{"article":{"id":6942,"heading":"VOTERS RALLY FOR ELECTORAL REFORM","author":"VOTER MARCK","created":"2001-05-24 04:49:11","modified":"2001-05-24 13:26:10","last_modified":"Thu, 24 May 2001 20:26:10","article":"

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Election reform advocates planned to rally in

Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California, to push for changes in the

nation's voting system and a \"full investigation\" of the 2000 presidential

election.



Despite losing the popular vote to Vice President Al Gore, George W. Bush

won the presidency following a contentious five weeks of court battles and

recounts that gave him the necessary electoral votes.



Saturday's demonstrations are organized by Voter March, the same group that

brought thousands to Washington to protest Bush's inauguration in January.

District police said at the time that the size of the demonstration rivaled

those held at the Nixon inaugural in 1973.



Voter March founder Louis Posner said that he expected a diverse crowd at

Saturday's rally -- \"male, female, old, young, black, white, many of the

'first-time' protesters,\" he said.



Voter March seeks a reform of the election process -- including possibly

scrapping the Electoral College system that allowed Bush to prevail.



The hotly contested election went into overtime after the November 7 vote

when Florida's ballots -- and the state's 25 electoral votes that would

decide the presidency -- were questioned.



The final blow to Gore's hopes came late on December 12, when the U.S.

Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, ruled that Florida's attempts to recount by

hand ballots that had been ignored on a machine count were unconstitutional.



Although, the court said that the state could remedy the problems, it

allotted no time for such action before the midnight, December 12 deadline

for the state to choose its electors.



\"The indignation over the Supreme Court's highly partisan decision cuts

across all social lines,\" Posner said. \"Voter March continues to grow as

more and more people commit their energies to ensuring that the rights of

voters can never again be trampled.\"<\/p>\n","contact":"Voter@lb.bcentral.com","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Election reform advocates planned to rally in\r\nWashington, D.C., and San Francisco, California, to push for changes in the\r\nnation's voting system and a \"full investigation\" of the 2000 presidential\r\nelection.","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2001\/05\/6942.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":6950,"heading":"trampling of voter rights","article":"I have my own personal dislikes regarding Bush and his policies, but I will say that he won. Florida is a pivotal state in the national scene and has never been overwhelmingly right or left like California has. It has swayed both ways, but not drastically. However, that was not the travesty. The trampling of voter rights(which are actually privledges) begins long before 'faulty voter booths.' \"The people\" have almost no say in who the choices are and then there is no legal recourse should an elector decide not to vote the way of the constituency other than not having a position the following year. Even if Bush had lost while winning, he would set another record. Never before have there been consecutive Dark Horse presidents...Clinton was one too. When your choices are Corporate Altar Boy #1 or Corporate Altar Boy #2, you can hardly call anything fair and just. Educate to erradicate-Refuse, Resist, Revolt!","author":"refuse_resist_revolt","parent_id":6942,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-05-24 13:26:10","modified":"2001-05-24 14:00:01","fileurl":""}]}