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As Vote Nears, Law Students Pound the Campaign Trail

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published November 01, 2004

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<<But the magnitude of Mr. Korkor's volunteering efforts literally hit him when a handful of the 9,000 blank voter-registration forms—which he crammed into his tiny, two-door coupe—bonked him on the head while driving home. The president of the Law School Democrats of Ohio State, Mr. Korkor left the secretary of state's office hoping more forms would lead to more potential voters on Election Day.

''This is going to be the most important election of our lifetime,'' the 23-year-old Ohio resident said, noting his state, with 20 electoral votes, is a ''political hotbed.''Law students around the country have come out en masse to volunteer for the national campaigns. While each side offers differing opinions on whether President George W. Bush or Democratic nominee Sen. John F. Kerry would make a better commander-in-chief, both groups have committed thousands of hours for one unified goal—to ensure all eligible votes will count.


''We've got to make sure that people aren't disenfranchised on Election Day,'' said Courtney Weiner, president of the Columbia Law School Young Democrats. Recently a representative from the New York State Democratic Committee advised Weiner's group on state election law. And Ms. Weiner has brought in Democratic speakers such as Tyson Pratcher, Deputy State Director in Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's office, to further energize the students' motivation.

The law school Democrats have joined scores of other Democratic groups around New York City to host fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee. During the second debate, on Oct. 8, students shelled out $20 each to gather at an Upper Westside bar and support Kerry. Students also have canvassed neighborhoods and knocked on doors to ask residents if they have registered to vote.

Despite carrying a heavy academic load, Ms. Weiner said she carves out time from her studies to volunteer. She sides with Kerry on the issues paramount to her: reproductive rights, taxes, and the economy.

''There is a lot at stake in this election. President Bush is on the wrong side of every policy issue that is important to me,'' she said.

In a less partisan fashion, Ms. Weiner said, law students will travel to polling places in Pennsylvania on Election Day. They will monitor the voting process, answer any questions people have, and take note of any voting snafus.

A legal snafu in Ohio that kept law students and lawyers working around the clock was the petition discrepancy of Ralph Nader's campaign.

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell last month directed local election boards to remove Nader's name from the ballot because of forged signatures on petition forms and because non-Ohioans circulated some of the petitions.

Investigating the validity of Nader's nearly 15,000 petitions is one of the major projects Mr. Korkor and the Ohio State Law School Democrats participated in.

Volunteering alongside lawyers working for the Democratic Party, Mr. Korkor examined thousands of petitions, signature by signature, to help lawyers assess whether those signatures were legal and legitimate. Mr. Korkor said while he certainly cares about the politics, it is the integrity of the election process that is at stake.

''We believe if you're going to be on the Ohio ballot, you need to have legally gained access to the Ohio ballot,'' Mr. Korkor said, adding that lawyers found some of the people who circulated Nader petitions were convicted felons or lived out of state.

After election boards reviewed all the signatures, fewer than 4,000 remained valid. Blackwell, a Republican, thereby removed Nader from the ballot. The Nader campaign's website lists ''Ohio'' as ''in court,'' regarding whether he made the ballot.

But the Nader Campaign received another blow Wednesday. A Pennsylvania court stripped the candidate's name from the ballot, having found some two-thirds of the signatures fraudulent or deceitful.

With Ohio's 20 electoral votes and Pennsylvania's 21—two states that could tip the election either way—it is critically important that the voting process is followed to the letter of the law, said Blackwell spokesman James Lee.

This is why law student volunteers are crucial to the campaigns, he said. ''We encourage civic engagement from all citizens, but law students bring a certain perspective and specialized ability to the political campaign, as they are even more familiar with the legal process,'' Mr. Lee said, adding that campaign work will bring unforgettable experiences as they begin their careers.

Across the country in Los Angeles, Nick Lackie, the California State Chairman for Law Students for Bush, has been equally hard at work to make sure every vote counts. A law student at the University of Southern California, Mr. Lackie, 23, will send law students to polling places throughout the Golden State to monitor the voting process. Always interested in politics, Mr. Lackie's drive to help the Republican campaign is fueled by his beliefs in freedom from excessive taxes and a limited government involvement.

Come Nov. 2, law students from Republican groups like Mr. Lackie's and Democratic groups like Mr. Korkor's will make sure every registered voter has equal access to the ballots, and they will monitor whether election officials are adhering to state and federal election laws: laws like the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which President Bush signed into law after the flawed 2000 election.

HAVA requires all states to use a voting system that meets the legislation's minimum requirements; it mandates provisional voting; it creates a statewide, central voter-registration system; it requires certain voters to identify themselves before casting ballots, and it establishes an administrative complaint procedure for handling alleged violations. Mr. Korkor is leaning toward practicing government and regulatory law. Perhaps in the long term, he said, he could see himself running for public office. For now, though, he is putting all his effort into helping to elect Kerry.

Back in the primaries, Mr. Korkor's group invited all the Democratic candidates to speak on campus. Sen. John Edwards, the now-Democratic vice presidential candidate, responded first, he said. Mr. Korkor helped organize rallies that brought both Edwards and Kerry to his home state.

''I'm just some 20-year-old and, yet, when I talked to them, I felt like they were really listening,'' Mr. Korkor said, noting a major concern of his is the loss of 1,500 jobs in his hometown of Canton—jobs that got farmed out to overseas workers to save companies money, he said.

The excitement of working for a political party in a swing state is unparalleled to any of his former professional and academic endeavors, Mr. Korkor said, noting the historic importance of Ohio.

''No Republican has ever been elected president without winning Ohio, and only two Democratic presidents have ever won without Ohio—Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy,'' he said.

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published November 01, 2004

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