Protestors take to streets of Seattle to back Gore in Florida

It seems last week's national election has the American electorate so riled up that even the local Communists were out this weekend stumping for democracy.

About 50 people of varying ages, colors and political affiliations met in front of Westlake Center yesterday afternoon in the election protest du jour, waving homemade signs and chanting catchy pro-democracy slogans.

As Sunday shoppers shuffled through the brick-laid mall between Nordstrom and the Gap, they were greeted with signs declaring, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

Protesters rallied in support of disgruntled Al Gore supporters in Florida, whose 25 Electoral College votes will likely determine who becomes the next president.

Allegations of voting improprieties and illegal ballots have angered thousands of Democratic voters there. George W. Bush, who needs 24 more Electoral College votes to win the presidency, currently holds a slim lead in Florida.

Seattle protesters yesterday called for a new vote in Florida. At the very least, they said that votes already cast should be manually counted.

But attorneys for Bush are expected to ask a federal judge in Florida today to stop a hand count that was authorized over the weekend.

This weekend, sympathizers in nearly 100 cities from Portland, Ore., to Portland, Maine, showed support for the thousands of voters in Florida who are demanding a presidential revote.

Saturday, more than 100 people gathered outside Seattle Central Community College on Capitol Hill, then marched downtown under police escort.

Yesterday's rally was thrown together by the Citizens Committee for Government Accountability, a non-partisan watchdog group formed in the aftermath of the World Trade Organization riots last year.

"We believe that the democratic process needs to be fulfilled," said Communist Todd Tollefson, who carried a sign that read, "Don't Bush-whack our Democracy."

At one point, a Bush supporter who argued against today's proposed manual recount confronted the protesters.

Mark Dugger, a Republican supporter from Snohomish, happened upon the rally while his wife shopped for kitchen gadgets. Holding his infant granddaughter in one arm, he pointed to sign-wavers and told them that a new presidential vote would be wrong.

"I want Bush to be president," Dugger said, "but I don't want him to win by some shenanigans."

Mark Taylor-Canfield, an activist from Capitol Hill and supporter of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, addressed the crowd and called for the abolition of the Electoral College.

"The people of this country must know with full confidence that their voices are counted and that nothing is being swept under the rug," said BJ Mangaoang, chairman of the state Communist Party.

Protesters at times competed with the wailing of a bagpipe being played on the opposite street corner.

Although they chanted slogans such as "Gore got more" and "Count all the votes," few owned up to being original supporters of the vice president. Many said they backed Nader or several of the other third-party candidates.

P-I reporter Candace Heckman can be reached at 425-497-1660 or candaceheckman@seattle-pi.com