Lawyers for both Talmadge Heflin and Hubert Vo have filed their briefs in the election contest, and Andy Taylor is still beating the "irrefutable evidence of massive fraud!" drum. I've seen a copy of Vo's brief, and I have to say they do a pretty decent job of refuting much of that "irrefutable" evidence. I have not seen the Heflin brief, so I have a one-sided view of this. It still looked darned convincing to me. Some highlights from the Vo brief:
1. Team Heflin interviewed a subset of those whose votes were questioned, and extrapolated from there.
2. Among those Team Heflin did interview, Team Vo disagreed with many of their assertions about whose vote should or should not count.
3. Some votes were questioned because voters went to the wrong precinct, but were still in HD149.
4. Some of the voters who had moved to Fort Bend were told by Paul Bettencourt's office that it was OK for them to vote at their old location.
5. As noted in the story, some votes were challenged on the basis of uncorroborated phone interviews.
You get the idea. The hearing is Thursday, and Discovery Master Will Hartnett will issue his recommendations next week. In the meantime, ponder this:
[Andy] Taylor said Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman agrees with Heflin's team that Heflin should be declared the winner because so many ballots cast for Vo should be thrown out.But in a prepared statement, David Beirne, Kaufman's spokesman, said Kaufman is waiting for the House to conduct an investigation and has not endorsed the findings of Heflin's team.
"No such endorsement exists or should be construed from the office of Harris County clerk," Beirne said.
Last but not least, the Daily Texan calls on Heflin to drop his challenge.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 25, 2005 to Election 2004 | TrackBackAt least Heflin's team apparently hasn't stooped to accusing the Vo campaign of slashing tires of GOP get-out-the-vote vans like the Dems did in Wisconsin.
That seems to be about the only fraud he's not claiming here.
As ya'll know, I've been rather dubious about this challenge all along.
But IF serious concerns are demonstrated over 150 votes in such a close race, then is the concern as "spurious" as the Daily Texan editorial would have it?
I can understand the argument that close races occur from time to time, and the loser should accept the results in a system that has never been 100% accurate. I can understand the argument that illegal votes should not decide elections. I can understand the argument that legislatures should not decide elections.
But I wouldn't categorize any of those arguments as "spurious" and I don't know that student journalists should either. Bloggers, maybe. :)
Posted by: kevin whited on January 25, 2005 9:20 AMBy all means, let us know when you think the threshold has been met for "serious concerns" Kevin.
Posted by: Greg Wythe on January 25, 2005 9:43 AMIt doesn't take a student journalist to know Taylor-trash when he hears it. This guy has so many allegations with no evidence that he is starting to remind me of the group that "cloned baby Eve" but refused to ever show any evidence. Talmadge Heflin lost, period, amen. The votes have been counted, recounted, and recounted again. Certified by 1) Republican Beverly Kaufman and 2) a Republican Secretary of State. There is catagorically no evidence of voter fraud. Mr. Taylor is "questioning" some voters. Until this guy produces more than a crap chart and a huge fee for Heflin, I'd say he'd be lucky to not get laughed out of Austin, nevermind winning an actual vote.
Is it ironic that this is the most active that Heflin has been in his district over the past 22 years? His peeps have been all over Alief trying to tell his constituent can't vote. Voters have to kick him out to have him do something?
Posted by: Red Dog on January 25, 2005 11:37 AM