Ohio Recount Not Meant to Challenge Victor

CHICAGO – With a stroke of a pen, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (search) certified his state's 2004 election results, giving President Bush (search) a 119,000-vote margin of victory.

The Buckeye State was key to the president's re-election victory, but the ceremony does not mark the end of election-year maneuvering.

Three of the parties that fielded presidential candidates in Ohio say they still need some answers about Election-Day troubles in Ohio, and the state is on the verge of a statewide recount.

The Libertarian and Green parties appear to be in a position to demand the county-by-county recount. The two parties say their effort is not meant to overturn the results, but to answer questions about alleged voting irregularities.

John Kerry's (search) campaign agrees. It still expects the Bush-Cheney ticket to be the winner, but the campaign has joined the recount effort anyway.

"There are important reasons for requesting recounts other than simply trying to change the results of elections," said Don McTigue, an attorney for the Kerry-Edwards campaign.

Members of the Kerry-Edwards campaign say they had received complaints about unusually long lines at polling places and argue that alleged voting-machine errors should be checked out so all Ohioans can have confidence in their voting system.

But the Ohio Republican Party questions the logic in conducting an election recount when everyone seems to agree on who the winner will be.

"And we know what the result is going to be. It's going to show George W. Bush won. So there will be two losers in the recount — John Kerry and the Ohio taxpayer," said Ohio Republican Party attorney Mark Weaver.

Under Ohio law, parties demanding a recount must come up with a $10-per-precinct deposit to pay for the recount. That's about $113,000, which the Green Party (search) has already raised. But the problem, according to the Ohio Republican Party, is that most estimates for a recount total the cost at more than 10 times that amount, or $1.5 million, which counties will be forced to pay if the courts insist the recount continue.

Click in the box near the top of the story to watch a report by FOX News' Steve Brown.