The Election Protection coalition was established to
prevent a recurrence of the wholesale disenfranchisement
of poor and minority voters through intimidation, poll
worker incompetence and fraud that occurred nationwide
in the 2000 election, most notably in Florida.
Why, in the 21st century, is this even necessary?
Surely, the Civil Rights Movement is not so far in
the past that we’ve forgotten the lessons learned
from the courage, heroism, and dignity of those who
struggled for their inalienable right to live and
vote as free and equal citizens of our nation. Next
year, we’ll celebrate the 40th anniversary of
the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Four decades should be more than enough time for
us to move beyond the ignorance of inequality. Unfortunately,
due to a concerted effort by the Republican Party,
minority enfranchisement remains under attack.
In 2000 , an estimated four million Americans were
disenfranchised. Those citizens were disproportionately
impoverished or from minority racial groups.
An improperly conducted purge of voter rolls in Florida
caused thousands of legal voters to be turned away
at the polls. Police officers set up checkpoints near
polling places, stopped African-American drivers,
and forced them to step out of the vehicle and show
I.D. Non-English speaking and handicapped voters were
denied assistance in filling out their ballots. First-time
Haitian American voters were denied the right to place
their vote.
Minority voters were told that they could not vote
without photo I.D. in violation of the law. These
and many other illegal and unethical acts, particularly
in the state of Florida, changed the results of the
presidential election and the course of our nation.
In the four years since that infamous November day,
Republicans have continued to pursue policies designed
to suppress the minority vote in order to maintain
power. Texas Republicans successfully implemented
a redistricting plan that packed minority voters into
a few districts in order to diminish their influence
on congressional elections. The Colorado Supreme Court
struck down an attempt to do the same in that state.
Native American voters were denied the right to vote
in South Dakota’s June 2004 primary for not
providing photo I.D., despite the fact that no law
requires them to do so. A local district attorney
in Texas attempted to prevent students from the predominantly
African-American Prairie View A&M University from
voting as residents of the county where the school
is located.
In Kentucky, Republican officials planned to place
“vote challengers” in minority districts,
a decision that was protested by black Republican
leaders. Florida attempted yet another purging of
its voter rolls, only to abandon the plan when the
lists of “ineligible” voters included
thousands of eligible, primarily African-American
voters.
Currently, a suspicious investigation of voter fraud
in a 2003 mayoral election in Florida has served to
intimidate African-American voters in the Orlando
area. Armed, plain-clothes officers of the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov.
Jeb Bush, have shown up at the homes of African-Americans
who placed absentee ballots in that election. It is
unclear whether there is any basis to the accusations
of voter fraud. Can it be a coincidence that the people
being interviewed are predominantly members of the
Orlando League of Voters, an organization designed
to get out the black vote?
Hence the need for the Election Protection program.
This Republican attack on the basic civil liberties
of law-abiding American citizens must be met with
firm resistance. We privileged heirs to another generation’s
hard work and sacrifice must ensure that their legacy
and our birthright remain inviolate. Our nation cannot
afford a sequel to the 2000 election. The Republican
Party and its leader, George W. Bush, stole the power
that rightfully belongs to the people of the United
States. They have used that power to weaken us domestically
and internationally, to attack the very core of our
democracy, the inalienable rights of our nation’s
citizens. We, the people, must not allow it to happen
again.
The Election Protection program is a heroic first
step and I encourage each and every one of you to
support it. But the best way to fight is to vote.
In these perilous times, the next leader of the free
world should not be elected by a minority of a minority
or appointed by a five to four Supreme Court decision.
Whoever sits in the Oval Office come January 20,
2005 should have the true support of the American
majority. If that man is George W. Bush, then so be
it. As long as the election is fair, we’ll have
to accept the outcome. But we should never accept
an unfair, illegitimate election commandeered through
the application of outdated, racist policies. We deserve
the right to know without question that our leaders
are legitimately elected to serve our interests in
the world. Anything less would be an insult to the
men and women that secured our liberties through the
heroism of mass protest and personal sacrifice in
the 20th century and an unconscionable crime against
those who follow us in the 21st.
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