University enrollment jumps to 20,339 | 3
An independent neivspaper
www. dailyemerald. com
Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 49 | Wednesday, November 3, 2004
★ AMERICA VOTES 2004 ★
Another close call sweeps U.S*
Students
react as
election
unfolds
Supporters from both parties meet
around town to cast ballots and
wait anxiously for the final call
BY PARKER HOWELL & MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
NEWS REPORTERS
In a tight presidential race, with President
Bush’s 254 electoral seats to Sen. John Kerry’s
242 as of midnight, Bush supporters rejoiced and
some Kerry advocates resigned themselves to the
possibility of a Republican win Tbesday night as
returned ballots flooded in around the nation.
7:30 p.m. — Thirty minutes before the 8 p.m.
deadline to drop of ballots, sophomore Cailin
Wheeler deposited her ballot in the Lane Coun
ty Elections box in the basement of the EMU.
Wheeler said she rushed to the drop box be
cause she had misplaced her ballot.
“I was frantically searching because I definitely
wanted to take part in the election,” she said.
Wheeler said she “definitely” planned to
watch the election and planned to make a “little
party out of it” with her roommates.
Wheeler added that she has seen many students
take the initiative to become informed voters.
“I think it’s great so many young people are
getting involved by watching the debates and
being informed,” she said.
As last-minute voters streamed in to drop off
their ballots, election volunteers and John and
Ralph Smeed waited nearby to collect the bal
lots. John, a Democrat, and Ralph, a Republi
can, satisfy the county requirement that volun
teers who collect ballots must be members of
both parties. The brothers, who have worked
the University drop box for several years, said
the rate of voters seemed higher this year. John
Smeed, a former county employee, said the pair
usually receives one locked metal box to trans
fer ballots back to Lane County Elections, but
this year they received two.
8:10 p.m. — Local candidates, campaign sup
porters and hundreds of interested voters
crowded around two big screen televisions at
Elections Central at the Lane Events Center to
watch county and national returns. As a jazz
band played nearby, people flipped through the
first set of Lane County returns.
At about 8:20 p.m. Springfield resident Julie
Emmett, 44, stood in front of the wide-screen TVs,
pacing nervously. Emmett has been involved with
anti-Bush groups such as MoveOn.org and said
this has been the most emotionally involved elec
tion season of her lifetime.
Emmett said she was torn between ignoring
election coverage until all winners were officially
declared and gluing herself to the television screen.
“Part of me wants to wait because I’m so
emotionally invested I can’t stand the sus
pense,” Emmett said.
University graduate student Dan Platt said
Measure 37 was the measure he was most in
terested in because he had been working with a
local progressive organization as part of the No
on 37 campaign.
Platt voted for Ralph Nader in the 2000 elec
tion but was a resident of New Jersey, which was
decisively in favor of Democratic presidential
LOCAL page 8
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS
A race too close to call
President Bush and John Kerry traded victories and then sweated
out the conclusion as Ohio loomed as this year’s Florida.
Results as of 1:40 a.m. EST Nov. 3
Electoral
vote count: Bush: 249 Kerry: 221
Not yet fjBffBlf State won
called by Bush
State won
by Kerry
80.6%
of precincts
reporting
■ W.Va. - 5
Af
ELECTORAL VOTE
Selected blocks of electors
from each state cast their
votes for the presidential can
didate. The number of elec
tors is equal to the state’s
congressional representation.
Generally, the electors vote
for whichever candidate wins
the state's popular vote. A
presidential candidate must
get 270 electoral votes of the
total 538 votes to be elected.
The electors meet in their
state capitals on the first
Monday after the second
Wednesday in December to
cast their votes.
POPULAR VOTE
This is the total number of
votes cast by registered voters
during the elections for a par
ticular presidential candidate.
OREGON RESULTS
Democratic presidential candidate John
Kerry carried the state of Oregon with
52.16 percent of the vote, while his
opponent, President Bush, had garnered
46.48 percent, at press time.
More than 1.4 million Oregonians voted
in this year’s hotly contested election, ac
cording to Secretary of State election sta
tistics. That constitutes about 62 percent
of the state’s 2,346,300 registered voters.
A breakdown of voting numbers show
President Bush with a clear lead in at least
23 counties, while Kerry held ground in
Democratic strongholds like Multnomah
and Benton County, along with 8 other
counties. As of press time, two counties
had not posted updated results: Wallowa
and Wheeler counties.
1,450,448 Total votes in Oregon reported.
1) 755,596 votes for John F. Kerry (D)
2) 675,099 votes for George W. Bush (R)
3) 19,753 votes for other candidates
County
Republican
Unreported
Democratic
Statewide
-^U.S. U.S. ^ Oregon Oregon
Senate House Senate House
Independent 1 seat
Bret Furtwancler | Graphic artist
Bush prepares for victory;
Kerry reftises to concede
Ohio stands as this year's battleground with the state's 20 electoral
votes still unclaimed; New Hampshire is first state to switch parties
BYRON FOURNIER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With Ohio looming
as a Florida redux, President Bush prepared to
declare re-election victory in the wee hours of
Wednesday and Democratic rival John Kerry re
fused to concede.
"We will fight for every vote,” said Kerry run
ning mate John Edwards.
After winning Nevada and pulling within 16
electoral votes of the 270 required for a second
term, Bush was laying claim to Ohio’s 20 over
Kerry’s objections. “We will not base our deci
sion on a concession,” said Bush adviser Dan
Bartlett as other aides said Bush would soon go
before supporters to declare victory.
Ceding nothing, Kerry dispatched Edwards
to tell supporters in Boston: “We’ve waited
four years for this victory. We can wait one
more night.”
The 92-word statement was an eerie echo of
2000 when advisers to both Bush and Democrat
A1 Gore told supporters that the race was too
close to call — setting off a 36-day recount and
a Supreme Court ruling that put Bush in office.
Republicans expanded their majority in the
Senate, knocking off Senate Minority Leader
Tom Daschle in a grim night for Democrats. The
GOP also extended its decade-long hold on the
House for another two years, knocking off four
veteran Texas Democrats.
NATIONAL page 3
STATE BALLOT
MEASURE RESULTS
31
Amends constitution: Authorizes
law permitting postponement of
election for particular public office
when nominee for office dies.
Amends constitution: Deletes
02 reference to mobile homes from
provisional dealings with taxes and
fees on motor vehicles.
PASSES j
65.35 X Yes I
34.65 X Nc !
i
-j
PASSES ■
61.49 X Yes I
38.51 X No j
Amends medical marijuana act FAILS 1
on Requires marijuana dispensaries for —
supplying patients/caregivers, 41.88 X Yen j
raises patients’ possession limit. 58.12 X No \
Requires balancing timber FAILS '
production, resource conservation/ —
34 preservation in managing state 38.20 X Yes :
forests; specifically addresses two 61.80 X No j
forests.
Amends constitution: Limits PASSED
noneconomic damages (defined) -
35 recoverable for patient injuries 50.27 X'r
caused by heathcare provider's 49.73 X No *
negligence or recklessness.
36
Amends constitution: Only marriage PASSES
between one man and one woman -
is valid and legally recognized as 56.69 X Yes .
marriage. 43.31 X No !
i
Governments must pay owners, or PASSES 1
forgo enforcement, when certain
land use restrictions reduce 59.50 X Yes j
property value. 40.50 X No ’
Abolishes SAIF; state must reinsure, FAILS \
oo satisfy SAIF’s obligations; dedicates
proceeds, potential surplus to public 38.12 X Yes j
purposes. 61.88 X No I
_I
STATE
RESULTS
U.S. SENATOR
RonWydenfD}
64.43 X of the vote
U.S. REP. DIST. 4
FeterA.DeFazto(D)
60.70% of the vote
SECRETARY OF STATE
BHBradbuiy(D)
58.23% of the vote
STATE TREASURER
Randall Edwards (D)
54.32% of the vote
ATTORNEY. GENERAL
Hardy Myers (D)
56.16% of the vote
STATE SENATE DIST. 4
Floyd Prazanski (D)
60.39% of the vote
STATE REP. DIST. 8
Paul Holvey (D)
71.56% of the vote
EUGENE
RESULTS
iSllfp»*
EUGENE MAYOR
- 100% of the vote
MEASURE 20-88
■
to Partially Fund CMc
Center Vision Project.
Should the city issue
$6,790,0£X) of general
obligation bonds to partially
fundtbe first phase of the
Civic Center Vision project?
39.72 XYes
60.28 X No
MEASURE 20-90.
EUGENE 4J
SCHOOL DISTRICT
Renew 5 year local option
levy for school operations
In 2000 the Eugene
School District 4J voters
approved a local option
levy of $1.60 per$l,000of
assessed value of property
to support school district
operations. The measure
renews that levy at the
same rate.
71.48 XYes
28.52 XNo