Protesters say presidential vote flawed

[k8conant]

http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/122804/b03p28rally.html
By LIZ SADLER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: December 28, 2004)

Some 30 protesters gathered yesterday in front of the White Plains office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and demanded an investigation into what they called the disenfranchisement of black voters in the 2004 presidential election.

Bundled in winter coats and carrying bright neon signs, the protesters convened at noon at Mamaroneck Avenue and Bloomingdale Road. It was the third rally in recent weeks organized by political activists to protest "voter fraud and manipulation" in Ohio and Florida, said Nick Mottern, 65, a Peekskill carpenter and activist.

Yesterday's rally was the first to focus on black voters, he said.

"I'm here because I think the FBI should investigate," said Barbara Ehrentreu of North White Plains, a registered Democrat who said she got involved in political activism during this year's presidential campaign.

According to certified election results, President Bush defeated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in Ohio by 119,000 votes on Nov. 2, giving him that state's 20 electoral votes.

Charles Coca, the president of the Ossining chapter of the NAACP, said the problem of black voter disenfranchisement stretches beyond Ohio and Florida.

"It's a nationwide issue, Coca said. "Every state matters; every voter counts."

Mottern, a registered Democrat, dropped off a letter a couple of weeks ago at the FBI office in White Plains, calling for an investigation into the elections in Ohio and Florida. He mailed another letter to the FBI in Washington, D.C., that was signed by about 15 protesters, he said.

They have not received a response. An agent at the FBI's Cleveland office did not respond to a telephone message yesterday.

Jason Gooljar, 25, a Hartsdale resident who worked on Andrea Stewart-Cousins' campaign for the state's 35th Senate District, said he sees parallels between that race and the presidential election.

In the state Senate race, a state Supreme Court justice has ruled that the absentee ballots of 45 election workers and 450 paper ballots cast by voters who went to the wrong polling place will not be counted.

"When you don't count their votes, they're not being heard," said Gooljar, a Democrat.