The fight continues

Cascade County Elections Director Rina Fontana-Moore is going to continue the fight.  She tells us she has already filed the paperwork to challenge her loss in the race.  Moore lost to challenger Sandra Merchant by just 30 votes.  Moore says she was at first against a recount in her race but changed her mind after seeing what she called, "The Pack" and their continued push to challenge all elections.

Rina Fontana-Moore (below)

Moore says the recount will have to be done by hand and that is exactly what the pack, she says, have been pushing for in the state, that all ballots be counted  by hand.  She says she will use the recount to show the group that counting by hand is very time consuming and that the voting machines works perfectly.  That hand count of some 28-thousand votes could begin later this week and will be done by the three Cascade County Commissioners.

Commissioner Joe Briggs (below)

We talked with the chairman of the county commission, Joe Briggs, and he says he may not be able to be a part of the count because he is on the ballot and they are looking into that.   But Moore says, not so fast.  She feels Briggs can count the  ballots by hand because it is not his face they are recounting.  Moore says, "county commissioners should not pawn it off and instead buck up and get the job done."  That job of counting ballots  could take a week or more depending on if they get a break for Thanksgiving or have to work the holiday.

Moore tells us the pack is a republican group that believes in voting only on election day, getting rid of absentee voting and that all ballots must be counted by hand.  Moore says showing the group how long it will take to count just one race by hand should be, "educational" to the pack.  Moore says the hand count is not going to flip her race and it will show the equipment works right.

Moore says her losing the race proves that the election was fair with her office running it.  We are learning that Moore has asked for the hand recount to take place in her office since they already have camera security.  Moore adds, the pack can't say the last two elections were fraudulent when the group the pack backs, won the last two elections.

The recount will be open to the public.