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Have You Voted Yet? Need a Ride to Your Polling Place?
"By George Nelson and Andrea WoodVolunteers lined the corridor outside Mahoning County Democratic Party headquarters in downtown Youngstown, making calls to get out the vote and coordinating rides to drive people to the polls -- "everything we can to get our folks to vote," said Chad Tanner, regional press representative for the Democratic Coordinated Campaign. One block away, inside the law offices of Harshman, Bernard and Ramage, 40 more volunteers -- many of them from out of state -- manned a second phone bank.It's the biggest, best coordinated get-out-the-vote effort ever seen in Mahoning County history.Maria and Tom Danaher drove in this morning from Pittsburgh to report for duty at the party headquarters. "We signed up online with the Kerry campaign and they sent us here," said Maria Danaher.Lisa Pelosi and her brother drove to Youngstown last night from their homes in Manhattan. With voter lists -- mostly of Democrats -- in hand, they carefully followed the script provided by a group called Ohio Victory 2004. "Most people we are calling are very anti-Bush," Pelosi said. "They're telling us they already voted for John Kerry -- either at the poll or by absentee ballot."Attorney Michael Harshman gave his employees the day off and turned over his offices to Ohio Victory 2004. "From everything I'm hearing, it looks very good for Kerry," he said.Susan Wilson, a volunteer from Princeton, N.J., was supervising the phone bank in Harshman's offices. "The biggest problem we're having is running out of phones," she said. Wherever possible, volunteers were using their own cell phones to complete the calls. Many said they were leaving messages on phone recorders and when they spoke to voters who had cast their votes, many complained about long lines at the polls.When volunteers at the Harshman phone bank identified Kerry voters who needed rides to the polls, they notified Karen Wendle, a Youngstown teacher, who relayed the information to Kerry's Boardman headquarters, where drivers were dispatched. "Of the thousands of calls we've made, a small percentage, fewer than 100, said they needed rides," Wendle said at noon today. "All of them were very grateful for the help."Volunteers also were on hand to offer legal advice, and two young women came to the downtown headquarters to seek it. One had cast a provisional ballot at her precinct when her name wasn't on the register at her precinct, but was concerned because she had been told that provisional ballots wouldn't be counted. The other woman stopped in to get advice on how to avoid having to cast a provisional ballot. Tanner, the spokesman for the Democratic Coordinated Campaign, said he has been hearing "sporadic reports" about voters whose eligibility is being challenged, but wasn't sure of the stated reasons for the challenges. Early this morning, a three-judge panel voted 2-1 to allow poll watchers or challengers in Ohio voting places. Republicans reportedly mobilized more than 3,000 challengers to question ballots in what Democrats claim are predominantly minority and poor districts. Republicans argue they are trying to prevent fraud and keep ineligible voters from casting ballots. Tanner said Democrats have their own poll observers -- about 80 in Mahoning County and 60 in Trumbull --- but they have been instructed not to challenge any voters, only to inform voters of their rights and to defend challenged voters."Up until the ruling came down, it was up in the air whether it would be necessary to have them," he said. "We have our poll watchers telling us that Republicans are actively challenging voters and trying to keep people from casting their votes," Tanner added. "I think it shows desperation."Attorneys Gina Spade and Carol Simpson came from Washington, D.C., to volunteer as observers with Election Protection 2004 -- an effort coordinated by a group called People for the American Way. This morning they were heading to International Towers downtown to volunteer there."We're supposed to make sure that people understand their rights and are able to vote when they believe they're eligible to vote," Spade said. Spade and Simpson decided to volunteer because of the last presidential election and "the whole mess in Florida," Spade said. "It was a huge problem that people weren't able to vote that were trying to and we wanted to make sure that everyone who was trying to vote this year was able to."At Mahoning County Republican Party Headquarters in Boardman, volunteer Don Skowron reported they are "overwhelmed" with people coming in to help. "I wish we had more yard signs but people keep coming in after them," he said. All the party officials are out, leaving the volunteers handling matters at the headquarters. "Everybody knows their job and they're doing it," Skowron said. Volunteers are "calling our people and independents" to make sure they've voted, even doing a second back check. They are also dispatching drivers to get voters to the polls. "We have runners and drivers on standby and send them out as soon as we find out people need a ride," he said. In Mahoning County, he said, Republicans have one poll observer for each precinct. More Election Coverage:Go to the Polls and Vote, Officials UrgeLocal Elections Officials Ready for Record TurnoutBlack Females Targeted to 'Reclaim Our Democracy'Snapshots from Valley Polls -- Pretty Pictures for DemocratsContact Andrea Wood at [email protected] andGeorge Nelson at [email protected]"