KUCINICH SUPPORTS GREEN PARTY DEMAND FOR OHIO RECOUNT

Support for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb’s demand for a recount of the Ohio presidential vote continues to grow. Ohio Congressman and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has joined a growing list of individuals and organizations calling for a recount.

"I strongly support the request for a recount in Ohio," Kucinich said in a statement sent to the Cobb-LaMarche campaign.

Kucinich said that a "recount is an appropriate response to officials who tried to suppress the vote" and that the "highly partisan activities of state election officials cast doubt on the integrity of the elections process."

Cobb and Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik, who intend to file jointly for the recount, have demanded that Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican who chaired the Ohio Bush campaign, recuse himself from the recount process.

"We need an election system and election officials we can trust. The problems in Florida in 2000 and the problems in Ohio in 2004 will repeat themselves in 2008 unless we do something about it. Our elections should be administered by an independent non-partisan commission, and not by the state chairs of the Republican presidential campaign," said David Cobb. The Secretary of State in Florida in 2000, Katherine Harris, was also the state chair of the Bush campaign and the person responsible for counting the presidential ballots.

Kucinich’s support of Cobb’s recount demand comes on the heels of another prominent endorsement of this effort. On Monday, Common Cause, the National Voting Rights Institute, Demos, the Fannie Lou Hamer Project and People for the American Way Foundation issued a joint statement in support of the Cobb and Badnarik demand for an Ohio recount.

Kucinich expressed his appreciation of the growing movement demanding accountability for the 2004 election.

"Thank you to the Greens and all others whose support for a recount will rescue a shred of honesty in the conduct of the 2004 Ohio election," said Kucinich.

The Cobb-LaMarche campaign is now in the process of recruiting volunteers and raising funds for monitoring the actual recount process which is expected to take place in early December. Volunteers and donors should visit the campaign website, http://www.votecobb.org, for more information.

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