Protesters plan to march at inaugural

By Hanna LoPatin

Daily Staff Reporter

The number of protesters at this Saturday's inauguration of President-elect George W. Bush could reach record highs if political pundits are right about the expected backlash to one of the nation's most controversial elections.

Dave Fernquist, one of two Michigan organizers for Voter March - a group planning to hold rallies in Washington - said he has heard estimates of more than 750,000 from major media organizations.

Though he doesn't expect the numbers to get that high, Fernquist said he is expecting between 20,000 and 50,000 people from across the nation - including upwards of 50 from the Michigan group - to participate in the two protests Voter March will be holding on Saturday.

LSA senior Julie Fry is participating in a student group that will be protesting. The group leaving from Ann Arbor, a chapter of the International Action Center, is currently made up of 55 students, though Fry said more people are signing up every day. The Ann Arbor group will be meeting up with other members of the national organization in Washington.

The large numbers of protesters expected have led the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the Secret Service to take unprecedented actions. Fernquist said they will not be allowing anyone into the inauguration area without completing a full search.

"They're necessary precautions," Fernquist said. "I hope they don't slow us down, but they probably will."

Both Fernquist and Fry's groups are focusing more on protesting voter irregularities than the president-elect himself.

The election of the president was drawn out more than a month after recounts and multiple legal battles ensued between Bush, Vice President Al Gore and outside parties, delaying Florida from designating its 25 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Florida courts are currently hearing cases from voters who complain that they were disenfranchised by several factors.

"The protest is designed to continue to keep awareness alive of the voting irregularities that occurred in Florida and elsewhere to let our election offices know that we will be watching what they do to fix the problem," Fernquist said.

Fry said IAC reserved space for protests at the inaugural parade long before the events in Florida had taken place. They intended to protest the current voting system as "an undemocratic process."

"We were proven right during this election," Fry said.

Though the IAC would have protested the inauguration even if Gore had been elected, Fry said anti-Bush sentiments stand strong. "We're showing Bush that even though he basically stole the election ... we're going to be

fighting him every step of the way."

Fernquist said that the purpose of Voter March is not to protest Bush.

"It's a very different agenda than most of the other groups that are protesting," he said, adding that Voter March participants tend to be moderate.

Cheryl Warner, a Voter March organizer in Grand Rapids, said, "We're a group of middle-of-the-road Americans. A lot of us have never done this before."