Oregon makes history with first mail-in ballot
By Anna Seeley
For the Emerald
Oregon’s place in history is
now irrevocably set: Not only
is it serving as one of the few
crucial swing states, but has
garnered national attention
for conducting the first-ever
all mail-in ballot system.
It is still debatable, howev
er, whether this year’s tense
election or the convenience of
mail-in ballots brought out
more voters than ever before.
Oregon Secretary of State
Bill Bradbury projected an 84
percent voter turnout for this
year’s election, and by press
time, 72 percent of registered
voters’ ballots had been cast.
As of Nov. 6,1,183,902 ballots
had been returned, 114,878
coming from Lane County. In
the 1998 general election,
there was only a 59 percent
turnout, with 1,160,400 bal
lots being cast.
Candidates and staff mem
bers of various campaigns
contribute this high percent
age of turnout to it being a
presidential election year and
the large number of initiatives
on the ballot.
“There is always a larger
turnout during Presidential
elections. There is also a large
number of ballot measures on
this year’s ballot,” said Phil
Barnhart, the Democratic can
didate for the District 40 race.
“We are facing enormously
destructive ballot measures,
that if passed, Oregon would
cease to be Oregon. A lot of
voters know that.”
Dr. Bill Young, the Republi
can candidate for the District
40 race, agreed.
“We had a greater turnout
in this election than past elec
tions,” Young said. “This is
because of the motivation that
this state may have great im
pact on the national ballot.”
State Sen. Tony Corcoran,
D-Cottage Grove, said the vot
er turnout for this year is re
markable.
“For 17 days, people have
been voting,” Corcoran said.
“More people voted earlier
than they expected.”
The strategies to encourage
voters to get out and cast their
ballot consisted of many
phone calls, walking door to
door and waving to motorists
as they drove by.
“We were walking door to
door for days,” said Ron
Craig, Democratic campaign
staff member. “It was scary
because 50 percent of [peo
ple] we talked to were going
to mail their ballots in on
Sunday. We had to tell them
they needed to drop it off
themselves. It’s too bad be
cause a lot of elderly people
couldn’t get out to vote, and
we probably lost a lot of votes
because of it.”
Volunteers spent many
hours walking door to door
collecting ballots and making
phone calls to encourage peo
ple to get out and vote. Volun
teers also worked on the Get
Out the Vote campaign, which
was aimed at getting college
students to vote.
“We bugged a lot of people,”
Barnhart said. “The earlier
people voted, the less calls
they would get. Registered
voters have no excuse this
year for not voting.”
The mail-in ballot system
also played a positive role in
getting people to vote, al
though many candidates had
problems with this system of
voting.
Politicians had mixed reac
tions to the mail-in system of
voting.
Jeff Miller, Republican can
didate for the District 41 race,
said this year’s election was
long and tiring because of the
mail-in ballot system.
“We had to constantly cam
paign because we didn’t know
when people were going to cast
their votes,” Miller said.
Corcoran said that while the
standard assumption is that
mail-in ballots increase voter
turnout, that might not always
be the case.
“It is hard to analyze for sure,
but we are watching [its effect]
closely,” Corcoran said. “This
is a new world and is happen
ing for the first time.”
Catharine Kendall Emerald
Eugene resident Susan Connolly wears political buttons at the Lane County Fairgrounds Tuesday evening.
Students congregate to watch election results roll
in
■Students gathered in the
EMU Fishbowl and Allen Hall
to watch the election unfold
By Lisa Toth
Oregon Daily Emerald
More than 400 students stayed in
the EMU until the doors were
locked Tuesday night waiting for
the results of the presidential race
between Vice President A1 Gore
and Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
The UO Students Rock the Vote
2000 Election Night Party, spon
sored by the EMU Student Activi
ties Resource Office, started at 6
p.m., but students parked them
selves in front of the large-screen
television in the EMU Fishbowl as
early as 5 p.m.
As students mingled with each
other, engrossed in commentary,
they started out with high energy
and nervous anticipation for the
election results. But as the night
wore on, students grew impatient.
Jeff Wiklander, a freshman busi
ness major and Republican, said
despite the excitement, he felt out
numbered. The crowd seemed to
favor Gore more than Bush, booing
each time Bush won a state.
“Gore was talking about how his
campaigning would help senior cit
izens, so I was a little surprised that
the senior citizens in Arizona
pulled for Bush,” Wiklander said.
Wiklander said he would be sur
prised if Bush won Oregon because
a Democrat has claimed the state in
the last four elections.
Most of the crowd in the Fish
bowl seemed primarily interested
in the presidential race, but a few
state measures held the interest of
students.“None of the measures
seem to directly have an impact on
my life as the presidency and Mea
sure 9 do right now,” said Wayne
Bund, a sophomore theater arts ma
jor.
Martha Mosqueda, a freshman
undeclared major, said she was ex
pecting the presidential race to be
close and knew it would come
down to a few electoral votes.
Mosqueda said she was frustrat
ed that Nader took votes away from
Gore, but she added that if Nader
wasn’t there, the country wouldn’t
be a democracy.
Mosqueda said she was comfort
ed by Hillary Clinton’s and Vice
Presidential candidate Joe Lieber
man’s wins for U.S. Senate seats.
A lot of Democrats said Clinton’s
win will give her a chance to speak
about issues such as women’s
rights and national health care.
Jaime Crandall, a freshman the
(i I am surprised
[Oregon] is such a
battleground. Usually by
the time you get to the
West Coast; the election is
decided.
Ken Stamper
senior, sociology major
ater arts major, said Bush is appar
ently not thinking of the long term
when it comes to issues such as a
woman's right to choose, military
spending and the environment.
“Gore would have been better on
environmental issues, especially
because he has proposed such
things as electric cars and other al
ternative forms of energy,” Mosque
da said.
Ken Stamper, a senior sociology
major and Republican who favored
Gore, said, “I am surprised [Ore
gon] is such a battleground. Usual
ly by the time you get to the West
Coast, the election is decided.”
Hours before the presidential
race turned into a dead heat, the
Public Relations Students Society
of America sponsored a discussion
about the influence of the media
and public opinion on the candi
dates and issues.
The group, led by political sci
ence professor Jerry Medler, met at
6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Allen Hall.
More than 30 people watched
televisions tracking the candidates’
progress. The tight results and pre
dictions from the New York Times
served as a basis for the discussion.
Medler spoke about the media’s
influence on public opinion and
the public’s lack of knowledge
about the Electoral College.
The candidate who wins the
popular vote in a state gets the elec
toral votes for that state, and thus
the electoral vote ultimately de
cides the presidency. Oregon has
seven electoral votes.
“Today is a unique day in our
lifetime due to the attention given
to the Electoral College,” Medler
said, pointing to CNN’s election
coverage on the television screen.
“What you see is an accumulation
of information from east to west.”
Medler said Bush started with
his home state of Texas as a base,
but used a “little state” strategy,
while Gore campaigned the heavi
est in and won states with more
electoral votes such as Pennsylva
nia, Michigan and Illinois.
Medler also said this year the
wait for Washington’s decision
took so long because half the state
used absentee ballots.
He said people have termed
Nader a “spoiler” because they be
lieve support for Nader is taking
votes away from Gore and possibly
throwing the election to Bush.
For more elections coverage, vis
it www.dailyemerald.com.
Republicans will keep majority in both House and Senate
By Alan Fram
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — Republicans retained
their hold on the Senate for two more years
Tuesday though by a narrower margin, as
Democrats boasted history-making tri
umphs by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
in New York and a dead governor in Mis
souri,
Remarkably, joining Mrs. Clinton in the
Senate winners’ circle was Jean Carnahan,
widow of Missouri Democratic Gov. Mel
Carnahan, killed three weeks ago in a plane
crash. In perhaps Election Day’s most
poignant drama, he outpolled GOP Sen.
John Ashcroft anyway, and his wife has said
she will accept the new governor’s appoint
ment to the job.
“We remain heirs of a legacy, heirs of a
dream,” Mrs. Carnahan, 66, told her follow
ers. “On this night, I pledge to you, rather,
let’s pledge to each other, never let the fire
go out.”
No one had ever posthumously won elec
tion to the Senate, though voters on at least
three occasions sent deceased candidates to
the House. Some Republicans have said
they might challenge the Carnahan victory,
asserting that the late governor was no
longer a state resident.
But for now, the Carnahan win assured
Democrats at least 47 seats — more than
enough to use the minority’s power to wreak
havoc with the GOP’s legislative agenda by
forcing procedural delays.
By David Espo
AP Political Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans re
tained control of the House early Wednes
day by the slimmest of margins, barely turn
ing back a ferocious, well-financed
Democratic bid to gain a majority.
“We figured it was going to be close,” said
Speaker Dennis Hastert — and it was.
Republicans picked up six Democratic
seats in scattered states, enough to renew
their hold for two more years. But their ma
jority shrank when they gave back eight oth
er seats elsewhere, including four in Califor
nia.
On a night extremely kind to incumbents,
only three lawmakers lost their seats, al
though a handful of others remained in races
too close to call.
A half-dozen seats remained in doubt,
some of them agonizingly close.
Shortly before 4 a.m. in the East, the na
tional trend showed Republicans had won
218 seats and were leading for 4 more, with
218 required to seal control.
Democrats had won 209 seats, and were
leading for 2 more.
In addition, each party could count the
support of one independent.
Republicans had won six seats formerly
held by Democrats, and were leading for two
more.
Democrats had won eight seats formerly
in GOP hands, and were leading for one
more.