For those paying attention to the numbers, the margin of Bush's victory in Ohio shrank from 136,000 to 118,775 votes since last month's election. Depending on how you look at it, either Bush still won by a sizeable margin, or the change in such a close margin raises questions about how and whether votes were accurately counted.
Ohio election officials certified their state’s election results Monday, giving George Bush the state by a margin of 118,775 votes and setting the stage for a recount. There’s no indication that this coming recount will overturn the result; but the prevalence of voting discrepancies, logistical problems and allegations of dirty tricks have made Ohio a living testament to the urgent need for voting reform.Some conservatives have told liberals to get over it. They should appreciate that this isn't just sour grapes about losing another close presidential race. Shouldn't we all want to know that our elections are fair and legal and that every vote is being counted?
Apparently not, as evidenced by attendance at the election hearings called for by Rep. Conyers and held last week:
"It looked like a real hearing but it wasn’t, because despite the issuing of invitations by the Democratic Minority members to their GOP Majority brethren on the Judiciary Committee, not one Republican congressman bothered to show up or give their blessing to the proceedings. Judiciary staffers from the Minority office told me the GOP majority would not even allow this hearing to be videotaped on the television equipment that came with the hearing room, and so they were forced to pester C-SPAN into showing up. They did, along with a number of other media outlets, but the effect was a quieting of the entire event."
