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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Elections & Legislation |
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The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: People For the American Way Foundation and NAACP Release Report on Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America |
Current rating: 0 |
by People For the American Way Foundation
(No verified email address) |
26 Aug 2004
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Attempts to suppress and dilute minority voting power have historically included at-large representation, something that is being proposed in Urbana under motives disingenuously described as "equal representation." This new report is helpful when looking at at-large voting in the wider context of how democracy and truly equal representation can be manipulated by discouraging voter participation. ML |
WASHINGTON - August 25 - Less than ten weeks before the national elections, potential problems with voter registration lists, new and unproven technologies, insufficient resources for poll worker training, and inadequate voter education are increasingly being scrutinized for their potential to rob voters of their right to cast a vote that is counted. These, however, are not the only threats to the integrity of the elections, as a report released by People For the American Way Foundation and the NAACP makes clear.
The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America (http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16367) documents that the vestiges of voter intimidation, oppression and suppression were not swept away by the Voting Rights Act or by subsequent efforts to enforce it. In fact, deliberate efforts to deceive or intimidate voters into staying away from the polls continue to emerge in nearly every major election cycle.
"There is more than one way to deprive people of their right to vote, from systemic and technical problems to inadequate voter education to illegal actions by public officials," said People For the American Way Foundation President Ralph G. Neas. "Although voter intimidation has not historically been confined to a single political party, we are increasingly concerned about recent incidents indicating that Republican officials may be planning to challenge voters this year based on race."
"Minority voters bear the brunt of every form of disenfranchisement, including pernicious efforts to keep them away from the polls," said Julian Bond, NAACP Board Chairman. "This report is a reminder that while we are keeping an eye on state officials and new voting machines, we cannot relax our vigilance against these kinds of direct assaults on voters' rights."
The Long Shadow of Jim Crow reports that the poll taxes, literacy texts and physical violence of the Jim Crow era have been replaced by more subtle and creative tactics. Among recent examples cited in the report:
路 This summer, Michigan state Rep. John Pappageorge (R-Troy) was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election." African Americans comprise 83% of Detroit's population.
路 In Kentucky in July 2004, Black Republican officials joined to ask their State GOP party chairman to renounce plans to place "vote challengers" in African-American precincts during the coming elections.
路 Most recently, controversy has erupted over the use in the Orlando area of armed, plainclothes officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to question elderly black voters in their homes as part of a state investigation of voting irregularities in the city's March 2003 mayoral election. Critics have charged that the tactics used by the FDLE have intimidated black voters, which could suppress their turnout in this year's elections. Six members of Congress recently called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate potential civil rights violations in the matter.
路 This year in Florida, the state ordered the implementation of a "potential felon" purge list to remove voters from the rolls, in a disturbing echo of the infamous 2000 purge, which removed thousands of eligible voters, primarily African-Americans, from the rolls. The state abandoned the plan after news media investigations revealed that the 2004 list also included thousands of people who were eligible to vote, and heavily targeted African-Americans while virtually ignoring Hispanic voters.
路 In South Dakota's June 2004 primary, Native American voters were prevented from voting after they were challenged to provide photo IDs, which they were not required to present under state or federal law.
路 Earlier this year in Texas, a local district attorney claimed that students at a majority black college were not eligible to vote in the county where the school is located. It happened in Waller County - the same county where 26 years earlier, a federal court order was required to prevent discrimination against the students.
路 Last year, voters in African American areas of Philadelphia were systematically challenged by men carrying clipboards and driving sedans with magnetic signs designed to look like law enforcement insignia.
The Long Shadow of Jim Crow also reviews the historical roots of recent voter intimidation and suppression efforts in the days following emancipation, through Reconstruction and the "Second Reconstruction," the years immediately following the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act was among the crowning achievements of the civil rights era, and a defining moment for social justice and equality. Yet as The Long Shadow of Jim Crow documents, attempts to erode and undermine those victories have never disappeared. Voter intimidation is not a relic of the past, but a strategy used with disturbing frequency in recent years. Sustaining the promise of the civil rights era, and maintaining the dream of equal voting rights for every citizen requires constant vigilance, courageous leadership, and an active, committed and well-informed citizenry.
This year, with widespread predictions of a historically close national election and an unprecedented wave of new voter registration, unscrupulous political operatives may seek any advantage, including suppression and intimidation efforts. As in the past, minority voters and low-income populations will be the most likely targets of dirty tricks at the polls.
Forewarned is forearmed," said Bond. "We are reminding voters, election officials, and the media about the kinds of dirty tricks that can be expected. We must be prepared to confront and defeat them."
"The stakes and challenges in this election are unprecedented," said Neas, "and so are the collaborative energies of organizations and individuals working together to protect American voters and American democracy. More than 60 civil rights and other public interest organizations are collaborating in the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, which is identifying potential problems, holding public officials accountable for conducting fair and honest elections, educating voters about their rights, mobilizing 25,000 volunteers - including thousands of lawyers and law students - and operating a toll-free hotline for voters who run into any problems."
For more information about the Election Protection project and the national coalition of organizations working to implement voter education, voter mobilization, and election protection efforts, see www.electionprotection2004.org
For the report, follow this link:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16367
Related Articles on UC IMC:
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display/19683/index.php
http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/19244/index.php
http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/19148/index.php |
See also:
http://www.pfaw.org
http://www.naacp.org/
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This work is in the public domain |
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Minorities Bear Brunt of 'Subtler' Bias at US Polls, Report Says |
by Reuters
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 Aug 2004
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WASHINGTON -- The old methods of US discrimination at the polls have been replaced by ''subtler and more creative tactics," according to a report released yesterday.
Julian Bond, the board chairman of the civil rights group NAACP, voiced special concerns about attempts to turn away minority voters.
''Minority voters bear the brunt of every form of disenfranchisement, including pernicious efforts to keep them away from the polls," Bond said in a statement.
The statement said the report, by the NAACP and People for the American Way Foundation, found that the kinds of voter intimidation found in the past -- discriminatory literacy tests, poll taxes, and physical violence -- have been supplanted by other methods, including:
A plan in Kentucky to place ''vote challengers" in African-American precincts during the upcoming elections.
The use of armed, plainclothes officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to question elderly black voters in Orlando as part of a state investigation of voting irregularities in the city's 2003 mayoral race, which critics said intimidated black voters, potentially suppressing this year's turnout.
The barring of Native Americans from voting in South Dakota's June primary after they were challenged to provide photo identification, which is not required by state or federal law.
In a separate development, the AFL-CIO union federation said it will watch for any attempt to reprise voting-rights violations that marred the 2000 election. Voting irregularities in Florida threw the presidential contest four years ago into a muddle that was decided by the US Supreme Court, putting Republican George W. Bush into office even though Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote.
''We're particularly concerned about treatment of African-Americans, Latino, Asian-American, and Native American voters, who were disproportionately disenfranchised in the 2000 federal elections," the AFL-CIO's Cecelie Counts said in a statement.
The AFL-CIO, which represents 13 million workers in 60 labor unions, plans to work in 12 states where the 2004 presidential election is expected to be close, calling attention to changes in election procedures, voter education, and possible technical problems. The labor federation will focus on communities in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington state, and Wisconsin.
漏 Reuters 2004
www.reuters.com |
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Quoting from the Report |
by Dose of Reality
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 Aug 2004
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The VRA outlawed discriminatory tests like poll taxes and literacy tests in many Southern states in 1965. However, such limits also existed in other regions and were not outlawed nationwide until 1970. This 1970 extension of the Voting Rights Act dealt with exclusionary tests in 20 other states, including New York, Illinois and California.68
In 1968 the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights published Political Participation, a study evaluating the effect of the VRA on African Americans in 10 Southern states. In the report鈥檚 introductory letter to the President and Congress, the Commission noted the successes of the VRA were 鈥渁 great upsurge in voter registration, voting, and other forms of political participation by Negroes in the South.鈥 However, the main finding of the report was that many new barriers had been developed in the first few years following the VRA.69 The Commission described a number of incidents and grouped them into the following categories.
* Diluting the African-American vote 鈥 Switching to at-large elections (e.g. selecting legislative representatives through county-wide voting rather than through smaller legislative districts) was one method used to prevent African Americans from being elected in smaller areas in which they were a majority of the voting population. Consolidating counties and redrawing legislative districts served a similar purpose, making African Americans a minority in a larger county when they once were a majority in previous districts.
See:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16404
Then:
A number of studies documented how methods of disfranchisement evolved in the years following the 1965 act. Since most available studies focus on Southern states covered by the Voting Rights Act, evidence from other regions is scarce. That does not mean that intimidation was limited to that region. In fact, there is every reason to assume that many of the methods of disfranchisement existed outside the South. While clearly not an exhaustive list, these examples show how subtle forms of intimidation developed even in the face of federal scrutiny.
See:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16420
Finally:
People For the American Way Foundation, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a number of national organizations are combining forces to carry out the Election Protection program across the country in 2004. Election Protection is working now with election officials to identify and resolve potential problems. Closer to Election Day, Election Protection staff and volunteers will distribute state-specific Voters鈥 Bills of Rights in more than 30 states. On Election Day, thousands of volunteers will monitor polling places and offer assistance to voters who run into problems. Voters, volunteers, and election officials will have access to a nationwide toll-free number to report problems, including voter intimidation efforts, to a team of specially trained volunteer attorneys and law students.
Robbing voters of their right to vote and to have their vote counted undermines the very foundations of our democratic society. Politicians, political strategists, and party officials who may consider voter intimidation and suppression efforts as part of their tactical arsenal should prepare to be exposed and prosecuted. State and federal officials, including Justice Department and national political party officials, should publicly repudiate such tactics and make clear that those who engage in them will be face severe punishment.
See:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16401 |
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