N.H. Primary Democratic Re-count Underway
CONCORD, N.H. (WBZ) ? Secretary of State William Gardner says his office
is ready for
Wednesday's re-count of New Hamp****re's Democratic presidential primary.
Democrat Dennis Kucinich has paid $27,000 to Gardner's office to start the
re-count.
Election officials tell WBZ-TV that the recount could take up to a month.
Kucinich, who received less than 2 percent of the vote, says he is
suspicious of the
results, although he doesn't expect a re-count to change his vote count
much.
Kucinich alluded to online re****ts alleging disparities around the state
between
hand-counted ballots, which tended to favor Sen. Barack Obama, and
machine-counted
ones that tended to favor Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He also noted the
difference
between pre-election polls, which indicated Obama would win, and Clinton's
triumph by
a 39 percent to 37 percent margin.
Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said Kucinich is entitled to a
statewide
recount. But, he had "every confidence" the results are accurate.
Kucinich has asked that the re-count start with Manchester ballots and
spread out
from there to other Hillsborough County precincts. He can stop the
re-count and get a
refund for the balance of the costs. To re-count the entire state would
cost him
about $70,000.
Republican Albert Howard of Michigan also has asked for a re-count but has
not paid
for it yet.
Gardner says he will get started with the Democratic re-count and if
Howard comes up
with the money later, he will consider the request then.
The re-count to began Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.
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