Conyers Launches Challenge To Ohio Electors

In a sign that the Democrats are determined to pursue their scorched-earth policy on elections to its bitter conclusion, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has filed an objection to Ohio’s presidential electors. John Conyers of Detroit published a report that claims irregularities in Ohio’s election accounts for more than the 118,599 votes that George Bush won over John Kerry:

The 102-page report titled “Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio?” lists such problems as unusually long lines, a shortage of voting machines in Democratic-leaning areas, confusion over provisional ballot rules and computer problems.
The report also contends there were widespread instances of intimidation and misinformation, improper purging of voter registration lists, a lack of inspection for about 93,000 ballots where no vote was cast for president, and vote totals not matching registration numbers or exit poll data.
“In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio,” the report said.

We’ve gone over the nuts and bolts — mostly nuts — of Conyers’ arguments on this blog and others. After a costly recount and the move of just over 300 votes, Conyers and the Democrats know that further recounts won’t win them the election, and so they intend on casting aspersions on the legitimacy of the contest itself. They have chosen Kenneth Blackwell as their bete noir, just as they smeared Kathleen Harris in Florida four years ago. As I wrote below, in the face of the inexplicable (How could Bush actually beat Kerry?), conspiracy theories grow like mushrooms in the dark.
Of course, the explanation that the Democrats fielded a terrible candidate that ran a lousy campaign never occurs to them.
Conyers needs a sponsor in the Senate to invoke a joint session to consider the objection. Barbara Boxer of California is rumored to be mulling over the idea of jumping on board Conyers’ runaway train. It should enrage the country that the Democrats want to hijack yet another presidential election and embarass the nation, this time while we’re at war. The Democrats apparently learned nothing from 2000 and the shellacking they took in the next two election cycles. No one will trust them with leadership while they pursue this kind of lunacy; even moderate Democrats can count the difference between 566 and 118,599.
Conyers would better spend his time tracking down what his staff did with the 60 turkeys they stole from poor families this Thanksgiving than to stuff this turkey down the throat of Congress and the nation.