[Voterescue] Albert Howard files for Appeal on NH Recount

[Vickie Karp]

Republican Presidential Candidate Albert Howard Appeals New Hampshire
Recount 
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Albert Howard, the Republican Presidential candidate who ordered a
statewide recount in New Hampshire which completed Monday, February 11th,
filed an appeal to that recount with Secretary of State Bill Gardner's
office this past Friday, the 15th.
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Albert was inspired to call for a recount when, on Primary night in New
Hampshire, January 8th, he watched his vote total go from 178 DOWN to 44.

Through the donations of many interested voters and election reform
activists, he was able to raise the $55,000 necessary to pay for a
statewide recount of New Hampshire's 100% paper ballots.  The problem is,
81% of those paper ballots were counted by Diebold optical scan counters.


Video link to the filing of the document:
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GOP candidate Albert Howard files records requests and recount appeal
with NH Ballot Law Commission
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After spending several days in New Hampshire trying to find an attorney
to help with this effort, we were unsuccessful, so we just wrote it
ourselves, with edits from Democracy for New Hampshire's Nancy Tobi, help
from Bev Harris of Black Box Voting, suggestions from EDA' Jonathan
Simon, and of course from Albert Howard himself.  The primary authors
were Abbe Waldman DeLozier, the PR Director of the Coalition for Visible
Ballots; Sally Castleman, National Chair of the Election Defense Alliance
(EDA) and myself, Vickie Karp, National Chair of the Coalition for
Visible Ballots, and PR Director, VoteRescue. 

The first level of appeal in New Hampshire is with the "Ballot Law
Commission", which usually deals with matters of contested ballots  It is
unlikely that they will actually hold a hearing based on the many
violations of chain of custody and election law that were observed during
the recount process and noted in the Petition of Appeal document.  Albert
is determined to get a full hearing either at this Commission, or at a
federal court.  He is one of the most committed patriots I've ever met. 

The actual recounting of the ballots is done in a very transparent manner
with citizen monitors, observors and videographers allowed in the room to
closely watch the process.

The chain of custody of the ballots on their journey from the towns and
cities of New Hampshire back to the State Archive Building where the
counting took place, however, left a lot to be desired, as did the
condition of the boxes in which they came in, and the easily-removable
"seals" which were supposed to make the boxes "tamper-proof" .  See
www.blackboxvoting.org and YouTube for videos about the "Shame of
Custody".

While a full analysis of the numbers resulting from the recount is not
yet completed, the official recount numbers reduced Albert's vote totals
by one vote .  Other more significant anomalies from the recount that are
being examined are consistentlly higher discrepancies between ballots
that were counted by machines versus those counted by hand.  VoteRescue
Radio's show on Sunday, February 17th, 2-4pm CST will feature Bob Schulz
who may have his analysis of the numbers ready to discuss.  The show can
be heard online at www.wtprn.com; click "listen live", or by phone at
512/485-9010.  Other guests on the show will be Albert Howard; Walter
Reddy; Sally Castleman and Abbe DeLozier; and Bev Harris.

Many wonderful election reform activists and concerned citizens from all
around the country came to New Hampshire to help monitor this recount.  A
partial list of those I knew or met while there:  Bev Harris, Susan
Pynchon, Paddy Shaffer, Sally Castleman, Jeannie Dean, Walter Reddy, Bob
Schulz, Carolyn Sharpe, Bob Dwyer.  Others who worked from behind the
scenes to assist were Abbe Waldman DeLozier, Nancy Tobi, Jonathan Simon. 

The link to the entire Petition for Appeal document is attached below. 
The Exhibits are not included here, but hope to have them available for
distribution soon.  The writing effort was a beautiful collaboration that
came together in a miraculous way despite hours of exhaustion and
incredulity that it could actually come together in time.  But it did, in
time for Sally Castleman, Walter Reddy, and Carolyn Sharpe to accompany
Albert to Secretary of State Bill Gardner's office Friday, the 15th, to
file the document with a full 30 minutes left before the deadline!

Truly a memorable experience, helping monitor in New Hampshire!  And the
search for the truth there continues.

Please consider sending a donation to Albert through his website,
www.alberthoward.org.

Vickie Karp, National Chair, Coalition for Visible Ballots

PR Director, VoteRescue
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