Protesters pushing for vote recount

Casey Newton
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 13, 2004 12:00 AM

A day before each state's electors cast their votes for president, a group of Arizona Democrats urged federal election officials to slam on the brakes.

About 200 protesters from around Arizona gathered at the state Capitol on Sunday urging electors to delay the Electoral College vote until each state performs a hand recount of the popular vote.

The event was timed to pressure the electors, who are meeting in each state today, to cast electoral votes for president and vice president. President Bush won Arizona's 10 electoral votes with 55 percent of the vote, besting Sen. John Kerry.
On Sunday, the protesters' primary aim, as described by one hand-lettered sign, was to "rage against the voting machines."

Protesters said that discrepancies between pre-election polls and the final results were evidence of fraud and should be investigated.

They said voting machines are easily tampered with and threaten the integrity of federal elections.

"I'm really fed up, and I can't take it anymore," said Jo Kimmel, who drove in from Tucson for the protest. "It's time to act to make each vote count."

State Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix, said he would push for legislation that would mandate printed records of individual votes. He also called for more accountability for poll workers who handle voting machines.

"We want to make sure that whoever touches that machine, it's documented," he told the crowd, which responded with cheers, applause and occasional tabla drumming.

Gathered on a lawn near Adams Street and 17th Avenue, protesters listened to Bob Marley songs on a public- address system and vowed to continue pursuing election reform. "This isn't about an election - this is about the voting process in this country," said Celeste Pettijohn, a Democratic district chairwoman from Phoenix. "We have no assurance that our vote was counted."

The event was organized through a Web site, www.51capitalmarch.com, that sought to generate protests in every U.S. state capital on Sunday.