What am I missing here? Why won't Blackwell certify the vote in Ohio?

[CatWoman]

What's taking him so long?

What has he to gain by stretching this out?

[hippiechick]

1. I think he's trying to shorten the time we'll have to recount.

:shrug: Not sure, though...


:hippie:

[acmavm]

2. And I think you're absolutely right.

.

[Vincardog]

3. The recount will not be done before the EV is cast. So it will not make an

difference. That is his plan

[Philostopher]

4. As others note ...

there's a date on which the vote is certified and Ohio's electors are appointed. After that, presumably, no recount will be relevant other than as ammo for future Ohio elections -- Blackwell's counting on it being 'too late' if a recount proves he cheated or that Bush didn't win Ohio. Once the electors are appointed, apparently there's nothing that can be done. He's pushing the original count out to the deadline so the electors will already be 'on their way' -- that will make any differences between their 'official' vote count and the recount moot.

Of course, enough people know that, it won't benefit him in the long run, but he's a typical neocon, apparently. The ends justify the means, and if the rules will bite you in the ass in the long run, you have a buddy upstairs somewhere who will be happy to change them in your favor before you get bit. I'm confident Bush or someone in D.C. guaranteed Blackwell's ass would be covered if he swung Ohio to them in a way that would make it at least appear Bush had won by a sufficient margin they could make it look like sour grapes if anybody challenged the vote.

I don't think they counted on the Greens and Libertarians challenging the vote, which thickens the plot considerably for me. I don't think any of it's going to matter, though. I think my state has been hijacked from upstairs, this time, instead of being hijacked in the Ohio legislature through gerrymandering more to help Republicans than Democrats, which is how it's been going on for a dozen years or so here. This time, the hijacker is the cop, and who's gonna bust him?

[KoKo]

7. Thanks for pointing out the Greens & Libertarians. They probably didn't

figure on them coming in and thousands of donations from Grassroots. That makes me feel good. We managed for once to do the unexpected and threw a monkey wrench into their plans. I don't know if they expected Kerry to concede...that's an unknown, but they figured it would all be covered over when he did.

Hopefully somewhere along the way Blackwell will get "his."

[Philostopher]

8. Oh, believe me, KoKo --

nobody wishes that guy would get what he deserves more than I do. I'm sure they were surprised this year, anyway -- it was a real scramble for them (and by them I mean those other than Wally O'Dell who also tacitly were committed to 'delivering Ohio's electoral votes to Bush' and stepped in when Wally failed to sell any Diebold machines to the state) to jerry-rig the vote as well as they did. All the urban counties but Hamilton (around Cincinnati) went to Kerry, and most of Ted Strickland's District 6 (some counties of which are rural) went to Kerry. Scare tactics, suppression and the lucky of crappy weather were on Blackwell's side that day.

I think they expected a greater margin than Bush got here, frankly. I do hope that man lies awake at night wondering what life is going to deliver him for his behavior -- even though I doubt it. If there's one thing that seems to go along with neoconservative thought, it's suppression of one's conscience about cheating.

I don't think Blackwell's hoped-for run for governor will be any cakewalk, though. That was what he wanted, but I think he's screwed the pooch on that one. Too many bigoted rural white people in this state who wouldn't vote for him because he's not white; too many not white people he crapped on 11/2 who won't vote for him because he made them wait in line in a cold rain for as long as nine hours just to vote. Unless he gets a plummy appointment with the Bush Administration soon, I think he may be reduced to running for Hamilton County dogcatcher. Maybe he'll even try to go back to running as a Democrat -- that's how he started.

[kentuck]

5. The electoral vote is Dec 13th ?

And he is stonewalling just like they did in Florida in 2000.

[Junkdrawer]

9. And that date may be as early as Dec 7th...

Title 3 Chapter 1 Section 5

Determination of controversy as to appointment of electors

§ 5. If any State shall have provided, by laws enacted prior to the day fixed for the appointment of the electors, for its final determination of any controversy or contest concerning the appointment of all or any of the electors of such State, by judicial or other methods or procedures, and such determination shall have been made at least six days before the time fixed for the meeting of the electors, such determination made pursuant to such law so existing on said day, and made at least six days prior to said time of meeting of the electors, shall be conclusive, and shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes as provided in the Constitution, and as hereinafter regulated, so far as the ascertainment of the electors appointed by such State is concerned.

[kentuck]

10. Yep. Good historical footnote.

Thanks.

[LisaL]

6. Recount can start only after the vote is certified.

And for some reason, Mr. Blackwell seems to be afraid of the recount.
I wonder why is he so scared. After all, Kerry would need 120,000 votes in OH to flip the election. That's not an easy task by any means.
Yet, Mr. Blackwell for some reason doesn't want the recount to go forward. Hmm...