extra votes in the June 6 primary in Tuscaloosa County, where fewer than 17,000 ballots were cast.

The error doesn't change the Place 3 runoff between Autauga County District Judge Phillip Wood and Terri Willingham Thomas, a district and juvenile court judge in Cullman County. However, it gave front-runner Wood a far wider margin over Thomas than was officially reported by the party June 16.

The GOP has now reported the error to the Alabama secretary of state's office, Tim Howe, executive director of the party, said Thursday. ...

The amended returns keep Wood in first place with 130,277 votes, or 41 percent of the vote. Thomas is still in second place with 99,203 votes, or 31 percent. Circuit Judge William Shashy of Montgomery has 91,524 votes, or 29 percent. -- Republican typo gives candidate 30,000 extra votes

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AP reports: The State Board of Elections refused to affirm an 11-vote victory for a House Republican primary challenger, instead agreeing Wednesday to hold more hearings in Lenoir County next month to investigate possible voting irregularities.

The Lenoir County elections board in May ordered a new election in the race between Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir, and Willie Ray Starling. Starling edged LaRoque 913-902 in the May 2 primary in a district that covers Greene County and parts of Lenoir and Wayne counties.

After hearing nearly two hours of arguments, the state board voted 3-2 to reject a motion to certify Starling as the winner. Now the board will travel to Kinston Aug. 7-8 to hear more testimony before making a decision. Any new primary would have to be held before mid-September to give election officials enough time before the November general election.

A majority of board members said the evidence they heard leads them to question seriously whether the outcome can be trusted. -- Winston-Salem Journal | N.C. elections board plans more hearings in House primary dispute

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AP reports: Mexico's leading leftist presidential candidate asked the country's top electoral court late Sunday to order a ballot-by-ballot recount of last week's election, as his party turned over nine boxes of evidence of alleged fraud and dirty campaign practices.

The 900-page claim alleged that some polling places had more votes than registered voters, the ruling party funneled government money to conservative Felipe Calderon's campaign and exceeded spending limits, and a software program was used to skew initial vote-count reports. ...

Mexico's Federal Electoral Court will review the case, which includes videos, campaign propaganda and electoral documents. The court has until Sept. 6 to declare a winner.

The legal challenge came a day after Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, held a mammoth rally in Mexico City's historic center and called on his followers to help overturn Calderon's narrow victory. Lopez Obrador isn't seeking to annul the election, but to force authorities to conduct a manual recount of all 41 million ballots. -- Mexico Candidate Claiming Election Fraud

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AP reports: The party of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador demanded a ballot-by-ballot recount Tuesday in Mexico's closest-ever presidential race, claiming vote counts were manipulated and renewing fears of violent protests if the fiery politician does not get his way.

Lopez Obrador's demand for a full recount of all 41 million votes cast in Sunday's vote set up a possible marathon showdown that could go to Mexico's electoral courts, stirring memories of the bitter Florida recount in the 2000 U.S. presidential race. ...

At the close of voting Sunday, volunteers at tens of thousands of polling places counted the ballots in each box and attached a report, sending it to district headquarters. A preliminary count of those tallies gave Calderon of the ruling National Action Party a 400,000-vote advantage over Lopez Obrador.

But electoral officials said Tuesday about 3 million ballots were not part of that count due to problems including ballots that were set aside for being incorrectly marked or appearing invalid. Lopez Obrador initially said such ballots were "missing," but electoral officials said the ballots were in their control and would be examined -- and counted if valid. -- Sioux City Journal: Leftist Mexican presidential candidate demands vote-by-vote recount

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If you listen to the news bulletins on NPR, you will only hear about the top two candidates. Reuters reports the latest figures about 7 a.m. CDT: Here are the partial official results with 92,1 percent of votes counted in Mexico's fiercely contested presidential election on Sunday.

Rival candidates Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist former mayor of Mexico City, and Felipe Calderon of the conservative ruling party both claimed victory.

But the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, said the race was too close to call and a recount would be needed. Third-placed candidate Roberto Madrazo said the IFE should be left to declare the winner once the recount is finished.

CALDERON 36.63 pct

LOPEZ OBRADOR 35.53 pct

MADRAZO 21.12 pct
-- UPDATE 1-TABLE-Mexico presidential election returns | Reuters.com

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AP reports: Former Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Woodward and his attorney, Albert Jordan, were sentenced Tuesday to six months probation on their conviction on charges of conspiring to illegally run background checks on absentee voters in Woodward's contested 1998 race.

Woodward and Jordan, a prominent Republican lawyer, also were fined $500 each by U.S. District Judge Lacey A. Collier, a senior judge from Florida who presided over their January trial.

Woodward, 69, and Jordan, 49, were accused of conspiring to use a criminal database illegally to challenge the results of the 1998 sheriff's election between Woodward and Mike Hale. ...

Woodward and Jordan were accused of having staffers run criminal history checks on restricted federal and state databases to find felons who might have cast votes for Hale, Woodward's opponent in the 1998 election. -- al.com: NewsFlash - Former Jeffco sheriff, lawyer get probation in election case

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AP reports: A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit pursued by a voting rights group over Ohio's recount of the 2004 presidential election, leaving only one court challenge remaining from Ohio's role in the re-election of President Bush.

U.S. District Judge James Carr in Toledo threw out the suit argued by the National Voting Rights Institute on behalf of 2004 Green Party candidate David Cobb and Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik. The two combined received less than 0.5 percent of the vote.

The dismissal Tuesday, unless appealed, leaves only a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Ohio active from the 2004 presidential election.

The institute challenged the recount that showed President Bush beat Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry by about 118,000 votes out of 5.5 million cast. The original lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Toledo voter who cast a write-in vote for Cobb. -- The Cincinnati Post - Judge dismisses 2004 election lawsuit

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AP reports: The state's list of questionable votes has grown to 10 in the special election that gave Ophelia Ford a 13-vote victory for a seat in the Tennessee Senate.

Challenged returns from the Sept. 15 election have led to a federal court lawsuit and disrupted the Senate during a special session on ethics reform.

A judge who stopped Senate Republicans from voiding the election is expected to rule next week on a suit filed by Ford, a Democrat, and five other voters from Memphis Senate District 29.

Terry Roland, Ford's Republican opponent, contends that more than 160 ballots were cast by voters who may have been ineligible because of residency outside District 29, paperwork errors or prior criminal convictions. -- 10th questionable vote reported in election won by Ophelia Ford - Friday, 01/27/06

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AP reports: Two state representatives from New Orleans want a state judge to force Attorney General Charles Foti to turn over a Federal Emergency Management Agency list that shows where residents displaced by the hurricanes are living.

Reps. Charmaine Marchand and Cedric Richmond, Democrats who represent heavily damaged areas of New Orleans, said in their petition to a district court in Baton Rouge that they were seeking the list so they could contact their constituents.

The petition — filed Thursday by state Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, on behalf of the representatives — also says Foti refused to provide the list for "voting purposes." -- Nola.com: NewsFlash - State representatives ask judge for FEMA list

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The Demopolis Times reports: After finding that 162 votes in the 2004 Greensboro mayor's race were cast illegally, Hale County Circuit Judge William Shashy set aside the election Greensboro mayor J.B. Washington Monday, and declared challenger Vanessa Hill the rightful winner.

After throwing out 162 absentee ballots for a variety of reason - including forgery, lack of voter identification and absence of postmarks - Shashy declared Hill the winner of the long-disputed Sept. 14, 2004 election, 664-614. ...

Based on the report of Special Master James H. Anderson, who solicited testimony from handwriting and elections analysts in his examination of the case, Shashy threw out 148 Washington ballots and eight ballots cast for Hill

Of those thrown out, 18 Washington votes were declared forgeries. The Hill ballots were thrown out due to improper voter ID. -- ::The Demopolis Times::

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The Roanoke Times reports: There were no balloons, no cheering throng of supporters, and no televised victory speech when Republican Bob McDonnell became the winner of the election for attorney general on Wednesday.

But, after enduring a painstaking recount of the closest statewide election in Virginia history, McDonnell preferred finality to fanfare.

McDonnell became the official winner Wednesday night when a three-judge panel in Richmond Circuit Court certified his 360-vote victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds. The judges signed a court order certifying the outcome shortly after state election officials completed a methodical recount process. Deeds phoned McDonnell to congratulate him at 7:15 p.m., about an hour before the judges signed off on the results.

"It's been a long ride," McDonnell said as he waited for the judges to wrap up the process. "I'm glad it's over."

The recount affirmed a victory that McDonnell had first claimed on the day after the Nov. 8 election. Deeds petitioned for a recount after returns certified by the state Board of Elections showed McDonnell winning by 323 votes. More than 1.94 million Virginians cast ballots in the contest. In the end, McDonnell had 970,981 votes to Deeds' 970,621. -- Political stories from The Roanoke Times -Close race finally ends; McDonnell beats Deeds

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AP reports: As part of a statewide recount in Virginia's disputed attorney general election, a three-judge panel on Monday ordered a more rigorous, manual recount of ballots in nine precincts.

Optical scan ballots -- paper ballots read by machine -- will be examined by hand in those nine precincts because of apparent equipment problems, the Circuit Court panel ruled.

The recount begins Tuesday and is expected to be finished Wednesday. The manual count was ordered in eight precincts in Gloucester County and one in Lynchburg. -- Panel orders manual recount in Va. AG race - Boston.com

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The Detroit Free Press reports: Raising concerns of vote tampering, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers is investigating a small number of ballots in Detroit's election last month that appear to have been filled in by the same person.

On Monday, day five of its recount of the Nov. 8 election, the board examined eight ballots challenged by mayoral candidate Freman Hendrix. The ballots appeared to contain similar handwriting. About 15 ballots in the precinct could be affected, overall, observers and election officials said.

The ballots, cast in District 7, Precinct 72, on the city's east side, were filled out for write-in candidates in the mayoral, City Council, clerk and Board of Education races. One ballot was a write-in vote for the late Coleman Young for mayor. At least one other ballot was marked for Hendrix and several more for Kilpatrick. -- Handful of Detroit write-in ballots questioned

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AP reports: A recount in Virginia's attorney general's race, the closest statewide election in modern state history, will be conducted Dec. 20, a Circuit Court judge ruled Tuesday.

The State Board of Elections last week certified Republican Bob McDonnell as the winner by just 323 votes out of more than 1.9 million cast in the Nov. 8 election. His opponent, Democratic Sen. Creigh Deeds, requested a recount.

Virginia law allows for recounts if the vote margin falls within 1 percentage point, and recounts are done at government expense if the difference is less than one-half of a point. -- Judge Schedules Recount for Va. AG Race

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports: Republican Robert F. McDonnell won the closest-ever race for Virginia attorney general by 323 votes, but Democrat R. Creigh Deeds tomorrow will demand a court-supervised recount of the election.

The state Board of Elections this afternoon certified the results of the Nov. 8 election, with McDonnell getting 970,886 votes to 970,563 for Deeds. "I have full confidence that I won," McDonnell, a former state delegate from Virginia Beach, said in a telephone interview.

Larry Framme, a leader in Deeds' challenge to the results, said the Bath County Democrat will ask for a recount of the results in a court petition to be filed tomorrow morning. -- TimesDispatch.com | McDonnell win certified; recount likely

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The Lynchburg News & Advance reports: Susan Swecker can’t stop hitting the refresh button on the State Board of Elections Web site to see the latest returns.

The campaign manager for Democrat Creigh Deeds likes what she sees. In the ever-tightening race for attorney general, Deeds has been gaining on Republican Bob McDonnell.

As of Monday, the unofficial count showed only 322 votes separated the two candidates, down from 3,000.

“When things are this tight, anything can happen,� Swecker said.

The vote count on Election Night is never accurate, she said, in part because humans make mistakes. Most of the time, however, races are not close enough that people notice. -- Attorney general recount certain

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AP reports: Challenger Freman Hendrix on Tuesday announced he will ask for a hand recount of votes from the Detroit mayoral election, which he lost earlier this month to incumbent Kwame Kilpatrick.

"It may be tempting for some to dismiss this as a complaint from a sore loser," Hendrix said at a news conference. "But there has been enough evidence ... to raise legitimate questions about how the election was conducted and how the ballots were counted."

Arthur Blackwell II, the mayor's chief campaign strategist, said that with more than 14,500 votes separating the candidates, a recount likely won't change the outcome.

"This is sour grapes," Blackwell said. "This is not really in the city's best interests.

Hendrix announced his decision the same day the city's Board of Canvassers certified the Nov. 8 vote. Kilpatrick received 123,140 votes, or 53 percent, to 108,600 votes, or 47 percent, for Hendrix. -- Challenger to Seek Detroit Mayor Recount

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The unofficial results posted on the State Board of Elections website show a 352-vote margin:

R F McDonnell Republican 970,858 49.96%
R C Deeds Democratic 970,506 49.94%
Write Ins 1,799 0.09%
Total: 1,943,163
General Election- November 8, 2005

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WVEC.com reports: It's the closest race in Virginia political history.

According to the State Board of Elections, 446 votes separate the candidates for attorney general in the nearly two-million votes cast.

According to the unofficial count, Republican Bob McDonnell of Virginia Beach has 970,793 votes; Democrat Creigh Deeds has 970,347.

On his Web site, Deeds says that it's so close that a recount is inevitable and he's appointed a legal team to oversee it. -- WVEC.com | News for Hampton Roads, Virginia | WVEC.com News

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The Washington Post reports: In a conference room at the Fairfax County Government Center yesterday, election officials pored over long rolls of computer printouts listing votes from Tuesday's election. They examined paper ballots, too, and recalculated basic math.

Behind them, about a dozen Democratic and Republican loyalists witnessed the progress, paying particular attention to votes recorded for Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (Bath), the Democratic candidate for attorney general, and his GOP opponent, Del. Robert F. "Bob" McDonnell (Virginia Beach).

Two days after the election in Virginia, there was still no clear winner in the race to determine who will be the state's top lawyer--a contest that is the closest statewide race in memory -- and both sides are monitoring carefully as local election officials across the state check and double-check the tallies.

Last night, McDonnell was ahead by 947 votes out of more than 1.9 million. -- Still No New Attorney General

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AP reports: Iraq's electoral commission said Monday it intended to audit "unusually high" numbers in results coming from most provinces in the country's landmark referendum on the draft constitution. ...

The electoral commission's statement came as Sunni Arab lawmaker Meshaan al-Jubouri claimed fraud had occurred in Saturday's election -- including instances of voting in hotly contested regions by pro-constitution Shiites from other areas -- repeating earlier comments made by other Sunni officials over the weekend.

"Statements coming from most provinces indicating such high numbers ... require us to recheck, compare and audit them, as they are unusually high according to the international standards," the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said in a statement.

The commission said it would take random samples from some ballot boxes to check the results.

An official with knowledge of the election process said that in some areas the proportion of "yes" or "no" votes seemed unusual. The official cautioned that it was too early to say whether the unusual figures were actually incorrect or what caused the high or low numbers. -- Iraqi electoral commission to audit 'unusually high' numbers in referendum results - Boston.com

Thanks to TalkLeft for the link. MyDD has more details and analysis.

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The Charlotte Observer reports: June Atkinson, a Democrat, was sworn in as the superintendent of public instruction Tuesday after a 10-month court and political battle with Republican Bill Fletcher. ...

Settling the race required the legislature to act for the first time since 1835. The House and Senate met in a joint session and voted 93-21 in support of Atkinson. ...

Atkinson, an education administrator who taught for four years at Charlotte's Myers Park High School, was credited with the most votes in a close race last November.

But Fletcher argued thousands of those votes were cast illegally. Other votes were lost by faulty voting machines, he argued. The state, Fletcher said, should have held another election.

The Republican-led N.C. Supreme Court agreed with Fletcher that voters cast about 11,000 ballots in precincts other than their own and those votes were illegal.

The court ruling led to a conflict over the state constitution. The state House and Senate -- led by Democrats -- said courts have no place in deciding statewide races. The N.C. Constitution gives that power to the legislature, they said. -- Charlotte Observer | 08/24/2005 | Legislators elect superintendent

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The Miami Herald reports: U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts played a broader behind-the-scenes role for the Republican camp in the aftermath of the 2000 election than previously reported -- as legal consultant, lawsuit editor and prep coach for arguments before the nation's highest court, according to the man who drafted him for the job.

Ted Cruz, a domestic policy advisor for President Bush and who is now Texas' solicitor general, said Roberts was one of the first names he thought of while he and another attorney drafted the Republican legal dream team of litigation ''lions'' and ''800-pound gorillas,'' which ultimately consisted of 400 attorneys in Florida.

Until now, Gov. Jeb Bush and others involved in the election dispute could recall almost nothing of Roberts' role, except for a half-hour meeting the governor had with Roberts. Cruz said Roberts was in Tallahassee helping the Bush camp for ''a week to 10 days,'' and that his help was important, though Cruz said it is difficult to remember specifics five years after the sleep-depriving frenetic pace of the 2000 recount. -- Herald.com | 07/27/2005 | Roberts had larger 2000 recount role

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Missoulian.com reports: In a court order issued late Friday, District Judge Kim Christopher of Polson said former House candidate Rick Jore must pay $15,663 in legal fees to his opponent's lawyer but suggested the state pick up the tab for the contested election.

Jore lost his race for HD12 last November in an election decided by the Montana Supreme Court. The litigation was initiated by his opponent, Democrat Jeanne Windham, yet state law requires that losing candidates pay the legal fees of an opponent, even if the candidate took no part in the litigation.

At the end of her order awarding all fees that Helena lawyer Mike Meloy sought, Christopher urged the state of Montana to reimburse both candidates for their legal expenses in the litigation. -- Missoulian: Judge recommends state pay in HD12 lawsuit

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The News Tribune reports: Republican Dino Rossi is abandoning his quest to overturn Gov. Christine Gregoire's victory last fall.

The former state lawmaker from Bellevue said he won't appeal today's decision by Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges.

"...With today's decision, and because of the political makeup of the Washington State SUpreme Court, which makes it almost impossible to overturn this ruling, I'm ending the election contest," Rossi said. -- Rossi won't appeal judge's decision | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA

If you want the real reason that Rossi decided not to appeal, don't look to the composition of the Supreme Court of Washington, but to the explanation on Rick Hasen's Election Law blog.

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The News Tribune reports: A Wenatchee judge today rejected the GOP's legal challenge to Gov. Christine Gregoire's election.

While Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges agreed that the number of "illegal and improper" votes far exceeded Gregoire's 129-vote victory over Republican Dino Rossi, he said that alone was not enough to overturn the election under the law.

Rossi and the Republican Party had to show that those illegal votes went specifically to Gregoire, Bridges said.

Based on the evidence submitted during the nine-day trial in Wenatchee, the judge concluded there were 1,678 illegal or improper ballots cast in the November 2004 election, but no evidence that those people voted in the governor's race. -- Judge dismisses GOP's election challenge | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA

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The Seattle Times reports: Much of the tenor of the governor's election trial was set just a few minutes into Republican attorney Dale Foreman's opening statement.

Foreman outlined now well-known complaints about King County's record-keeping. But he said evidence collected for the trial showed something "even more sinister."

"This is not just a case of sloppy election officials. This is a case of election fraud."

It hadn't been until then. The Republican gambit to prove someone stuffed ballots and stole ballots was the one new theme of the case as the trial opened in Chelan County Superior Court.

The charge, delivered with its colorful language, also colored the Democrats' case in defense of the election. Democrats used the Republicans' own phraseology over and over, trying to portray as ridiculous the notion that administrative errors could be sinister or "exceedingly suspicious." -- The Seattle Times: Politics: Judge left to mull vote-fraud claim

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Anne Martens writes on the Blue Oregon website: I'm fascinated by the Washington Governor's trial (Borders v. King County), and enthralled by the evidence being offered. This is far better drama than any pedophilic pop star, and, more importantly, it's another step in the transfer of power over elections from the people to the bench.

Essentially, the Democrats are arguing that there is no such thing as a perfect election, mistakes will always and everywhere happen, but don't topple the mechanics of democracy over a few inadvertent mishaps. The Republicans have had to scuttle their "mistakes equal fraud" argument (the judge just wasn't buying that given the absence of any malicious intent) and are now arguing that "mistakes (at least the ones that favor Gregoire) are really, really bad and something ought to be done about it."

Of course both sides are right, and while nobody paid any attention to these issues until 2000, they now lead to what may be a landmark lawsuit. The mistakes were these: some felons voted, some dead people voted, some people voted but didn't sign the poll book, some ballots were misplaced, and some provisional ballots were counted when they shouldn't have been. The standard is whether these mistakes changed the outcome of the election.

For all you evidence-heads (is there such a thing?), remember good old rule 702, Frye and the two-part test, Daubert and the four-part test, and the purpose of those tests being to keep crap out of the courtroom? No? Well, nevermind, doesn't matter. As quoted by the Seattle Times, Judge Bridges said, "I can imagine how frustrated counsel has been with the court because you don't know me and you come to this court and I start making rulings which I'm sure some of you think are just not supported by any rules of evidence you've ever read." ...

Forget one-person-one-vote and majority rules, here the judges' evaluation of the admissibility of scientific evidence will determine the outcome. So if all the statistical assumptions get junked, what do we have? Governor Gregoire, a potential consolation prize of Cantwell's seat for Rossi, loss of public confidence in elections, a growing body of scholarly research on elections statistics, scrutiny and revision of the conduct of elections, and the assurance of future lawsuits. And if the court decides that statistics account for votes, what do we have? A rematch, new standards for evidence, loss of public confidence in elections, a growing body of scholarly research on elections statistics, scrutiny and revision of the conduct of elections, and the assurance of future lawsuits. -- BlueOregon: Defensive Democracy

Thanks to Peter Nordberg and his great Blog 702 for the link.

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AP reports: The judge in Washington's election challenge trial will issue his ruling Monday, Seattle television stations are reporting. The ruling will be carried live by TVW and at www.tvw.org.

Democrats asked the judge today to exclude the testimony of a Republican witness who described voting discrepancies in the 2004 gubernatorial election narrowly won by Democrat Christine Gregoire.

GOP data analyst Clark Bensen testified last week that the King County precincts with the largest discrepancies between ballots counted and people credited with voting followed a pattern: The five precincts with more votes than voters credited tended to favor Gregoire, and the six precincts with fewer votes than voters credited tended to favor Republican candidate Dino Rossi.

Republicans challenging Gregoire's 129-vote victory have focused on election errors in the Democratic stronghold of King County, the state's most populous county. They have pointed to the fact that King County counted 875 more votes than the number of people credited with voting. -- Top Stories - The Olympian - Olympia, Washington

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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports: The state elections director is biased against the Republicans in their legal challenge to the 2004 governor's election, a GOP lawyer suggested strongly in court today.

While cross-examining elections director Nick Handy, lawyer Dale Foreman cited a letter Handy wrote in January to lawyers for the secretary of state's office, where Handy works.

That letter, Handy testified, was designed to communicate his conclusion that Republican claims regarding how many voters cast ballots were baseless. The GOP has said discrepancies between the number of ballots counted and the number of voters credited with voting could indicate fraud.

"If we can successfully demonstrate that this is an unfounded claim, I would hope that this would severely undermine the confidence of the court in the other R claims," Handy wrote.

On the stand, Handy said there are some claims that have been pursued by the Republicans that "I do not believe are valid claims ... I thought this was really undermining the trust and confidence of the average voter in the election system in a way that was not fair or accurate." -- State elections director biased, GOP suggests

Note: The quote in the title is my interpretation of what Director Handy meant, but did not say.

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The Seattle Times reports: Judge John Bridges rejected the Democrats' call yesterday to dismiss the governor's election lawsuit at the halfway point of the first Washington trial to overturn a statewide election.

Bridges said it would be a disservice to Republicans if he stopped the case. He said both sides deserve "a full and complete analysis, not only of the court's finding of facts but as to the court's conclusions of law."

The trial will determine whether Democrat Christine Gregoire or Republican Dino Rossi truly won the November election. But Bridges said it is about issues bigger than the candidates or the political parties. ...

Through five days of trial, Bridges has shown himself to be skeptical of key pieces of the Republican case. And while at each step he has allowed disputed evidence to be entered and witnesses to appear, Republicans yesterday tried shifting the legal basis for their lawsuit and saying they want Bridges to reverse himself on a key decision about burden of proof.

Republicans say it should be enough to show the election count was flawed to the point that the true winner of the governor's race is unknown. Bridges disagrees, saying Republicans need enough evidence to show that Rossi is the true winner — which is the decision he made at a pretrial hearing and then repeated in a clarification from the bench at a hearing May 2. -- The Seattle Times: Politics: Judge won't dismiss lawsuit

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AP reports: The mail ballot supervisor in Washington state's most populous county testified Wednesday that she had raised concerns about the county's inability to track ballots months before last year's disputed governor's race.
Click Here

The supervisor, Nicole Way, said she repeatedly told her bosses as early as spring 2004 that the King County elections department couldn't tell how many ballots were being mailed out or received back. About two-thirds of the county's 900,000 votes in the November election were mail ballots.

She testified on the third day of a trial in the GOP's challenge to the governor's race, which Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, won by 129 votes on the third count.

The Republicans are trying to prove election errors and fraud stole the victory from Dino Rossi. They want Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges to nullify Gregoire's victory, prompting a new election.

Under questioning by GOP attorney Harry Korrell, Way said she and other workers tried to create a computer spreadsheet to track ballots they were mailing out, but eventually gave up. -- Top Stories - The Olympian - Olympia, Washington

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The Spokane Spokesman-Review reports: Washington Republicans began painting a picture this morning of two different ways the 2004 election was run.

One way was the efficient and well-managed approach in Chelan County, personified by its Auditor Evelyn Arnold. Here in Chelan County, she said, every absentee ballot is counted by hand, and a single lost ballot can be missed in the accounting system and found by a search.

The other way is the system in King County, which lawyers for the GOP have previously described as rife with “bungling bureaucrats.” Those lawyers are attempting to personify that system by Elections Superintendent Bill Huennekens, who was asked a series of questions about ballot problems ranging from felons who voted and tallies that don’t match. ...

But under cross-examination from Jenny Durkan, an attorney for the state Democratic Party, Arnold said that while her computer system was similar to King County’s, the scale is far different. It has slightly more than 29,000 ballots, mostly voted by mail, and only seven poll sites. King County has more than 646,000 voters, and more than 500 poll sites.

The more poll sites a county has, the more potential for problems, Arnold agreed.

Even in a small county like Chelan, elections officials weren’t aware that some felons had registered to vote even though they did not have their rights restored, she added. -- GOP: Elections rife with 'bungling bureaucrats'

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AP reports: Ending one of the last fights from the contentious 2004 presidential campaign, Ohio's top judge on Thursday declined to punish four attorneys who had challenged the results in court.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer ruled against Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's attempt to have the lawyers sanctioned for filing "a meritless claim" against the vote that gave President Bush a win in Ohio and, as a result, enough electoral votes to win a second term in the White House.

In legal documents filed with the state Supreme Court, the lawyers had said the challenge they filed on behalf of 37 voters included enough evidence of voting irregularities to back up their allegations of widespread fraud. Neither Democratic Sen. John Kerry's campaign nor his party were part of the challenge, which was later withdrawn.

Petro, a Republican, asked for sanctions against lawyers Cliff Arnebeck, Robert Fitrakis, Susan Truitt and Peter Peckarsky. If the court had sanctioned the lawyers, they could have been forced to repay attorney's fees and court costs.

Moyer, acting under the court's power to assign election-related complaints to a single justice, said that while the court has the authority to sanction attorneys, the speed with which elections must be challenged allows the court some leeway. -- newsobserver.com | Nation

Thanks to the Jurist news service for the link.

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AP reports: King County's absentee-ballot supervisor has testified that she collaborated with her boss when she filled out a report that falsely showed all ballots were accounted for in the November election, The Seattle Times reported Thursday.

Nicole Way is the first employee to link an upper-level manager with a practice that failed to meet state ballot-auditing regulations. In a deposition Friday, she said she and assistant elections superintendent Garth Fell agreed to the misleading report because officials didn't know how many absentee ballots were returned by voters.

By law, counties must reconcile the number of absentee ballots returned by voters with the number of ballots accepted or rejected. Way's report showed perfect reconciliation because it simply added the number accepted and rejected to calculate ballots returned.

Dozens of absentee ballots were misplaced and the votes not tabulated during the November election. The ballots were never counted as accepted or rejected. -- OregonLive.com: NewsFlash - Election manager testifies boss agreed to false absentee count

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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports: Beating the drum in advance of the governor's election trial next week, Republicans yesterday outlined new claims that King County tallied more ballots than there were voters voting in the 2004 election.

"The discrepancy is enough on its face to throw out the election," said Chris Vance, the state GOP chairman.

The Republicans hope Judge John Bridges will do just that in the trial, set to start Monday in Wenatchee. Republican Dino Rossi is suing to set aside his defeat by Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire in an election decided by 129 votes after two recounts of more than 2.8 million ballots cast.

But in pretrial rulings, Bridges has made it clear that it won't be enough for Rossi to show that the number of ballot errors exceeded Gregoire's margin.

Citing state laws and previous court cases, Bridges has said the GOP must show that Gregoire owes her victory to illegal votes. The only exception to that requirement would be if fraud occurred -- and in a hearing May 3, Bridges said the Republicans "have never alleged, to the court's knowledge, or even alluded to fraud or voter intimidation." -- GOP adds 875 to suspect vote list

Thanks to Taegan Goddard's Political Wire for the link.

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The Journal Times Online reports: You can win but that doesn't mean you get the prize.

Keith Fair won the election for 1st District alderman April 5, but when the new Racine City Council is seated on Tuesday, it seems no chair will be pulled out for the alderman-elect.

It's because Alderman Jeff Coe, who lost the race 185-182, is challenging Fair's win in court. Under state law, Coe's challenge and any subsequent appeals can keep Fair from taking his seat for weeks.

Coe's attorney, John Bjelajac, said he'll file papers to challenge the election in Racine County Circuit Court by Tuesday.

Bjelajac said he will argue in court that 14 homeless people should not have voted in the 1st District in the election. He said he does not want to take away the right of the homeless to vote. Rather, he wonders if 14 homeless people who really don't live in the 1st District should be voting in a local election.

If the 14 votes are discounted, it could make a difference. The election was decided by three votes.

Where do the homeless live? The question, for Bjelajac, comes down to residency. The shelter at St. Paul Baptist Church, 1120 Grand Ave., is one of several sites that accept the homeless as part of the Racine-area REST program. The program has the homeless rotating among the sites, one for each day of the week. -- The Journal Times Online

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The Huntsville Times reports: After about 45 minutes of arguments, Circuit Judge Tim Jolley said Thursday he expects to rule by Tuesday in a challenge to his March 31 order overturning the outcome of the Guntersville mayor's race last summer. ...

Beard and defense attorney P.J. Harris argued that four thrown-out votes for Townson should be counted. One of them was cast by an elderly man who had testified he had leukemia and was at a hospital for tests on election day. ...

Jolley said state law does not allow medical tests as a reason for voting absentee but suggested that the man could have used being out of the county on election day as his reason for voting absentee. ...

A second thrown-out vote for Townson involved a man who used a document from Marshall Medical Center North as identification. Jolley ruled March 31 that did not constitute a governmental document and did not meet the 2003 voter identification law guidelines. Beard maintained Thursday the document is valid for voter ID.

Harris asked the judge to reconsider his decision not to count an absentee vote that was not properly numbered by voting officials.

A fourth ballot cited by Harris used a July 2004 natural gas bill as proof of identification and residency for an absentee ballot. He said that vote should have been counted because voters who used electric bills as identification were allowed to do so. -- Judge hears vote appeals

Disclosure: I wrotes some of the briefs filed on behalf of Mayor Townson.

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The Huntsville Times reports: James Townson won his fourth term as mayor of Guntersville by one vote Aug. 24, but a Marshall County judge Friday threw out 27 votes in the election, making car dealer Bob Hembree Jr. the winner - by one vote.

Circuit Judge Tim Jolley granted a motion from Townson's attorneys to delay the order from taking effect so he can hear their arguments asking him to reconsider his ruling. That hearing is set for Thursday in Guntersville.

The election was contested by Guntersville voters Joy Alves Cranford and Locresia Stonicher.

Jolley ruled that 14 illegal votes were cast for Townson and 13 illegal votes for Hembree. One uncounted challenged vote should have gone to Hembree, the judge said, making Hembree the winner by a vote of 1,229 to 1,228. -- Hembree wins Guntersville's race by 1 vote

Disclosure: I am involved in this case as counsel for Mayor Townson.

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The Brattleboro Reformer reports: This is not Florida. This is not the fall of 2000. And the presidency of the United States is not at stake.

But the concept is the same: a portion of the electorate misread its ballots here, and in doing so swayed the outcome of an election.

At Saturday's School District Meeting in Chesterfield, incumbent school board member Barbara Girs defeated write-in challenger Carol Pelczarski by a count of 111 to 103 to retain her two-year seat.

Pelczarski, who missed an earlier deadline to get her name on the ballot, had been actively campaigning for the two-year seat. Leading up to Saturday, she was sending out literature that specifically encouraged residents to vote for her as a write-in candidate against Girs.

Pelczarski efforts not only brought her eight votes shy of a victory, but also helped her garner nine write-in votes for a three-year term on the School Board.

Had those nine votes been transferred to Pelczarski's column for the two-year term, she would have beaten Girs by one vote. -- Brattleboro Reformer - City & Town

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The Free Press reports: A spokesman for the Green Party's 2004 presidential campaign, which initiated the Ohio recount, today blasted the suggestion by Ohio's Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell that he would need to take depositions from John Kerry and John Edwards as part of the Ohio recount litigation.

"Mr. Blackwell's contention that he needs to depose Senators Kerry and Edwards is a laughable and blatantly political move. Mr. Blackwell has refused to be deposed himself about the Ohio election, has refused to appear before Congress and has refused to answer questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee who have been investigating allegations of election fraud. To suggest that Kerry and Edwards should be deposed to address a legal technicality while Mr. Blackwell continues to avoid any public scrutiny of his own misconduct in the Ohio election is the height of hypocrisy," said Blair Bobier, Media Director for the 2004 Cobb-LaMarche campaign.

The report by the House Judiciary Committee's Democratic staff on the Ohio election and recount 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." -- The Free Press -- Independent News Media - Election 2004

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The Spokesman-Review reports: Jon Anson was just "trying to do the right thing" when he cast a ballot in November. Now he finds himself falsely accused by the state Republican Party of voting illegally.

He didn't, and he has the documentation to prove it.

Anson, a Spokane resident, is on a list of names the state GOP released late Thursday of more than 1,100 felons the political party claims shouldn't have voted because they haven't had their voting rights restored. The list is alphabetized by county, so Anson is on the top of the list for Spokane, and on Friday, reporters started showing up at his door on the lower South Hill, questioning him about voting. ...

The list is the latest twist in the ongoing challenge of Democrat Christine Gregoire's election as governor. After she finished the hand recount just 129 votes ahead of Republican Dino Rossi, the GOP challenged the election results. Since shortly after the challenge was filed, Republicans have contended that dozens, then hundreds, and now more than 1,100 felons voted illegally, more than enough to call Gregoire's margin of victory into question and prompt a new election.

On Thursday, party officials said there were likely "hundreds if not thousands of other felons who cast illegal ballots in November." But they released to the state Democratic Party and the news media the 1,135 names "of which we are most certain." -- SR.com: Some voters surprised to be on list of felons

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The Huntsville Times reports: Guntersville election officials accepted hospital bills and credit card documents as proper identification for voting absentee during the 2004 Guntersville mayor's race, according to testimony Tuesday.

Plaintiffs say many illegal absentee ballots were counted in the Aug. 24 election in which Mayor James Townson defeated Bob Hembree Jr., by one vote, 1,242 to 1,241. Testimony was to continue today at 9 a.m.

During eight hours of testimony Tuesday, Guntersville City Clerk Betty Jones identified the absentee voting documents of 60 or more residents and answered questions about counting ballots.

Townson lost at the polling place at the Guntersville Recreation Center, 1,206 to 1,124, but won his fourth term by taking the absentee ballot count, 118 to 35.

Hembree, who conceded the election to Townson after a recount, told the Guntersville Rotary Club last week he doesn't support the court fight but will serve if Jolley decides he should have won. But he said if Townson wins the trial, he wouldn't accept the post even if the plaintiffs win on appeal. -- Guntersville clerk testifies about absentee votes at trial

Some folks in Guntersville hired me last week to file an amicus brief in this case. I've been working on it pretty heavily the last few days and filed it just before the trial started. You can download my brief here.

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AP reports: Dino Rossi was almost ready to throw in the towel, the Republican candidate for governor told reporters at a Monday news conference.

If a judge had ruled last Friday that Rossi's legal challenge to Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire's election had to go through the Legislature and not the courts, Rossi said he might have given up.

But the judge ruled the Republican's case could proceed. On Monday, Rossi said he hopes his election challenge will go to trial within a month. ...

Democrats said the Republican's election challenge probably will take longer than that, quoting a December letter from Rossi saying an election challenge could stretch for months and would cause the state to suffer through a long process. -- Rossi hopes for speed in vote challenge - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA

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The New York Times reports: The longest-running State Senate race since shortly before the Great Depression ended Tuesday with Nicholas A. Spano, the Republican incumbent, finally prevailing in his bid for re-election, winning by a mere 18 votes after more than 114,000 ballots were counted.

Mr. Spano, the assistant majority leader of the Senate and a Yonkers native, beat back a spirited challenge from Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat and a five-term county legislator, to win a 10th term. ...

After months of legal wrangling in three different courts over hundreds of contested ballots, the race came down to 249 absentee and provisional ballots. They were opened in the morning in a packed but hushed conference room at the Westchester County Board of Elections. The election results were certified in the afternoon, and Mr. Spano, 51, was scheduled to be sworn in Wednesday morning in Albany, 35 days after the legislative session began. The final tally of votes was 57,073 to 57,055. -- The New York Times > New York Region > In State Senate Marathon, Incumbent Wins

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AP reports: Dealing a blow to Republicans seeking a revote for Washington governor, a Chelan County Superior Court judge ruled Friday that even if Republicans win their election challenge he can't order a new election.

"The court doesn't have that authority," Judge John E. Bridges told a rapt courtroom in this Eastern Washington city.

Aside from the revote ruling, it was a day of setbacks for the Democrats as Bridges denied their motions to dismiss the challenge or move it to the Legislature. ...

Though the judge dashed their hopes of a spring revote, Republicans said the courts still could nullify the election, forcing Gregoire to vacate the office until a new general election in November. -- The Daily News Online

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AP reports: In a victory for the Democratic challenger, the state's highest court on Wednesday declared that 228 more votes must be counted in the disputed state Senate race in Westchester County that is already the most delayed state legislative election in New York's history.

In a 5-2 decision, the Court of Appeals ordered the standoff to continue between incumbent Republican Nicholas Spano and Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins as the votes are counted. The court overruled the midlevel Appellate Division that said just 45 disputed votes needed to be counted. That would have given Spano the win, because at last count he had a 58-vote lead. ...

The court ordered that these handwritten ballots be opened and counted:

# 163 from voters who went to the right polling place but were directed to the wrong election district desk.

# 20 found in envelopes that did not identify the election district.

# 45 cast by poll workers who used absentee ballots instead of "special ballots" specified in state law. -- State's high court orders recount of 228 votes in race - ithacajournal.com

Thanks to Jeff Wice for the tip.

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The San diego Union-Tribune reports: A judge upheld the disputed re-election of Mayor Dick Murphy yesterday, sweeping aside two challenges that sought to overturn the results because more than 5,500 ballots were not counted.

The speedy ruling by Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner capped a three-day trial in which supporters of Councilwoman Donna Frye, a write-in candidate, argued that the election was tainted because of erroneous and unfair vote-counting procedures by the county registrar of voters.

But in a ruling delivered minutes after closing arguments, Brenner calmly demolished each argument raised by the challengers.

The case centered on 5,551 write-in ballots for Frye. They were not included in her count because voters failed to shade in a small oval bubble next to the write-in slot. State law -- Elections Code Section 15342(a) -- requires that the bubble be shaded in for a write-in vote to count. -- SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- Re-election of Murphy will stand, judge rules

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The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: Two formal challenges to Mayor Dick Murphy's victory in the 2004 San Diego election got under way yesterday as lawyers pressed their arguments that thousands of ballots that could tip the race were wrongly excluded.

The lawyers for two sets of voters contesting Murphy's re-election argued that county election officials were in error and unfair when they relied on a state law to exclude thousands of votes for Councilwoman Donna Frye.

The first day of the trial also featured testimony from Registrar of Voters Sally McPherson, who was questioned about how and why her office published certain election materials and how some votes were counted and others not.

The trial centers on 5,551 uncounted ballots cast in the Nov. 2 election. The ballots have Frye's name as a write-in candidate for mayor, but do not have a small oval-shaped bubble next to her name shaded in. Four more votes for Frye were found in a review of ballots by attorneys in the case on Friday. -- SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Politics -- Registrar questioned on vote-counting

The sidebar on this story contains links to several video clips. The first has part of Fred Woocher's opening argument in which he compares an uncounted ballot with Donna Frye's name written in, the other candidates marked out, but no mark in the bubble and an absentee ballot instruction booklet sent in by a voter, and which was counted a vote for Murphy.

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The San Antonio Express-News reports: Illegal votes helped a newly elected Democratic lawmaker narrowly beat longtime Republican Rep. Talmadge Heflin, the defeated candidate's lawyer said Thursday.

Rep. Hubert Vo of Houston won the November election by 33 votes.

But Heflin's attorney, Andy Taylor, said voters either cast ballots twice, cast a ballot in the wrong voting precinct or weren't residents of the district. Some weren't U.S. citizens and a couple of ballots submitted by mail were accepted or rejected for invalid reasons, he said. ...

Some 253 voters cast ballots illegally, Taylor said, and he got sworn statements from 129 of them. Of those, 86 said they voted for Vo and 43 for Heflin, which gave Vo a net advantage of 43 illegal votes, Taylor said.

Since Vo won the election by 33 votes, Heflin actually led by 10 votes, Taylor said. -- MySA.com: Metro | State

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AP reports: The state's Republicans, still pressing their court challenge to the disputed governor's election, have filed a separate challenge with the state Legislature.

"We did this to cover all our bases," said Mary Lane, a spokeswoman for Dino Rossi, the Republican who narrowly won the original vote count and a mandatory recount. In a hand recount, he lost to Democrat Christine Gregoire by 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast. ...

Republicans have filed a legal challenge against the hand recount in Chelan County Superior Court, saying mistakes were made and calling for another statewide vote. That same challenge was filed with the Legislature Friday evening, "as an insurance policy," Lane said Saturday.

The challenge, however, goes to the Democrat-controlled Legislature, which certified the election Jan. 11 despite a GOP request for a two-week delay. -- SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Nation -- Republicans file challenge in governor's race with state Legislature

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AP reports: Allegations of dead voters and election fraud elicit gasps from outraged voters and pundits, but they won't really matter in the legal challenge to the Washington governor's election.

As legal arguments unfolded in court last week, it became clear the case will turn instead on a close reading of the state constitution. Who has jurisdiction over election challenges - the courts or the Legislature? What is an "illegal vote"? What kind of proof does the constitution require to nullify an election?

These questions lack the sexy sparkle of voting felons, true, but the answers will determine whether Gov. Christine Gregoire stays in office. -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Constitutional issues, not dead voters, key in election challenge

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AP reports: A judge refused to speed up the Republican challenge to the bitterly disputed Washington governor's election, handing a small victory to Democrats on Thursday.

Chelan County Superior Court Judge John E. Bridges ruled that the case will go forward but not on the expedited schedule proposed by Republicans. ...

But, the judge also denied a request by Democrats to delay discovery -- the gathering of evidence -- until the court considers the underlying constitutional issues in the dispute. ...

Bridges will hear motions by the Democrats and county officials to dismiss the case Feb. 4. -- GOP Loses Request in Governor Dispute (washingtonpost.com)

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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports: Comparing voter lists with the state's criminal history database, as Republicans are doing in their attempt to nullify the gubernatorial election, infringes on voter privacy and could have a "chilling" effect on voter turnout, Democrats said yesterday.

"Exercising the right to vote should never be an activity that triggers a criminal investigation," said Jenny Durkan, a lawyer for Washington State Democrats.

That's nonsense, Republicans said. They say they're simply using information already available to determine the extent to which felons illegally cast ballots in the election, which Democrat Christine Gregoire won by 129 votes in a hand recount of nearly 2.9 million votes.

This week, lawyers for the state GOP and candidate Dino Rossi, who narrowly won the original count and the manual machine recount, subpoenaed a list of all felony convictions on the Washington State Patrol's Criminal History Records Information Database, a comprehensive criminal history of 1.2 million people. -- GOP's request for criminal list raises concern

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AP reports: Christine Gregoire, winner of the closest governor's race in Washington history, was inaugurated Wednesday, but faces an immediate court challenge that could make it a short-lived honor. ...

She announced creation of a select commission on election reform, to be headed by Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed and the former Senate Democratic floor leader, Betti Sheldon of Bremerton.

"Clearly the election recount ordeal of the last two months has challenged us, and among our challenges this session is election reform," she said. "We want every vote to count - and to be counted right the first time." ...

Republicans say widespread irregularities, including votes cast by felons and dead people, spoiled the election to the point where it's impossible to truly know who won.

Invoking a rarely used law that allows an election "contest," Republicans have asked the courts to set aside the election and order a redo. Chelan County Superior Court Judge T.W. Small was hearing a motion Wednesday on the Democrats' attempt to intervene in the Republicans' lawsuit, and has scheduled more proceedings on Friday. -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Gregoire sworn in as Washington governor; court battle looms

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AP reports: One voter didn't see any signs of fraud on Election Day but was suspicious of the results. Another was surprised by long lines in her suburban city, where voting was always quick in the past.

Others were angered by having to wait hours to vote in black neighborhoods. Some left in frustration without casting their ballots.

In all, 37 voters in this swing state are challenging President Bush's Nov. 2 victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry. They want Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer to set aside the election results.

Bush's re-election campaign responded Monday with its own court filing, saying the challenge resembled "a poorly drafted script for a late night conspiracy-theory movie." -- Judge Asked to Trash Ohio Vote Challenge

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AP reports: Counties have refused to reopen the vote count in Washington's ultra-close governor's race, and Republican Dino Rossi was reportedly under pressure to carry a last-ditch fight into the courts.

The three vote counts in America's closest governor's race are over, and on Thursday morning, Secretary of State Sam Reed is prepared to certify Democrat Christine Gregoire as the victor by 129 votes, state elections chief Nick Handy said Tuesday.

Reed has warned against counties reopening their tallies.

Rossi trails Gregoire, the state attorney general, by a tiny fraction of 1 percent, and the state GOP wanted counties to take another look at ballots that the party contends may have been improperly counted or left out. The party also is doing the groundwork for a possible court challenge. -- Tri-City Herald: Governor recount

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The Billings Gazette reports: The Montana Supreme Court ruled 6-1 Tuesday that Constitution Party member Rick Jore did not win the race for Lake County legislator.

The decision gives victory to Democrat Jeanne Windham and puts the Democrats in the majority of the state House of Representatives. ...

The Lake County dispute settled on seven ballots cast in the race. The ballots appeared to have been marked for both Jore and his Republican opponent in the three-way race. Lake County elections officials counted the ballots for Jore.

Anita Big Spring, a Lake County voter, sued, arguing that the judges could not tell which candidate the voters intended to vote for and that the ballots should be discarded. -- Supreme court reverses Lake County election ruling: Democrats take House - billingsgazette.com

Thanks to Richard Winger for pointing me to the story.

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AP reports: Republicans, considering whether to challenge Democrat Christine Gregoire's razor-thin victory for governor, today demanded a list of the 900,000 who cast ballots in vote-rich, problem-plagued King County.

Republican state Chairman Chris Vance said the party and other backers of GOP candidate Dino Rossi have nagging questions about the vote count in the county that tipped the race to Gregoire by a scant 130 votes last week.

"We want to know who voted in the election, and it's hard to know where we go from here (with a possible court challenge) before we get some answers," Vance said in an interview.

"We're mostly posing questions. King County is where we saw the votes changing. King County is the one county that was allowed to take ballots that were declared dead in November and bring them back to life in December." -- The Seattle Times: Local News: Republicans demand King County voter list

I feel your pain, says a Democrat who is still trying to get answers from Ohio.

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AP reports: After a bruising election and two recounts, Democrat Christine Gregoire emerged as the winner by a 130-vote margin in Washington state's astonishingly close governor's race.

But Republican Dino Rossi and his supporters say the election is not over yet. He won the first count by 261 votes out of 2.9 million ballots cast, then watched his lead shrink to 42 after a machine recount.

Gregoire's lead in the statewide hand recount widened from 10 to 130 on Thursday after a state Supreme Court decision allowed King County to reconsider 732 mistakenly rejected ballots. King County, home of Seattle and a Democratic stronghold, was the last county to report final recount results on Thursday. -- kingcountyjournal.com - Gregoire wins recount - -- - but ballot battle far from over

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Reuters.com reports: Nearly two months after votes were cast, Puerto Rico's election authorities announced a winner, Anibal Acevedo Vila, on Thursday after a recount and disputes over the validity of thousands of votes.

The State Elections Committee of Puerto Rico announced Acevedo Vila, candidate for the Popular Democratic Party, as winner of the Nov. 2 election. Acevedo Vila favors the status quo for the U.S. Caribbean territory's relations with the United States.

A mandatory recount after the vote dragged on for weeks amid legal disputes over mixed-vote ballots in the island of 4 million people. The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Wednesday denied a petition by the losing New Progressive Party and its candidate, former two-term governor Pedro Rossello, for a rehearing over the case.

Several thousand double-split ballots featuring a mark under a party insignia and marks for governor and resident commissioner -- the territory's nonvoting representative in the U.S. Congress -- from another party had been separated from the recount after Rossello filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court of San Juan. -- Politics News Article | Reuters.com

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The Olympian reports: Democrat Christine Gregoire opened a 10-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Dino Rossi in Washington's incredibly close governor's race.

The closest statewide race in Washington history is far from over, even as the statewide hand recount of ballots wraps up today with the addition of up to 735 previously rejected absentee votes in Gregoire-friendly King County.

The uncertainty is because of several factors.

Republicans say they plan to get "hundreds" of rejected Rossi votes around the state counted by local county canvassing boards before Secretary of State Sam Reed certifies election results.

And then the GOP might go to court or take other steps to contest a Gregoire victory in the Legislature, if needed. -- Top Stories -The Olympian

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The Boston Herald reports: In a last-ditch effort, the pro-statehood candidate for governor of Puerto Rico is asking a federal appeals court in Boston to reverse its week-old decision on disputed ballots that essentially handed the razor-thin election to his opponent.

In a petition filed yesterday, lawyers for Pedro Rossello called the ruling by a three-member panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ``patently erroneous'' and asked the full, six-member court to hear the case or compel the panel to reconsider its decision. -- BostonHerald.com - Local/ Regional News: Puerto Rican candidate petitions court

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The Olympian reports: State Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt declared late Tuesday that Democrat Christine Gregoire had won the Washington governor's race by eight votes in a hand recount, in what would be a major reversal of two previous counts favoring Republican Dino Rossi.

"This isn't an official return. King County has not sent out this number," Berendt said in an evening telephone interview. "But we are confident that she was elected governor based on data disks released by the King County elections department to the state Democratic and Republican parties -- and the final action of the King County canvassing board on a handful of ballots that were reviewed and counted today."

King County elections staff members said early Tuesday evening that they could not confirm rumors about the latest hand recount results in King County. The agency plans to release its final numbers today at 3:30 p.m., spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said. ...

Even if Berendt is correct, a Supreme Court ruling on an additional 730 King County ballots still could affect the outcome. But Berendt said he thinks those mistakenly rejected ballots also will favor Gregoire.

At issue before the court is whether once-rejected ballots can be added to a recount.

The ballots in question were cast by registered voters whose ballots were rejected because the voters' signatures hadn't been successfully scanned into the county elections database. The court hears those arguments at 9:30 a.m. today. -- Top Stories -The Olympian

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The Seattle Times reports: A Pierce County judge yesterday sided with Republicans and blocked King County from counting hundreds of disqualified ballots in Washington's absurdly close race for governor.

The ruling was at least a temporary victory for the state Republican Party, which sued to stop King County from tallying 735 ballots the county says were mistakenly rejected by election workers.

With Republican Dino Rossi clinging to a tiny lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire, the fate of King County's disputed ballots could easily determine the outcome of the race.

Soon after Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend issued her ruling before a packed courtroom, the state Democratic Party appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court. ...

Arend said her ruling was bound by a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this week that said ballots should be included in a recount only if they had been included in previous counts. -- The Seattle Times: Local News: Judge blocks count of disputed ballots

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