Alalska Recount - they need another $3,000 today.

[Eric J in MN]

http://AlaskaRecount2004.org

In the US Senate race in Alaska, Democrat Tony Knowles won the Exit Polls.

However, Republican Lisa Murkowski won the machine-count.

A grouup is trying to raise $10,000 for a recount, and has $7,000 so far.

Please donate. They accept PayPal:
http://AlaskaRecount2004.org

[MrUnderhill]

1. Isn't this a tad on the ridiculous side?

I mean... no offense to anyone in Alaska... but wasn't it a four or five point race?

[Wabbajack]

2. Yeah but

that's a pretty small # of votes in such a small state.

[bunny planet]

3. There's been so much focus on the stolen Presidential race that the

potentially stolen Senatorial races are falling by the wayside. We might be able to get some of those seats back. I've donated to the Alaska recount and will do so again now. Too important to ignore if we can turn it around. I personally think we should be contesting the Castor/Martinez race in Florida. That one was closer and gave off a fishy odor I could detect in NJ.

[bunny planet]

4. here's a

Kick!:kick:

[borealowl]

5. Alaska Recount

I try to explain the rationale for this recount in another thread - we don't really need two on this! It's here.

And you can still donate here. Let us know. We've got to get this Alaska snowball rolling down the hill. It's more than halfway down, we can do it, what's a few thousand in one day?

I encourage you to post in the other thread as it seems confusing to have two of em.

Ummm, why does DU use [] instead of <> in HTML? Just to be different?

[Eric J in MN]

16. Less than 10,000 vote difference.

GIANOUTSOS, TED NON 726 0.24%
MILLICAN, MARC J. NON 8857 2.88%
MURKOWSKI, LISA REP 149446 48.62%
KNOWLES, TONY DEM 139878 45.51%
KOHLHAAS, SCOTT A. LIB 1237 0.40%
SANDERS, JERRY AI 3765 1.22%
SYKES, JIM GRN 3039 0.99%
Write-in Votes 423 0.14%

A difference of 9,568 votes between Republican Lisa Murkowsi and Democrat Tony Knowles.

[Casablanca]

6. This recount needs to get done.

Related thread - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=110623&mesg_id=110708&page=

From Blue_in_AK:

"Our democratic candidate Tony Knowles (former mayor of Anchorage, former governor) was ahead in the exit polls on election night (sound familiar?) and we thought for sure he would pull it off after the votes from the heavily democratic outlying native villages were all counted, but unfortunately incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski held on to win. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Alaska politics, she was appointed to her position by her father, former do-nothing senator Frank Murkowski, when he resigned from the Senate to run for governor of Alaska in 2002 (which he won -- gag. I think he has like a 60% disapproval rating right at the moment). There were loud cries of nepotism, and in this most recent election a referendum was passed by an overwhelming majority making such appointments illegal in the future. In other words, we will have an election to replace senators who leave early if this sort of thing comes up again. Because this referendum passed so resoundingly it seems somewhat odd that Lisa was re-elected."

Talk about ringing alarm bells. This issue really should be getting a lot more exposure than it is.

There are good reasons - even beyond the ones mentioned at http://alaskarecount2004.org/ - for making sure this recount gets done. It's relatively cheap, it can be done relatively quickly, it's a state that is very likely to have had its election hacked by grassroots operatives. However, according to borealowl, the people who are in charge of the election system are interested in seeing a clean, verified election result.

I'm sure people are tired of hearing about this recount, followed by that recount, and please donate, donate, donate - but consider that the election hacking strategies are becoming nationwide, and it will be necessary to have as many recounts as possible to build a case for veriable voting. More evidence means more evidence corroboration, which means a more solid case. It's got to be done before the evidence gets cold and while the issue of verifiable voting is still in people's minds.

[borealowl]

7. "This Recount Needs to be Done"

Subject: "This Recount Needs to Get Done"
Message:
Actually, not ALL our election people are necessarily dedicated to clean election results! People I've met on the working staff appear to be above average integrity. But our relatively new GOP lieutenant governor seems to have trouble acting in a fair non-partisan way. It's a leap from his sloppy behavior and biased wording of election pamphlets, to believing he would sanction actual vote rigging. That's not an accusation we'd make lightly and we have no evidence for it. I still believe any hacking would have probably come from outside - and, again, we don't know whether there was any hacking or not. We just know the exit polls didn't agree, at all, with the final tally. And we know it was a critical race. That's why we want a recount!

Here's an interesting editorial from the Juneau Empire questioning Leman's ethics in regards to the elections he now oversees. The Empire is not a liberal rag, lemme tell you. But the editor sometimes surprises us with pieces like this:

http://www.juneauempire.com/smart_search /

Web posted October 24, 2004

Empire editorial:
Lt. governor abuses his election authority

The lieutenant governor's role is one that often fades into the background once a gubernatorial election is won, but Loren Leman is managing to grab far more newsprint than most who have held his office. Unfortunately, he's doing it by abusing the lieutenant governor's most important duty - overseeing elections.

This week backers of a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana filed suit against Leman because one of his staff members wrote the opposition statement to the proposition in the state's Official Election Pamphlet. The medical director of a drug treatment center signed the statement, but the words were mostly those of a Leman staffer. While the staff member claims she was in a time crunch and would have done the same for the other side, these are not legitimate excuses from an office that is supposed to remain impartial when distributing election information.

Already Leman's urge to inject his own agenda into the state's election pamphlet and ballot has cost Alaskans $295,000. An Anchorage Superior Court Judge in late September ordered the state to change this year's ballots because Leman had inserted wording into the supposedly neutral summary of an initiative on filling U.S. Senate vacancies. The ballot proposition calls for Senate vacancies to be filled by election, rather than by appointment by the governor. Leman inserted a statement that this measure would leave Alaska's Senate seat empty for three to five months. That claim is one of the key arguments by critics of this measure and is disputed by the measure's supporters.

After the court ruling against Leman, extra staff was needed to reprint and redistribute all 517,000 ballots by election time. But the wording did get into the election pamphlet that was sent out across the state.

Leman had tried to remove the initiative on Senate vacancies from the ballot twice, using claims that it was unconstitutional and then saying recent legislation achieved the same result as the proposition. But the Alaska Supreme Court ruled against Leman and ordered that the measure be placed back on the ballot.

While Leman talks about conducting the elections with integrity, his actions speak far louder than his words. He's lost his credibility as an impartial overseer of the state's election process. Usually the state election pamphlet is a safe place to go for a neutral summary of initiatives, followed by arguments on both sides, but this year, voters need to read the statements with some caution. And the next time Leman's name is on the ballot, voters need to remember how he tried to abuse his authority over elections to further his own agenda, and ask themselves if they really want to give this man any more power.

[Casablanca]

13. That's another reason to do the recount.

In saying that I think the AK election might have been hacked, I'm speaking from my own experience of watching AK politics for 30 years, from both an Alaskan and an outsider viewpoint. For me it's always been an entertaining combination of rightwing lunatic fringe activism and effective populist activism. When I explain my take on AK politics to people, the reasons why Willow isn't the capital right now ends up being a signature example.

In general, AK politics is the best and the worst of small-town/small-state politics - imperialist turf wars and populist activism in response. Both sides are very vocal and very active. Unfortunately, most people from the Outside see the state as solid Red, and it isn't. I suspect that's one of the reasons why there was immediate and massive nationwide support for the WA recount, and not as much for the AK recount.

[JoMama49]

8. Surey the DNC

or John Kerry can cough up the remaining $ for this?
JoMama.

[Carolab]

9. Please let's not go through that again

Let's just get them what they need. I donated once and will do so again now.

[lsgunn]

11. I'm game to help

I just donated. It's not much but hopefully it gets done. I think we need to support the effort. Free and fair elections for all.

[newyawker99]

36. Hi lsgunn!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Casablanca]

14. I emailed Democracy For America about this this morning.

Don't know how much effect it will have, but at least they should know about it.

[borealowl]

10. Surely the DNC

We've been trying! Can't get a fax number that works...they're not exactly accessible...how about you ask on our behalf!!

[StephanieMarie]

12. I just donated

because I want every state in the union turned blue. I know Bush stole this election, and the more "official" counts we can overturn, the better for our cause!

[Eric J in MN]

23. Thank you (NT)

NT

[Casablanca]

15. Kick. This is a time-critical issue. n/t

[borealowl]

17. Home from the Office Now?

All you east coasters who dream about a float trip down Alaska's rivers, now that you're logged onto your home computers you can donate to recount Alaska's election: AlaskaRecount2004.org!! And maybe we'll put that $10,000 together...

[Eric J in MN]

18. How much do you have now? (NT)

NT

[Casablanca]

21. Been curious about this myself.

Borealowl, I noticed the total hasn't been updated since this morning ... any news?

[Eric J in MN]

22. It now says $7,200.

http://alaskarecount2004.org/

[Eric J in MN]

24. It now says $7,300 (NT)

NT

[karlrschneider]

19. I replenished my Paypal acct & sent fifty bucks, but this stuff is making

me even more broke than I've been........:eyes:

[Eric J in MN]

20. Thank you (NT)

NT

[greatscott15]

25. Please Donate, Donate, Donate

Please donate where you can. Even if the results are not overturned, the recounts can still show signs of fraud. Remember, Rome was not built in a day. It's going to take a small win here, and a small win there to get the ball really rolling. I know the money is tight with the holidays and this horrible Bush economy. Look at it as a small investment.

[dzika]

26. Alaska needs some more blue...

...so I just gave up some green.

[Eric J in MN]

27. Thank you (NT)

NT

[Eric J in MN]

28. Now up to $7,500

$2,500 to go.

[Eloriel]

29. One more kick

:kick:

[KatieB]

30. One more kick

[Helga Scow Stern]

31. I'll donate again....what's Christmas if the Grinches steal it all? n/t

[rdmccur]

32. I donated 25 bucks earlier today

[Casablanca]

33. Kick. n/t

[borealowl]

34. Alaska Recount Update

We are still $2,200 short. One of our group is going to cover the shortfall so we can get our application in. PLEASE keep donating. Your $25, $50 and $100 donations are making this possible! Yes, it's true the DNC should be covering this - but it has to come from the citizens, looks like.

And thank all of you very much for your donations to date. What a team - together, we can win elections (if our votes are counted)!

[Eric J in MN]

35. Thank you to the person covering the difference (NT)

NT

[jamboi]

37. Did we make it?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

38. Just kicked in some! n/t

[WhoDoYouTrust]

39. This Alaskan just donated!

:kick: