Kucinich wants New Hampshire recount

Citing unspecified “serious and credible reports, allegations, and rumors” regarding the presidential primary in New Hampshire, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is asking for a recount of the vote.

{mosads}Kucinich, who placed at the back of the Democratic field with less than 1.4 percent of the votes, said in a letter to New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner that there were “possible vote-count irregularities” that have been “fueled by the stunning disparities between various ‘independent’ pre-election polls and the actual election results.”

The lawmaker said he does not expect his own vote count to be significantly affected by such a recount but he added that it is “imperative that these questions be addressed in the interest of public confidence in the integrity of the election process and the election machinery.”

In his request for a recount, Kucinich alleges that there have been “unexplained disparities between hand-counted ballots and machine-counted ballots.”

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) won the Democratic primary in a stunning upset of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who had surged to the top of the polls following his win in the Iowa caucuses.

In Iowa, Kucinich had urged his supporters to back Obama.

“This is not about my candidacy or any other individual candidacy,” Kucinich said. “It is about the integrity of the election process.”