This is the county that I live in.... DELAWARE COUNTY COURT BLOCKS RECOUNT Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 NEWS 07B By Mary Beth Lane
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH A Delaware County judge yesterday granted a temporary restraining order sought by the county's Board of Elections to block Green and Libertarian presidential candidates from forcing a recount of the Nov. 2 election results. County Prosecutor David Yost, the board's legal adviser, said he was pleased that Common Pleas Judge W. Duncan Whitney granted the temporary order. The board is seeking a permanent injunction to quash the recount request. Also yesterday, a federal judge in Toledo denied the third parties' request for an immediate recount, saying the request could wait until after results are certified. In the Delaware County case, the elections board wants to block a recount both before and after certification. "To ask taxpayers to fund someone's political hobbyhorse when there's no possible chance of a different outcome seems to be an utter waste,'' Yost said. "There's better uses for that money in Delaware County and, I suspect, in other places around the state.'' Yost couldn't immediately estimate the cost of a recount in the county, but said it would be "substantial.'' This is the latest ingredient in a thickening legal soup. Delaware County is apparently the first county to seek a court order blocking a recount, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. Other counties, however, are thinking about it, he said. Keith Cunningham, director of the Allen County Board of Elections and incoming president of the Ohio Association of Elections Officials, said he might mobilize other counties to resist a recount, the Associated Press reported. The Ohio Democratic Party announced Monday that it was joining the Libertarian and Green parties in requesting a formal recount -- not because the results were expected to change but to "make sure everyone's vote is counted fairly and accurately,'' said state Democratic Chairman Dennis L. White. Libertarian Michael Badnarik and the Green Party's David Cobb last week said that they had raised more than $150,000 to cover the recount fee. Ohio law requires payment of $10 per precinct, or about $113,600 statewide.State elections officials say the actual cost will be as high as $1.5 million. In the federal case, the third-party candidates sought an immediate recount and on Monday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Toledo to compel it. Judge James G. Carr ruled that the candidates have a right under Ohio law to a recount, but said it can wait until after certification. Blackwell expects to certify the final count by Dec. 6. The Green and Libertarian candidates have said that waiting until then to start a recount of Ohio's 5.5 million votes would not allow enough time before the state's presidential electors meet Dec. 7. _________________________________________________ If you can't take the heat, don't tickle the dragon. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
