NEWS CLOSER TO HOME The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 1, 2004 - 5A PETER SCHOTTENFELS /Daily Verity College senior Isiah Mays, far left, and Bob Reams, second from left, talked politics in Flint. TOMMA SO GOMEZ/Daily Boston College Prof. James Weiss, second from right, and Christian Her- witz, far right, from Boston volunteer for Kerry In Toledo. SFLINT Continued from page 1A Now any job he can get lasts only two to three months, leav- ing the certified mechanic to collect benefits from the local Social Security office, where he picks up a monthly check of $500. At a nearby Taco Bell, manager Yashia Thames says she has had it pretty good. She says she has a decent job with a great health care plan - but the same is not true for the other employ- ees at the fast food joint. "The people that work under me have to turn to welfare to compensate. It's been worse in the last four years. They don't get much from Social Security," she said. Thames added that the number of people coming in asking for job applications had increased since 2000. In a city of nearly 125,000 residents, 8.3 percent of the peo- ple were jobless as late as last month - an unemployment rate that's among the highest in the state, according to the Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics. Michigan's unemployment rate, 6.8 percent in September, is the second ; highest in the nation.k Because of this burden, Flint has been a campaigning target for President Bush and Democratic presidential hope- ful John Kerry, both trying to convince voters that they will best fix Flint's eco- K nomic problems if elected tomorrow. Yet most recent polls show the state is evenly divided between Bush and Kerry, and predictions will be hard to make until ballots are counted. One voting bloc that Kerry can count on is the United Auto Workers. Flint is one of several Michigan cities where car pro- duction has been vital to the economy, and most of its job loss has been in the manufacturing sector. The UAW has sponsored two advertising campaigns in favor of Kerry. Michelle Kelly is ready to do just that. As one of the owners of a nail and hair salon in a small residential area, she said she is encouraging everyone to vote, regardless of who they may vote for. But she will vote for Kerry, finding Bush at fault for almost all domestic problems - especially health care, which has been problematic for her since Bush took office. "Because I'm self-employed, I always had to try and find affordable health care," Kelly said. "Prior to Bush (taking office), I was able to go to clinics and get free care, such as mammograms. Now I can't even do that." Next door, Otis Williams' Barbershop is full of people wait- ing for a haircut. Owner Williams said he is also voting for Kerry, but not because of the economic situation in Flint. His business has been unaffected and consistent, he said between '" phone calls to set up new appointments. His main concern comes from Bush's foreign policy as well as the outsourcing of jobs. His customers tell him that the companies they work for, especially automotive giants, constantly travel to Mexico to train workers and find cheap labor. But he said many black voters in the area, including his mother, are facing a dilemma in voting for Kerry. "Since Kerry is such a liberal, he'll let a lot of the restric- tions on gay marriage and abortion go," Williams said. "Personally, I think that's the only positive thing Bush was doing." Bush supporters in the city are largely drawn to what they consider the president's adherence to moral values. Isaiah Mays is a student at Verity College, a Christian school in the city, and said he knows who he will be voting for. "I'm voting my Bush back in," said Mays, adding that the president is one of his biggest heroes. Mays is among many of Bush supporters who have strong Christian backgrounds. Although Mays said he realizes that people are dying every day in Iraq, he said he might not understand yet the wisdom of what Bush had done. "I want some- one that's going to make the right decision whether I understand it or not, at least I'll see it at the end,"he said. At the end, Mays said it was important that Bush had an "audience of one" and only sought God's ; approval when making decisions. Similarly, Janice Caudle at Paul's Pipe and Tobacco Shop has already voted for Bush because of his stances on abortion and gay marriage. "He's a man of faith and he turns to the Lord for a lot of his deci- sions," she said. Caudle and her brother Dan Spaniola work at the shop, owned by their father, Paul Spaniola. The Spaniolas would not reveal who they supported, but they had strong opinions about many domestic and foreign matters. "(Business) is getting harder and harder because they put more and more taxes on the owners. (General Motors) and other big companies get big breaks, but the small businessman doesn't get anything" he said. His father, Paul, has been alive since William Taft was presi- dent. He said the government covers the $3,600 shot he has to get every four months for prostate cancer treatment, but warns both men running for the White House to be careful or Social Security will soon be gone. He also criticized Bush for the current deficit the country faces. "This guy has gotten us so deep in debt that we'll never get out of it," he said. "My grandchildren will pay for it."' TOLEDO Continued from page 1A Lucas County, where Toledo sits, is a key battleground in the struggle for Ohio. In the 2000 presidential election, former Vice President Al Gore won this area by a sizeable margin of more than 30,000 votes out of more than 188,000 votes cast. But some Republicans say a strong showing in Lucas County could clinch the presidential race in the state. County votes are not awarded on an all-or-nothing basis as in the Electoral Col- lege, so campaigns must fight for every vote, even in heavily partisan counties. "Lucas County is probably win-or-lose for us," said Mark Bula, a Toledo resident and paid staffer at the Republican regional office in Maumee. The Republican phone bank, staffed by volunteers, was buzzing well after business hours on Satur- day evening. At the same time, volunteers for the Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign were busy calling supporters from their phone bank in Sylvania, another Toledo suburb. "Right now Ohio is key," Kerry vol- unteer Nathan Zeke said. "If we take this state, it's game over for Bush." h Both campaigns said they have vol- unteers going door-to-door to encourage" western Ohio residents to vote. Bula said this election is the first time the Republi- cans have conducted a grassroots cam- paign of this scope. "Have we taken a page out of the Dem-< ocratic strategy? Probably. They've done a really good job of getting out the vote in their strongholds, and we need to do that," he said. "We have a chance to establish a stronghold in north- west Ohio." Ohio's large number of electoral votes and outdated punch- card ballots have led some to compare the Midwestern state to Florida in the 2000 election. If the number of rejected ballots exceeds the margin between Bush and Kerry's votes, and the outcome of the election hinges on Ohio's electoral votes, Americans may have to endure a repeat of the Florida recount debacle of 2004. Ohio typically plays a crucial role in the outcome of the presi- dential election. Only two presidents have won the White House without winning Ohio in the past century. "This will probably be the Florida of 2004," said Greg Hodur, a North Dakota lawyer who is working with the Kerry cam- paign to inform Ohioans of their rights and monitor polls. "It's almost inevitable that both sides will challenge the results," he added. Legal challcnges over the state's punch-card ballots - used in a majority of Ohio counties - have already arisen. The punch cards are more error-prone than other ballots such as the optical scan machines that most Michigan counties use. The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the con- stitutionality of the punch-card system, arguing that the fact that black voters live predominantly in counties using the punch cards, and that more of their votes may consequently be rejected; is a violation of the principle of "one man, one vote." "We certainly think that some of the minority communities have been targeted," Hodur said. A court hearing on the matter is scheduled for today. Another legal battle may be fought over provisional ballots, which are cast by voters whose names don't appear on precinct rolls. A U.S. appellate court earlier this month upheld Ohio Sec- retary of State Kenneth Blackwell's decision to not count pro- visional ballots cast outside a voter's precinct, even if they are submitted in the proper city or township. The Democrats, who say Blackwell's order discriminates against poor and minority voters because they move more often, have not appealed the ruling but could do so after tomorrow's election. The country will have to wait for more than a week to find out who its next president will be if Ohio becomes the deciding factor in the election and the number of provisional ballots is greater than the margin between Bush and Kerry in the state. Under Ohio law; election officials cannot begin counting pro- visional ballots earlier than November 13. State Republicans have challenged the validity of thousands of voter registrations submitted by Democrats. A federal appel- late court ruled Friday that the registrations would not be reviewed, but Republicans could still appeal this decision. Democrats have sued over the authority of Republican law- yers to challenge votes in polling sites across the state. All these controversies provide ample legal grounds on which either camp can contest the outcome of tomorrow's election. Still, volunteers who have come to Ohio hope to avoid costly legal battles by turning out supporters at the polls. One of these volunteers is James Weiss, an Episcopal priest and theology professor at Boston College. "The East Coast has heard John Kerry's message loud and clear. Kerry's message needs to be heard more clearly in Ohio," Weiss said. "I've never been aware of an election that has gener- ated this much crossing of state lines." Chicago resident David Shiba said he took five days off from work to volunteer for Bush's campaign in northwest Ohio. He said he made nearly 1,000 calls in two days. "Illinois in not a close race," Shiba said. "I wanted to go wher- ever I could make a difference, and that's Ohio."