Siegelman Repeats Allegation that Riley Stole Election

At that Huntsville "listening post" last week, Don Siegelman repeated his allegation that Governor Riley and the Republicans stole the 2002 gubernatorial election.

When referencing the "baseless and politically motivated" conspiracy and health-care fraud charges levied after he left office, Siegelman said, "I thought they would've been satisfied with stealing the election."

Presumably, Siegelman was referring to the error in vote totals reported from Baldwin County on election night in 2002. He had this to say in a Tuscaloosa News report from January 12: "I still think we won the election and got snookered in Baldwin County after midnight."

That's a very serious charge, so it may be useful to recap.

On election night in 2002, the initial results reported by Baldwin County elections officials to the press had Riley (R) with 31,052 votes, Siegelman (D) with 19,070, Sophocleus (L) with 937, and write-in candidates with 119. Those results, which were reported by the Associated Press, would have put Don Siegelman in the lead statewide.

However, it was soon noted that there was a discrepancy in vote totals between those tallied at the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and the ones tallied from precinct reports. The Sheriff's Office had used data read from each voting machine's memory pack to tally its numbers. The precinct numbers, or "call-in" numbers, came directly from voting machine printouts.

The "call-in" numbers from the precincts had Riley with 31,052 votes; Siegelman with 12,736; Sophocleus with 937; and write-in candidates with 119. After further review, Baldwin County officials verified that the "call-in" results from the precincts had been correct and stated that a "programming glitch" had caused the initial, erroneous results. This was enough to swing the election to Riley. Thus, the final results certified to the Secretary of State left Siegelman with only 12,736 votes in Baldwin County. They also left him out of the Governor's office with plenty of time to hire defense attorneys, denounce Republicans for exposing his ethical lapses, and whine about "stolen" elections.