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Update: City Clerk Susan Weathers tells Huckleberries Online that Brannon said he doesn’t mind that the city do its regular canvassing on next Monday rather than tomorrow. That will begin a 20-day clock for the Attorney General’s office to respond to his request.
Jim Brannon just told SReporter Alison Boggs: “I have verbally requested a recount with City Clerk Susan Weathers. I haven’t done the official formal paperwork, which has to go to the attorney general, but I will meet with the clerk later today. In my mind, we know nothing more than we knew at 8 o’clock when the polls closed last night and that is that it is going to be a very close race. There is a 50-50 chance we could switch. I fully expect to win.”
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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OrangeTV on November 04 at 12:10 p.m.
Sigh. Tiresome.
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TLPoelstra on November 04 at 12:27 p.m.
But not a surprise
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Joker on November 04 at 12:27 p.m.
50-50 chance?
Hardly, I would say there's a 98 percent chance nothing changes in this election.
I love his logic about knowing nothing more than when the polls closed. Earth to Jim. We know you lost.
Anybody willing to put their money where Jim's mouth is? I will wager anybody that believes Jim will be declared the winner after a recount. Let's say $20. DFO can be the money handler.
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poolman on November 04 at 12:30 p.m.
OK - here is a little perspective. Al Franken won the Minnesota senator election with a recount. In round numbers there were 3 million votes cast. The recount produced a swing of ~500 votes. That represents a first time accuracy of 99.93%. In this election there were ~ 6,500 votes cast. Assuming a similar accuracy you would expect to see a one, maybe two vote swing -three would be extremely unlikely. While five votes’ sounds small – relative to the small sample size it’s actually pretty large.
That being said – I still think the votes should be recounted and the cost should not be an issue nor should it be a point of emphasis for the clerk – say what the cost is - not (in a sort of daunting tone) – it’s going to cost.
I think from now on I’ll refer to Mike K as “Wall Scraper” – in the spirit of the October classic and the November elections. That term, in baseball, is often used to describe a home run that BARELY clears the fence.
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bpoole on November 04 at 12:52 p.m.
It will cost the city around 3 -4 thousand dollars of tax payer money.
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eagleeye on November 04 at 1:02 p.m.
I think if the taxpayers can pay for a few hundred thousand dollars for fake brick on a failed condo project, 3-4 thousand dollars to insure an election is accurate is a drop in the bucket!
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Cabbage Boy on November 04 at 1:14 p.m.
Ha, well said eagleeye. For those who think it is a waste, I won't bother asking what your attitude would be if the shoe was on the other foot. Hypocrites.
But as for the chances, the chances are just as good that the recounts makes the margin bigger.
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Phaedrus on November 04 at 2:07 p.m.
cb is throwing around the hypocrite tag pretty freely today, bitter much?
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bpoole on November 04 at 2:15 p.m.
Hypocrites. That's a little harsh. I believe any incumbent or challenger should have to foot the bill, not just Brannon.
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spokelooneh on November 04 at 8:00 p.m.
Brannon's got the Coleman spin going on here, which is a little arrogant, but not horrible. Given that the recount cost is rather minimal in the overall scheme of things, I don't think it's a waste. It's good that every once in a while, a detailed examination/audit of procedures are undertaken, even as I have confidence in DOTC's administration of the election process. There may be issues that are completely beyond his control.
I presume the original count was a machine count, and the recount will be by hand. Will representatives of both sides be able to observe this handcount, and issue challenges to ballots where voter intent may be unclear?
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RedMan on November 04 at 10:36 p.m.
Anyone who looses by five votes out of 6000 should be entitled to a recount, this is a no brainer
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RedMan on November 04 at 10:38 p.m.
Adding that we have a pretty efficient clerks office here and its highly likely the outcome will not change, still you have to do it.
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JBelle on November 05 at 5:57 a.m.
I so hope for my beloved hometown's sake that this idiot doesn't win. What a loser.
uh oh. I'm sure the above was ill-advised. Just can't call up my diplomacy this morning. My bad.
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