Lawyers Defend Challenge to Ohio Vote

[struggle4progress]

Friday, January 28, 2005 10:24 p.m. ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Four lawyers behind a failed challenge of Ohio's presidential election results defended themselves Friday against the state attorney general's efforts to have them sanctioned for filing a "meritless claim."

In legal documents filed with the Ohio Supreme Court, the lawyers said the challenge they filed on behalf of 37 voters included enough evidence of voting irregularities to back up their allegations of widespread fraud.

The filing by Cliff Arnebeck, Robert Fitrakis, Susan Truitt and Peter Peckarsky was in response to Attorney General Jim Petro's Jan. 19 request to sanction them. If the court sanctions the lawyers, they could be forced to repay attorney's fees and court costs. <snip>

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=982452&tw=wn_wire_story


COLUMBUS (AP) -- State legislative leaders are giving top priority to a bill that would require election challengers to pay the entire cost of recounts that fail to change the results of the election.

The measure also would create a statewide voter database, require first-time voters to bring identification and define who gets a provisional ballot. And it would make clear that optical scan ballots marked in pencil and read by a machine would count even if they are marked incorrectly.

Challengers of the presidential election paid $113,000 dollars to re-count the state's precincts, but Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell estimated the actual cost at $1.5 million dollars. <snip>

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=2858298

[rigel99]

1. Blackwell must be scared.. he's proactively launching missiles

but legally, he must know he's about to get even worse lawsuits on his side, criminal ones......

either way, we are all here for you Cliff, Peter, Susan & Bob, you are our heroes and we will not let you suffer.. we will fundraise if it come s to that but for now, we are all ROOTING FOR YOU since you are doing our biggest / best fight for us...

thanks for all your hard work....!!!

[fooj]

2. We won't let you down! Our fearless warriors for a just and noble cause!

Keep fighting the good fight and know that we are here for you! You are respected, appreciated and admired by many! Thank you for all that you are doing to preserve the integrity of our votes and the future of our country!