why

[Nala]

why did Kerry concede the votes from ohio 2 Bush when it could have won him the election? hhhhhhmmmmm.......i feel a conspiracy theory coming on........

[archbishop]

There's no way he could have won Ohio. He would have had to get 95% of the provisional votes and  that's not likely is it?

[ianess]

Unsure of exact figures but if Dubya was say 200,000 ahead why argue about 140,000 disputed votes?

It would have made no difference to the final result.

[archbishop]

Bush was 135000 ahead with 140000 provisional votes to check.

[zgma]

And the Republicans had a dirty campaign of going into African American precincts in Ohio (who vote overwhelmingly Democratic) and challenging individual voters, thereby forcing them to turn in provisional ballots.  It is not inconceivable that a much larger percentage of those ballots were for Kerry, which may have narrowed the margin considerably - which would have necessitated a recount.

 

So I don't think Kerry did the right thing by conceding.  Or maybe I'm just bitter...

[Clanad]

I think zgma's last sentence sums it up pretty well...

[bernardo]

The answers above are broadly correct, but it is important to remember that the provisional ballots will still be assessed, checked, and (if valid) counted, just as planned.  The fact that Kerry has "conceded" merely means that he has accepted that he will lose.  It does not mean, as if by magic, that the provisional ballots will somehow be ignored or forgotten.

There are always lots of absentee / postal votes (and from now on, provisional votes as well) which (according to the law of the individual state) take days or weeks to count.  It has always happened in Presidential elections, and it is only because of the closeness of what happened in Florida in 2000 that we have heard so much abvout it this time.  For example, in Hawaii in 1960-61 it was not until early January that the final result was known for certain (Kennedy won by a margin of 115 votes).

[zgma]

Bernardo, you always amaze me.  How do you know so much about American politics?  More than I do, and I am a politically interested American.

[AngEL5942]

one of them must concede. it's not an option

[bernardo]

I know everything about everything, apart from the things which are not worth knowing.