Foreman: How can you say that? Handy: I believe that. Foreman: You´re under oath.

Yes, I voted for Rossi



Handy: "I would hope that his would severely undermine the confidence of the court in the R(epublicans) other claims"


Foreman: You´re neutral in this case?

Handy: Yes, I am

Foreman (again): You´re neutral in this case!?

Handy: Yes, I am



On cross-examination, GOP attorney Dale Foreman´s main thrust was to discredit Handy, the state´s elections director. In questions leading up to the big finale -- and the only thing that has passed for fireworks this morning -- Foreman quizzed Handy on his relative lack of election experience.

Handy admitted that until about six months ago, he hadn´t even heard of voter crediting and has never been an auditor or worked in an elections office on election day.

Handy came back that his top four managers have more than 100 years of combined experience. Early on, Foreman pressed him on what the position of the Secretary of State´s office -- in which the election director works -- is on the case.

The purpose of that line of questioning wasn´t immediately clear until Foreman asked Handy about an email -- and projected it on a large screen -- sent to attorney Thomas Ahearne after the multiple recounts.

The email read, in part, "I expect this will be major issue raised by the Republicans as they have built their entire public affairs campaign ("Every Vote Should Have a Voter") around this theme and have worked it hard. If we can successfully demonstrate that this is an unfounded claim, I would hope that his would severely undermine the confidence of the court in the R other claims"

Foreman: You´re neutral in this case?

Handy: Yes, I am

Foreman (again): You´re neutral in this case!?

Handy: Yes, I am

Foreman: You want to "severely undermine" the confidence of those claims, regardless of the truth of those claims just because you disagree with us on the crediting issue?

Handy: There are some claims that I believe have been pursued by the Republicans that I do not believe are valid claims to the extent that -- and this was a classic one -- I felt that the Republicans in their public affairs campaign were manipulating information to convince the public of a loss of trust and confidence in the election system and I felt very strongly that it was a very misleading campaign I felt very strongly that the information was not correct or accurate and I did want to have this particular issue essentially exposed, and I was very interested in that. I thought that is was really undermining the trust and confidence of the average voter in the election system in a way that was not fair or accurate and I believe that today. And I feel just as strongly that our office has maintained as fair and impartial a position in this case as we possibly can.

Foreman: How can you say that?

Handy: I believe that

Foreman: You´re under oath.


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