Monday, September 25, 2006

Not a Good Sign

Edwards Concedes to Wynn in Fourth District



County registrars have finally tallied up the votes (absentee and provisional ballots) in Maryland, only two weeks after the primary:
Donna Edwards is accepting defeat after a spirited Democratic primary challenge to Rep. Albert Wynn in Maryland's Fourth District.

Edwards tells The Washington Post she believes votes in the district, which includes parts of Prince George's and Montgomery counties, have been counted "to the extent that they will be."

Unofficial results show Edwards trailing Wynn by more than 2,700 votes. The results will be certified Monday.

Edwards says she remains "really troubled" by "multiple layers of failures" in the election. But she's no longer considering legal action.

Voting in many Montgomery County precincts was disrupted for hours because access cards weren't provided at many polling places.

Wynn says of the close election, "I certainly appreciate the support of the people who voted for me, and I'm going to work harder to do a better job."

As published earlier in TCA, this race is an early bellwether for the November election. Although a Democrat, the incumbent (Albert R. Wynn) is the Joe Lieberman of Maryland - he supported Bush and Republicans on several key bills, the Bankruptcy Reform Act and the Iraq War among them. There were many irregularities in this election and Wynn's having won legitimately is unlikely. Donna Edwards' comments following her concession shows that she has nowhere to go to contest. If the electronic voting machines, with no paper trail, are being hacked, then there is nowhere to go for satisfaction.

Due to these problems and irregularities of the primary in Maryland, even the Governor of Maryland (a Republican) is calling for paper ballots for the November election, but the Democrats who control Maryland's Board of Elections are resisting.

Democrats had better start talking openly about the very real probability of election fraud and theft before the elections, because after will be too late.



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