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 ;.4 4 _ <,,- ... A..i,,, Tmo ta n Tn ao- l a-- a n 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, .he nn;nn'rnnly iymwih nhnon aws mennoarting gav riayhts :. i REGENTS Cnnued f4from nadse 1A sex couples. University President Mary Sue Coleman, as well as Maynard and Taylor, have said they are prepared to defend the benefits in court.