FOCAL POINT
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PHOTO BY DOUG SMITH
Yes, the ARC was dedicated on Thursday. But there is much bigger news out there
than that: We have a swimming pool! And all those present at the ARC dedication
got to throw fun little blue and white balls into the pool with Dean Lilley. How fun is
that? However, it was rather disappointing that no one fell in during the festivities.
FLORIDA
Shortly after this argument, all
three networks retracted their
projection and said Florida was too
close to call. Meanwhile, Gore had
taken needed wins in Pennsylvania,
Michigan and California, while Bush
hung on with wins throughout the
Rocky Mountain region and his home
state of Texas. Florida remained a
toss-up until both candidates pulled
within 25 electoral votes of the
elusive 270.
It was then that the networks
announced that Bush had taken
Florida and had won the U.S.
Presidency. The word reached Bush
and Gore, which resulted in the Vice
President conceding to Bush in a
phone call.
The projection was made with less
than 95% of the total vote counted in
Florida. According to Florida's
Secretary of State’s website, Gore
pulled within 600 votes of the
projected winner with 99% counted.
When this number was presented to
the networks, the state of Florida was
taken away from Bush and once
again dubbed a toss-up state. The
results were so close (estimated to be
a 1,700-vote lead for Bush) that a
recount was required, which lasted
until late Thursday night.
BLAIR
the day, lecturing on the following
topics: Money, Banking, and
Economic Activity; Strategic-
Management and Business Policy;
and Introduction to Advertising.
Also, Blair was scheduled to speak
with members of the Behrend Beacon
on Wednesday and relate his
experiences as the first editor of the
LOCAL RESULTS
Three state offices were up for
grabs this election, but all three were
won by the incumbent. State
Attorney General Mike Fisher, State
Auditor General Bob Casey, Jr., and
State Treasurer Barbara Hafer all
retained their offices. The closest
race of the three was the fight for
State Treasurer, where in a very dirty
campaign with allegations of
wrongdoings on both sides, Hafer
retained her office against former
State Treasurer Catherine Baker
Li A
After all votes and all absentee
ballots, excluding those overseas,
Bush maintains a 229 vote lead at
press time
“This was ten times more exciting
and nerve-wracking than the previous
elections," said Julie Lafferty, a
political science major. The election
was the closest since John F. Kennedy
defeated Richard Nixon by just over
118,574 votes. Not recently has the
entire presidency gone down to the
last state.
The night didn’t end with a clear
winner but since then, that A 1 Gore
seems assured to win the overall
popular vote. If Gore loses Florida,
this would mark the first time since
the 1888 election that the candidate
winning the popular vote lost the
presidency due to the Electoral
College. A 1 Gore is winning by one
percent overall, yet could lose 271 -
267 in electoral votes, if Bush wins
Florida and Gore maintains a lead in
Oregon.
The last time that this has happened
was in the Election of 1888, when
Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover
Cleveland, 233-168 in electoral
votes, while losing by nearly 100,000
popular votes.
The possible 4-electoral vote
Nittany Cub , Behrend’s first student
newspaper. However, Blair’s plane
was unable to land in Erie twice due
to fog, and he did not get into town
until 11:00 p.m. Wednesday night.
Blair made some comparisons to
the campus now and the way the
school was at its inception in 1948.
He lavished extensive praise on T.
One of the most interesting local
races was the fight for State Senator
from the 25 lh District. Bill Slocum,
the Republican candidate for the
office, had been resigned office
earlier this year after being convicted
of dumping raw sewage into a creek,
earning him the nickname “Sludge”
Slocum. By the time he resigned,
Slocum had already won the
Republican primary for a new term
and could not be taken off the ballot
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FROM FRONT PAGE
difference in the 2000 election is the
closest in over a century. In 1916,
Woodrow Wilson defeated Charles E.
Hughes by 23 electoral votes. If Bush
wins Florida, this will be the closest
electoral count since Rutherford B.
Hayes’ one-vote victory in 1876.
Behrend reaction among students
is mixed. Angelique Parker, a sixth
semester MIS major, said, “the
electoral votes defeat the entire
purpose of voting.” She added, “I
think that the entire election process
makes people not want to vote.”
The process was brought more to
the forefront when questions arose in
the counting of votes in Florida.
Despite a recount, confusion
occurred with the format of the ballot
in Palm Beach. Some voters who
wished to vote for Gore think they
accidentally marked the hole for Pat
Buchanan, the Reform Party
candidate. There is still controversy
surrounding the format, which has
brought forth the idea of a revote.
With the results in Florida so close,
Behrend students again remain split.
Parker feels, “to resubmit votes
would not be fair to some, because
everyone now knows that this decides
who becomes the next president.”
Reed Ferguson, who helped turn the
land Mary Behrend had donated to
the school into a college in just a few
months. As Blair put it, “Behrend has
grown greatly since its humble
beginnings.”
At the end of Blair’s speech he
posed for photographs with Dr. Lilley
and Dr. Spanier.
as the Republican candidate. Slocum
refused to drop out of the race,
withstanding intense pressure from
his party. A local Republican, Joseph
Scamati, ran as an independent and
was endorsed by the Republican
Party. This is a heavily Republican
district, but because the vote was so
split, Democrat, Joseph Calla almost
won. In the end, though, Scamati won
the election in a close three-way race
with 33 percent of the vote.
SATURDAY
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lolice A.nd Safety
10/31/2000 17:35 A coordinator reported a possible indecent assault.
11/01/2000 01:55 While in the S lot, an officer witnessed a vehicle striking a parked SUV.
As a result, the driver was cited for careless driving.
11/01/2000 11:10 A report of a potential conflict between an instructor and some students in
a 1400 hour class.
11/02/2000 00:15 A staff member informed a duty officer that she noticed a ceiling
projector missing from Benson 185.
11/03/2000 12:15 A complainant reported the theft of a Swiss army watch.
11/04/2000 20:00 An RA reported vandalism to a Lion Cash machine.
11/06/2000 18:30 A student reported having received a harassing phone call earlier today.
SILENCED
Office (ECVR) who told her that there
was no record of her registration. They
accused her of double registering in
two counties, which would cancel out
her registration.
Before the groups on campus began
their registration drives, they were told
by the voter registration office that
students who live at Behrend but aren’t
from this area originally have to vote
by absentee ballot. Supervisor Sharon
Drayer said, “college students are
supposed to vote in their home district.”
Drayer now denies ever saying that
students must vote in their home
district.
So far, there have been 16 students
that have complained about being
turned away from voting this past
Tuesday. All of these students said
they registered before the deadline and
filled out their forms with their Erie
County address.
Drayer says that one of three things
could have happened. The students
could have put their Behrend address,
but recorded their county as being the
one that they are from when they are
not attending Behrend. Students also
may have forgotten to fill out their
birthdate or forgot to fill in their party
affiliation.
All the forms filled out by students
at the College Republicans, College
Democrats and Beacon tables were
checked over before being taken to the
ECVR office. College Democrats
president Troy Frederick said, “we had
the voter registration office show us
how the forms needed to be filled out.
We checked all the forms to make sure
they were filled out correctly.” Other
students who said that they were turned
away for having not registered said that
their forms were checked and cleared
before they left the registration tables.
One student who was turned away
on election day was Maureen P.
Gallagher, who just beat the deadline
by filling her form out on the last day
that registrations were being accepted.
Gallagher lives at Behrend all year
while she is attending school. Her
driver’s license, however, has her
residence being just outside Pittsburgh.
This shouldn’t matter, according to the
law. Drayer assures that the lost
registration has nothing to do with
whether or not the person being
registered is from the area or not. To
counter Drayer’s reasoning as to why
student forms might not have been
processed, Gallagher asserts that she
wrote her local address of Wesley ville
on the form. She also said that she
filled out her form at the College
Democrats table, where all forms were
checked.
Weekend \Ve\d?h* Outlook
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Other students, including Nicole
Clouse, Jaimi Bonczar, Neil Makadia,
Kim Burkey and Dale Lamb also say
that they filled their forms out correctly
and had them checked by the group that
was sponsoring the registration table.
Makadia called the ECVR office and
was told that his form was probably
handed in late. Christine Kleck, a
Behrend student and a resident of Erie,
turned in her form with the pile of
forms that were taken to the ECVR
office by the Beacon. Kleck was
registered, Makadia wasn’t.
Drayer said that no forms were
discarded. They were either accepted
or mailed to the county that the student
accidently put on the form. However,
the students whose forms were lost said
they didn’t put their home county on
their forms, which makes some ask the
question, “where did the forms go if
they weren’t accepted or mailed to
another county?” None of these are on
record anywhere at the ECVR office.
Drayer said that the reason most
people weren’t called if their forms
were filled out wrong was because they
didn’t have the time to make the phone
calls.
Because of lost forms, several
Behrend students were not able to vote
in one of the closest elections in history.
Makadia commented, “I really wanted
to vote in this election due to how close
the results were projected to be.” Some
students were forced to drive home to
vote.
Gallagher stated, “1 understand that
mistakes happen, but they didn’t have
any way of dealing with the problems."
She added, “they should have
something in place if that should
happen.”
Dr. Robert Speel, associate professor
of political science said, “Erie County
may not have been in compliance with
Pennsylvania law on election day.” He
added that, “students like Gallagher
had the right to see a local judge on
election day to discuss their voter
registration disputes.”
Speel, as a college student in
Philadelphia, used to be heavily
involved in election day voter
registration disputes. He said, “there
is a Pennsylvania law requiring all
counties to have judges available on
election day to deal with any election
disputes, including voter registration
problems.” He called the Bureau of
Elections in the Secretary of State’s
office in Harrisburg and was told the
law requiring judges to preside over
election day disputes is found in
Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statues section
3046, in a section called Duties of the
Common Pleas Courts on days of
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2000
MONDAY
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primaries and elections.
Speel contacted both the Erie County
Voter Registration Office and the office
of Rusty Cunningham, president judge
of Erie County Court of Common Pleas
on Thursday, November 2, to ask if a
judge would be available in Erie
County on election day to hear from
students who claimed their voter
registrations had been lost.
Speel gave Cunningham’s office the
legal citation for this requirement, but
they never responded to him until
election day, at which time they
referred him to Erie County Election
Board Solicitor Beth Mole. Speel
talked to Mole who continued to come
up with reasons why student voter
registrations might be missing. But
Speel told her that was irrelevant to the
issue of whether a judge would be
available that day to hear voter
registration disputes.
Speel said, “1 am very disappointed
in the behavior of our local officials.
Instead of making all efforts to make
sure they were complying with the law
and allowing students who followed all
the legal requirements to vote, the
officials seemed to make every effort
to avoid the whole issue of
Pennsylvania law and kept making
claims about how students don’t know
how to fill out registration forms.”
Florinda Fabrizio, Erie County Clerk
of Elections was quoted on Channel 24,
WJET-TV, last night as saying that the
problem involved students wanting to
vote in two different counties, Erie
County and their home county. He
implied that it was the students that
were confused on policies on election
day, not the people in charge of the
local elections.
However, students Kim Burkey and
Scott Dzemyan both went to the Erie
County Courthouse on election day to
dispute their lost registration forms.
When arriving, they were told that they
could not see a judge, an act that is in
violation of Pennsylvania law.
Burkey said that she was treated
rudely and was disappointed that she
was kept from voting by people that
are supposed to be encouraging
students to vote.
She said, “people complain that
young people don’t vote. I ran around
Erie trying to get the chance to do my
civic duty and was denied.”
Frederick, the president of College
Democrats, plans to start a drive to get
all Behrend students registered to vote
in Erie County. This would end what
he feels is an attempt by local election
officials to keep students from voting
in elections.