Critics of Ohio voting results seek a voice

WASHINGTON -- Senator Barbara Boxer of California is considering standing with House Democrats today in calling Ohio's presidential election results into question, in a protest tactic that would trigger a debate on the floor of the House and Senate over voting irregularities that some believe contributed to President Bush's reelection.

The maneuver would have virtually no chance of changing the election's result. But aides to several Democratic senators said yesterday that if any senator would back the House Democrats' challenge, it would be Boxer, a liberal lawmaker who was just sworn in for her third term in the Senate.

A Boxer spokesman yesterday confirmed that the senator is mulling the action, but said she had not made up her mind as of late yesterday afternoon. ''The senator has not made a final decision on this, but she is still thinking about it," said Boxer's spokesman, David Sandretti.

If Boxer or another senator joins House members in refusing to certify the election results, the full House and Senate would be forced to vote on the matter after several hours of debate. With solid Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, there's no realistic chance of such a vote resulting in a victory for Democrat John F. Kerry, or even a delay in Bush's Jan. 20 inauguration into a second term.

One aide to a Democratic senator cautioned that Boxer and all other Democratic senators could choose to remain quiet, in part because Kerry lost the popular vote by more than 3.5 million. Party leaders are hesitant to get involved in the challenge, since it has no real chance of succeeding and could make Democrats look petty, the staff member said.

''We lost," said the staff member, who refused to be identified by name. ''We need to move on."

Still, House Democratic leaders sent word to their members yesterday that they should be prepared to cast votes tomorrow, and nothing else is on the House agenda that could warrant a vote. John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat who is leading House efforts to investigate voting problems, said yesterday that several senators have privately expressed willingness to stand with him to force public debate on the Ohio election results.

Though Conyers declined to say whether any senators have made firm commitments, he said some lawmakers were embarrassed by the scene four years ago -- made famous in the movie ''Fahrenheit 9/11" -- when House members pleaded in vain for a single senator to voice an objection to the 2000 election results in Florida.

''All we're asking is for a senator to say this merits further investigation," Conyers said. ''I am confident we will have members on both sides of the Congress join us on this."

One senator who will not enter the fray is Kerry himself. As a sitting senator, the Massachusetts Democrat could join House members on his own behalf, but has distanced himself from their efforts to call the Ohio results into question, saying that while every vote must be counted, the more than 100,000-vote margin with which Bush carried Ohio is too large to be overcome in recounts or further investigation.

Kerry is traveling in the Middle East this week and won't be at the Capitol when electoral results are set to be certified today. Yesterday, he sent a statement to supporters explaining why he isn't joining efforts to invalidate the Ohio results.

''I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio electors," Kerry wrote in an e-mail message to some 3 million supporters. ''Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials, and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election."

In a statement released by his Senate office, Kerry committed to drafting a ''national proposal to ensure transparency and accountability in our voting process," but reiterated his belief that Bush won the election regardless of issues in Ohio.

''I have supported and will continue to support a close examination of voting irregularities in Ohio and elsewhere because it's critical to our democracy," Kerry said.

Lawmakers who are pushing to not accept the Ohio results say their real rationale is to highlight the voting problems that were reported in Ohio and elsewhere, and ensure that the problems are remedied before the next presidential election. They say a full investigation may reveal that Kerry carried Ohio, giving him an Electoral College majority, but say they don't know at this point whether that's the case.

''This is about continuing the subject of how we improve democracy on Election Day," Conyers said. ''To sweep it under the rug would be a disservice to the electoral process."

Kerry would have defeated Bush had he carried Ohio Nov. 2, and the close tally in that state stopped Kerry from conceding the election to Bush until the morning after Election Day. Bush's unofficial margin of victory was reported as about 136,000 on election night, and on Dec. 6, the Ohio secretary of state certified the state's results, with Bush topping Kerry by 119,775 votes.

But rumors have swirled on the Internet and in other mediums about massive electoral problems that could have contributed to Bush's vote total in Ohio substantially. Voters in some heavily Democratic precincts faced huge lines that may have discouraged many of them from voting, and scattered reports have emerged of voter intimidation and questionable vote-counting standards.

Conyers and a small handful of other House members have pressed for further investigation of those reports, and yesterday, the Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee -- where Conyers is the ranking member -- released a 102-page report enumerating many of the problems that have emerged from Ohio.

''We have found numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election, which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters," the report's executive summary says. ''Cumulatively, these irregularities, which affected hundreds of thousand of votes and voters in Ohio, raise grave doubts regarding whether it can be said the Ohio electors . . . were chosen in a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone federal requirements and constitutional standards."

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus conducted a dramatic effort after the 2000 election to refuse to certify the electoral college vote for Bush. One by one, the lawmakers strode to the House well to challenge the vote, but in each case, an impassive Vice President Al Gore denied their motions, noting that they needed at least one senator's official sanction to mount a formal protest.

Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.