The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 24

B4 City Region Boston Sunday-Globe SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 Recount affirms Chang-Diaz's primary win k. I jP00 1 t' I Wilkerson vows to press on with sticker campaign By Maria Sacchetti GLOBE STAFF A jubilant Sonia Chang-Diaz solidified her spot yesterday as the Democratic nominee for state senator over incumbent Dianne Wilkerson, after a nail-biting vote recount in Boston's City Hall. "It feels great," said Chang-Diaz, a former policy analyst from Jamaica Plain, who won by a 213-vote margin, 15 votes less than her margin in the Sept. 16 primaries. "I'm looking forward to being on the ticket together with Barack Obama, Senator Kerry, and the rest of the Democratic team." But she will also face Wilkerson, who, despite the recount had already vowed to run a sticker campaign as a Democrat to reclaim the Second Suffolk District seat that she has held for 15 years.

The only other candidate in the Nov. 4 elections is Socialist Workers Party candidate William Theodore Leonard. Wilkerson, the state's only black senator, has a loyal following but has also been dogged by campaign finance violations and other problems. She heavily monitored the recount yesterday, conferring with her campaign observers and election officials. But she left before it was finished to campaign.

In a statement released after the recount, Wilkerson said she had been prepared for the outcome. "Moving forward it is my expectation that history will be made on more than one level in Massachusetts in November," she said. The recount began just after 10:30 a.m. in a hushed room in Boston's City Hall, where election workers unloaded ballots from locked silver trunks, and stretched into the afternoon. Election workers sat at white folding tables, scrutinized each Sonia Chang-Diaz (above) watched election workers tabulate the votes yesterday at City Hall in Boston.

Dianne Wilkerson (at left) also observed the proceedings but left before the count was finalized. Chang-Diaz won by a 2 13-vote margin, 15 votes less than her margin in the Sept. 16 primaries. Wilkerson had gained five votes, and Chang-Diaz lost 10, said Gerry Cuddyer, chairwoman of Boston's Board of Election Commissioners, which ran the primary election. PHOTOS BY WENDY MAEDAGLOBE STAFF She warned that these issues would be magnified on Election Day, when high voter turnout is expected.

Wilkerson won by sizable margins in her strongholds, including Roxbury and central Dorchester. Chang-Diaz won in areas of Jamaica Plain, where she lives, as well as the Fenway, Back Bay, Chinatown, and the South End. Yesterday's recount marked the second recount between the two rivals who also faced off in a race in 2006. Chang-Diaz deflected questions about whether she thought Wilkerson should step aside. "My focus is on talking to the voters," she said.

Chang-Diaz had defeated Wilkerson in the Sept. 16 Democratic primaries by 228 votes, winning 50.57 percent of the vote to Wilkerson's 49.29 percent. Yesterday the recount focused on three wards for Wilkerson and one for Chang-Diaz. As Wilkerson left yesterday she expressed concern about the votes that were unaccounted for. ballot and declared the results aloud saying "Wilkerson" or "Chang-Diaz" as observers from each campaign looked on.

The recount focused on nearly 8,000 of the 18,386 ballots cast in the hotly contested race. By the end, Wilkerson had gained five votes, and Chang-Diaz lost 10, said Gerry Cuddyer, chairwoman of Boston's Board of Election Commissioners, which ran the election. The election results will be sent to the secretary of state's office tomorrow, where they will than $5,800 for the election workers alone, said Cuddyer. Seventeen ballots were unaccounted for and election workers were investigating and taking steps to prevent problems in the future. Wilkerson's campaign manager, Boyce Slayman, said the results, while disappointing, would not shake Wilkerson's resolve to run on Nov.

4. "We have 37 days to crank up this organization, energize our voter base, and win this election," he said. state Democratic Party hi 'U i 'Our first priority is to make sure that everyone is registered to vote. If and really make an impact in the national election, then that is we can be strategic about it where we're headed. Vote home, Democrats urge college students "-3- sure that everyone is registered to vote," said Stacey Monahan, executive director of the state Democratic Party, which also hopes to significantly boost its young ranks through the drive.

"If we can be strategic about it and really make an impact in the national election, then that is where we're headed." The coordinated Democratic effort began with US Representative Michael Capuano, a Somer- A become official. The final tally was 9,071 votes for Chang-Diaz and 8,858 for Wilkerson. John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, issued a statement offering congratulations to Chang-Diaz, and a pledge to help her win the election in November. "I expect that in the days ahead we will hold an endorsement event to help Sonia make the final push to victory in November," he said. The recount cost the city more Stacey Monahan, Rob Corddry, formerly of "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.

In recent weeks, state Democratic committee leaders have been meeting and holding conference calls with college Democrats and providing packets of information for voter registration, along with forms that can be used to register in all states but New Hampshire. (Students can vote by absentee ballot in New Hampshire but first must ter in person.) College Democrats gathered groups to canvass in New Hampshire yesterday. At BU and Clark University in Worcester, students are going "dorm storming," stalking the halls and knocking on doors with voter registration forms. They're al so setting up tables where students can get the forms and advice, such as what to write in the "ID number" space. (The last four digits of the Social Security number or the number on a driver's license.) "We just want to make it easy as possible," said Meagan Co-vino, a 20-year-old junior at Clark.

"When somebody has registered with us, we're going to follow up with them to ask them: Have you received any confirmation that you were registered? Do you need help requesting an absentee ballot?" said Jason Palitsch, 19, a sophomore who serves as president of the Northeastern University College Democrats. Nationwide, young voter turnout has been up for three successive elections those in 2004, the 2006 congressional PHOTOS BY (ABOVE) ESSDRAS SUARE2 AND (BELOW) DAVID L. RYANGLOBE STAFF Amber Smith of Chicago signed up for a phone bank at a voting rally at Boston University on Sept. 20. In March, BU student Adam LoBue (below) registered to vote in his home state of New Jersey, where he hopes his vote could make more of a difference than in Massachusetts.

V- REGISTRATION Continued from Page Bl Democrats are eager to claim the votes anyway. "In Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, we've really seen the im-pact that just a few hundred votes can make," said Melissa Roberts, vice president of the College Democrats of Boston College. "If those few hundred votes are from BC students, then I think we've done our job." The decision to vote in Massachusetts or at home is not without consequences for some students whose financial aid, insurance, or scholarship eligibility could be affected. But some are opting to vote at home, hoping to tip the balance in states where the race may be more competitive. At a table in Boston University's George Sherman Student Union this month, Kate Hamilton, an 18-year-old freshman, filled out a form to register to vote in her contested home state of Minnesota.

"I wasn't sure how it would work but they just said that Minnesota 'I but more wasn't sure how it would work they just said that Minnesota is of a swing Kate Hamilton BU freshman from Minnesota who registered to vote Km 1 SylA i -f 1 1 j-' 1 elections, and the 2008 primary, noted Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. "That's pretty important context because a lot of people start with the assumption that young people never vote," said Levine. "There's a fairly significant trend that started before Obama was a national candidate." If Democrats are able to harness that enthusiasm on Massachusetts campuses, it remains uncertain how many votes they could send to other states. In 2006, New Hampshire exported fewer than 2,000 new freshmen to Massachusetts; about 760 came from Florida and some 960 came from Pennsylvania, according to the US Department of Education. Assuming that enrollments remain steady and that every eligible student votes absentee in November, Massachusetts campuses could send about 3,000 votes to Florida, a tiny fraction of the more than 5.8 million people who voted in that stale in 2000.

The bottom line for Democrats: "They could make a difference," Capuano said. is more of a swing state," she said. Her friend Matt Ke-tai was already registered to vote in his home state of New Mexico, which is also considered a battleground in November. Students who voted in past elections have tended to cast ballots in their home states, according to voting studies. But Democrats are looking to reach the ones who may be put off by the process of applying for absentee ballots and returning them in time to be cast at home.

"Our first priority is to make ville Democrat, in a brainstorming meeting last year between party leaders and members of the Massachusetts delegation. "It's a great idea and one of those ideas when we were originally talking about it, we were al-most kind of baffled that it hadn't been done before," said Downing. Downing and Capuano appeared at a Students for Change rally at BU last weekend, along with Governor Deval Patrick and.