Seacoastonline.com: N.H. agrees to re-count both parties' presidential primaries

Seacoastonline.com: N.H. agrees to re-count both parties' presidential primaries

By Associated Press

January 11, 2008 4:32 PM

CONCORD — New Hampshire agreed Friday to conduct full hand re-counts of Tuesday's Democratic and Republican presidential primaries.

Ohio Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who received less than 2 percent of the Democratic vote, and Albert Howard of Michigan, who received about 44 votes statewide in the GOP primary, each paid a $2,000 fee to start the process, officials said.

Both candidates agreed in writing late Friday to pay the full cost of the re-counts, Secretary of State William Gardner said. Both could back out when they get the estimates, expected next week.

Candidates who finish more than 3 percentage points behind the winner must pay the estimated full cost of a re-count before it can begin. The cost is refunded if the requester wins or is shown to be within 1 percentage point of the winner.

Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said re-counts could start Jan. 16.

Kucinich cited "serious and credible reports, allegations and rumors" in requesting the Democratic re-count. Howard did not explain his request.

Scanlan said he is confident re-counts will verify the accuracy of the results."

-this changes everything. lets see if they go the distance. -st0ckman