Local Dems ask for more recounts

Web-posted Jan 5, 2005

By SVEN GUSTAFSON
Of The Daily Oakland Press

WARREN - Some local Democrats are pressing Michigan's two U.S. senators not to certify election results on Thursday, but instead support launching an investigation into alleged voting irregularities in the 2004 election.

Roughly a dozen residents from Oakland County and across Michigan, many of them involved in the recent Ohio recount, crowded the regional offices Tuesday of Democratic U.S. Sens. Carl Levin in Warren and Debbie Stabenow in Detroit. Both senators were in Washington for the start of the legislative session.

"The reason that we're here is that we observed the failure of the election system in 2000 and we worked hard to make sure problems didn't happen in 2004," said John Ashcraft, a Democratic precinct captain from Troy. "But what we didn't discover is the problems have metastasized."

The residents are asking the senators to oppose certifying the 2004 electoral vote on Thursday, demand a full investigation of the 2004 election and make what they call "serious election reform" a centerpiece of their legislative agendas.

Ohio election officials last week completed a statewide recount of results from all 88 counties that shaved about 300 votes from President Bush's total, trimming his victory margin to 118,457 votes. The president's victory in the Buckeye State effectively delivered him the election.

But recount supporters, who had said all along that they didn't expect the results to be reversed, said the recount did illustrate the need for an investigation. Several U.S. representatives, led by Detroit Democrat John Conyers, have held hearings on the Ohio vote.

Local supporters of an investigation pointed to discrepancies among normally reliable exit polls and election results that were beyond the polls' margins of error. In a report issued shortly after the election, University of Pennsylvania professor Steven Freeman said that exit poll data showed Democrat John Kerry leading in nine of 11 battleground states, leading many observers to predict that he would win the election. But he said returns came in different from what exit polls had predicted in 10 of those states, giving Bush victories in the critical states of Ohio and New Mexico and closer margins than expected in Pennsylvania, Michigan and many other states.

"While that is sufficient proof for Ukraine to overturn its election, we don't see that as having stimulated a similar kind of scrutiny here," said Ashcraft, referring to the Ukraine election results, where a new election was ordered after evidence surfaced of massive government fraud.

Supporters also cited examples including: the lack of oversight of election-machine companies that participated in both the Ohio election and recount; complaints of voter suppression, long lines and inadequate numbers of voting machines in minority neighborhoods; and malfunctioning voting machines. They also point to sworn testimony given during a hearing before Conyers and other Democratic House members from a former computer technician who claimed he was asked by Yang Enterprises, a maker of election equipment, to rig election equipment in 2000 to guarantee a Republican victory. The company has vigorously denied the allegation.

Supporters submitted to Levin's office a 1,500-signature petition calling for the investigation.

Bruce Fealk, of Rochester Hills, said the United States serves as a pillar of democratic principles for the rest of the world.

"I think we are at risk of losing that standing if citizens and their representatives don't stand up," he said. "It's an opportunity for Sen. Levin to lead."

Levin representative Vicki Selva said she could not speak for the senator's position on the issue, but said he is familiar with information about irregularities "and is open to any information or accounts or evidence." She said Levin and other senators face legal and other parameters in opposing the certification of electoral votes.

Ashcraft said by law, one member each from the House and Senate must object to the vote certification for a debate to begin. He said the group is trying to enlist a senator to join Conyers.

"What we're saying to the Democratic Party is the party has to stand up for itself because Kerry's not doing it," Ashcraft said.