Varying Standards

Shouldn't all recounts be the same, as per Bush V Gore?

Ohio elections boards on Monday revealed various plans for handling new recount requests by Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign that range from visually inspecting some ballots to getting a neutral group involved.

Over the weekend, Kerry asked the county elections officials to allow his witnesses to visually inspect the 92,000 ballots cast in Ohio in which no vote for president was recorded.

The request was one of 11 items that Kerry asked for as part of the recount that Ohio's 88 county boards of elections will begin this week.

When contacted Monday by The Associated Press, many boards officials said they hadn't heard about the weekend request by Donald McTigue, the lawyer handling the recount for the Kerry campaign.

A few elections officials said they would cooperate, while some officials said there was just no way they could comply with some demands.