NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 4, 2004 - 9A
FOREST CASEY/Dailym:A A~3t a 5 FOREST CASEY/Daily
Florida Republican Donelle Gomez, who works at A Kerry campaign legal supervisor looks over districting
a Publix grocery store in Palm Beach, talks during figures as she camps out in front of a West Palm Beach
her break about why she voted for President Bush. polling station Tuesday.
Floridians relieved, disappointed at election
By Donn M. Fresard "Four years ago, everybody looked down "It's going to depend on how Republicans act," is, 'Well, give us something,' " Williams said, ever before in expressing dissent.
Daily Staff Reporter on the state," she said. "I have family in other said Carol Ann Loehndorf, chair of the Palm "Let's talk about our agenda - you're the ones "Before, we had to be careful to appeal to
a
LAKE WORTH, Fla. - After the 2000 elec-
tion was virtually decided in the Supreme Court,
Democrats who believed President Bush's win
was undeserved seemed uniformly outraged. But
following Bush's comfortable re-election Tuesday,
Democrats in Florida varied in their reactions to
an outcome that few would call illegitimate.
Jennifer Carella, a John Kerry voter from
West Palm Beach, said she was surprised and
disappointed by the election's results - but also
relieved to see a clear result.
"'It was just so crazy last time, I was embar-
rassed to be a Floridian," she said, referring to
Florida's contested presidential election in 2000
that took weeks to produce a winner. "So I'm
glad this time at least we knew right away."
Donell Gomez, a Republican from West Palm
Beach, also found relief in the ample margin of vic-
tory and the lack of major problems in her state.
states, and I heard it from everybody: 'Oh, peo-
ple down there don't know how to vote.' "
Responding to the overarching message in
both Bush's victory speech and Kerry's con-
cession speech - a vow to unite the country
and heal the partisan divide - most voters
expressed hope that the mostly unquestioned
election result would help to reduce the animos-
ity many Democrats felt after 2000, when they
considered Bush's victory illegitimate.
"I think people will accept it more," Carella
said. "There was a feeling last time that (Bush)
stole it, or that what happened was unfair ... but
it seems like now he won by so much."
Democrats and Republicans were still split,
however, on each party's responsibilities in
healing the political divide. While most voters
and activists on each side said they hoped for
bipartisanship, none were eager to make conces-
sions to the other party.
Beach County Dem-
ocratic Party. "Are
they going to put out
a hand and say 'Let's
work together,' or are
they going to keep
throwing stones?"
Hunter Williams,
chair of the College
Republicans at the Uni-
versity of Florida, said
the only way biparti-
sanship can be revived
is if Democrats "move
on past their hatred of
the president."
"I think it's funny
that the day after
"We are going to actively
pursue his impeachment
and indictment.... We're
going to do everything in
our power to see that he
doesn't finish his term."
- Sean Selvig
President, College Democrats
at Florida State University
who lost."
Some Democrats,
however, seemed to
have given up entirely
on bipartisanship.
Sean Selvig, president
of the College Demo-
crats at Florida State
University, said the
result of Tuesday's
election would only
radicalize his group.
"When Bush got re-
elected, it really made
it seem like America
supports what he's
doing. We don't want
the terrorists, or who-
and take it out on us,"
middle-ground voters and all that, but I think
now we're going to say what we've been want-
ing to say all along. Sometimes America just
does the wrong thing."
Selvig contested the notion that Bush's re-
election was legitimate, pointing to problems
with absentee and provisional ballots. But
whether or not the election was fair is not neces-
sarily important, he said.
"Let's say Bush did win this legitimately,"
he said. "We are going to actively pursue his
impeachment and indictment.... We're going to
do everything in our power to see that he doesn't
finish his term."
Williams said he welcomed such a reaction
from Democrats.
"If the Democratic Party wants to take the
Howard Dean route, please, by all means do
that," he said. "The American people have spo-
ken on that, and they rejected it."
George W. Bush wins the election by over 3 mil-
lion votes, the first thing these Democrats say
ever it is, to think that
Selvig said. "We're going to be more active than
Jennifer Hart, left, and Bethany Willms, Kerry-Edwards campaign headquarters staffers in Columbus, Ohio, react
while watching John Kerry's concession speech on television yesterday.
Provisionalballots still
to be counted M Ohio
ELECTION REVIEW I RACES FROM ACROSS MICHIGAN
U.S. House of Representatives - 7th District
JOHN SCHWARZ (R) - 58% SHARON RENTER (D)- 36%
U.S. House of Representatives -1 5th District
JOHN DINGELL (D) - 71% DAWN REAMER - 27%
Mich. House of Representatives - 53rddistrict
CHRIs KoLB (D) - 80% ERIK SHEAGREN (R) - 20%
Mich. Proposal1-- Restrict gambling expansion
YEs - 58% No-42%
Mich. Proposal 2-- Gay marriage ban
YEs-59% No- 41%
Detroit Proposal E - School Board reform
YES - 35% NO-65%
ELECTION REVIEW I LOCAL RACES
Ann Arbor Mayor
JOHN HIEFTJE (D) - 69% JANE Lum (R) - 31%
Ward 1- Uncontested Ward 2 - Uncontested
KIM GROOME (D)-.99% JoAN LOWENSTEIN (D) - 99%
Ward 3 - JEANE CAR.BERo (D)-85%; MARc REICHARDT (G) - 9%;
RICH BIRKETr (L) -6%
Ward 4- Uncontested Ward 5- Uncontested
MARGIE TEALL (D) - 99% CHRis E ASTHOPE (D)- 99%
A2 Proposal A"- County parks and recreation
YES - 64% NO - 36%
A2 Proposal B - Washtenaw Community College
YES - 59% No - 41%
A2 Proposal C - Legalizing marijuana
YEs - 74% No-- 25%
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The counting of more than
150,000 provisional ballots cast in Ohio will go forward,
despite John Kerry's concession that President Bush had
won the state's 20 electoral votes, election officials said
yesterday.
Elections workers planned to spend the next 10 days
verifying that each provisional voter lives in the precinct
where he or she cast a ballot and meets age and citizenship
requirements.
"The pressure is off in the eyes of the media," said Jeff La
Rue, spokesman for the Franklin County Board of Elections.
"The pressure to count every vote and validate every vote
that is a valid vote - that pressure is never off."
Provisional ballots - required in all states for the first
time this year - are used when voters believe they are prop-
erly registered but their names do not appear in registration
records.
The ballots are counted later if election officials determine
the voters' registrations are valid.
Kerry acknowledged yesterday in his concession speech
that the provisional votes would not be enough for him to
win the state, where President Bush had a lead of about
136,000 votes.
Mark Weaver, a lawyer for Ohio Republicans, predicted
that election officials would throw out most of the ballots
after determining the people who cast them were not eli-
gible to vote.
Provisional ballots were the focus of an intense legal battle
even before Election Day. An appeals court rejected Democrats'
request that provisional ballots be counted if they are filed in the
right county but the wrong precinct.
But provisional ballot counting isn't the only topic of
interest in Ohio - a ballot initiative rejecting gay marriage,
which many say is the most draconian of the 11 such state
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Conservative leaders depicted the result as a nationwide
repudiation of the November 2003 ruling by the high court in
Massachusetts legalizing same-sex marriage there. No other
state has followed suit.
"Christians here and around the nation consider this a
great victory for the institution of marriage," said Rod Pars-
ley, pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio.
"We had to standup and say 'Enough is enough.'F"
Robert Knight of the conservative Culture and Fam-
ily Institute said the results should motivate Congress to
reconsider a federal constitutional amendment banning
gay marriage - a measure which earlier this year failed to
get the needed two-thirds support in the House and Senate
because of strong Democratic opposition.
"Historically, amendments to the constitution only hap-
pen after consensus is reached - they don't get passed when
conflict is raging," Knight said. "But now we're moving
quickly toward consensus. A lot of Democrats may have a
change of heart."
Activists on both sides say the state amendments approved
Tuesday - and similar measures adopted previously in six
other states - guard against state court rulings like the one
in Massachusetts. However, the newly approved bans could
be overturned by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that cited
the federal Constitution, which is why conservatives want
an anti-gay amendment passed by Congress.
According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,
there are roughly 2 million people in those states who live in
households headed by same-sex couples and could be harmed
by the amendments - including state university employees
whose domestic partnership benefits could be in jeopardy in
Michigan, Ohio and Utah.
Not all was lost for the gay community in Ohio, although the
gains seem to pale in comparison to the losses - in Cincinnati,
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sex couples. University President Mary Sue Coleman, as
well as Maynard and Taylor, have said they are prepared
to defend the benefits in court.