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US ELECTION 2000: Florida and the Black Vote by
--------------------------------------------------------------------- http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57510-2000Dec11.html Bush Lost 9 to 1 Among Blacks By Thomas B. Edsall Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, December 12, 2000; Page A01 George W. Bush began his bid for the presidency committed to making a dent in the deep-seated hostility among African Americans to the Republican Party and its candidates. The Texas governor pleaded with the NAACP to "give me a chance to tell you what's on my heart," while acknowledging that "there is no escaping the reality that the party of Lincoln has not always carried the mantle of Lincoln." He campaigned with Colin L. Powell at his side, and gave prominent speaking roles at the GOP convention to African Americans. But on Election Day, exit surveys suggested African American voters rejected Bush by 9 to 1, one of the worst records for a Republican presidential candidate in the history of polling……… ------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57603-2000Dec11.html Irregularities Cited in Fla. Voting By Robert E. Pierre and Carol Morello Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, December 12, 2000; Page A38 "...Complaints about widespread voting irregularities in Florida have been most acute among black voters--who went to the polls in Florida in record numbers on Election Day--who contend they were cheated out of their franchise by a combination of forces, including outdated voting machines, understaffed polling places, inexperienced poll workers, intimidation by police checkpoints near voting precincts, and confusion that left some registered voters' names off the books." --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46308-2000Dec8.html Ghosts in Florida By Colbert I. King Washington Post Opinion Column Saturday, December 9, 2000; Page A29 "…..After several daily meetings with FBI and Civil Rights Division staff to review intelligence concerning alleged voting irregularities, senior Justice Department officials concluded that there were sufficient grounds to send federal lawyers to Florida last Monday. The decision was a long time coming." Since Election Day, civil rights groups have demanded that the Justice Department probe numerous complaints of improprieties, minority vote dilution and violation of federal civil rights laws in Florida voting precincts. This week, the federal government finally agreed to act--with too little and too late, critics say. Maybe not…." --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20111-2000Dec3.html Too Many Voters Turned Away By William Raspberry Washington Post Opinion Column Monday, December 4, 2000; Page A27 "Are things worse than we thought in Florida--something more ominous than partisan squabbling over which flawed ballots to count? Or does the closeness of the presidential election there simply magnify the goofs, screw-ups and highhandedness present in almost every major election? A coalition of civil-rights and voting-rights organizations has been taking affidavits from African Americans, Hispanics and Haitians who say they were turned away from the polls on Nov. 7. How many? Officials say hundreds, perhaps thousands……." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/29/election.naacp.reut/ NAACP to go to court over election in Florida November 29, 2000 CNN Web posted at: 4:51 PM EST (2151 GMT) "BALTIMORE, Maryland (Reuters) - The NAACP on Wednesday said it would go to court in Florida to seek remedies for alleged voting irregularities that civil rights leaders claim denied the right to vote to untold numbers of blacks on Election Day. As post-election wrangling between Republicans and Democrats entered a fourth week, the leading U.S. civil rights group said it would seek "injunctive relief" for minority voters who insist they were illegally turned away by sheriff's deputies, wrongly stricken from voter rolls or beset by other dubious barriers. NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said several lawsuits would be filed as early as next week against the state government and election officials in counties including Broward, Miami-Dade and Hillsboro. .." -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/2000/11/27/winners.html The Real Winners: Black Voters No matter how the Florida mess turns out, their clout can't be ignored Jack E. White November 20, 2000 TIME Magazine "His grandiloquence the Rev. Jesse Jackson maintains that "I've never seen such a wholesale machinery of disenfranchisement at work" as what occurred in Florida on this Election Day. It was, he says, "a 10 on a scale of 10" in the degree of voting-rights abuses, worse than Selma, Ala. Though that is an exaggeration, since no one was murdered for the right to vote in Florida during last week's balloting, as they were in Selma, Jackson has a point. In Florida, black college students came to the polls with their registration cards but were turned away because their names were not listed on the voting rolls. In some black neighborhoods cops set up intimidating roadblocks near polling places to check IDs. Some voters who applied for absentee ballots never got them, while others who came to the polls were told that they had already voted absentee and were turned away….." -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42391-2000Nov19.html A Good Battle That Teaches How to Fight By Courtland Milloy Washington Post Opinion Column Sunday, November 19, 2000; Page C01 "African American voters were mobilized like an army for this presidential election. And when it came to Florida, the most crucial of all battleground states, we fought exceptionally well. Almost 70 percent more blacks voted in the Sunshine State this time than in 1996--893,000, compared with 530,000. Nearly 30 percent of Florida's votes for Al Gore came from blacks, although blacks make up only 13 percent of the state's voting-age population. Of course, as in any contest where war-game strategies are employed, some of us became casualties. In the heat of battle, many became confused and abandoned their posts without taking their best shots. Take reports of police checkpoints in the vicinity of several polling places in African American neighborhoods. Supposedly, some did an about-face and returned home. The Justice Department should certainly investigate what would amount to obvious intimidation….." -------------------------------------------------------------------- ALUKO COMMENTARY ---------------- In any country, there are so-called "population" and/or economic minorities. The above accounts show how they have or might have or could be discriminated against in elections. Count all votes in Florida, Supreme Court! We wish you spoke up, Justice Clarence Thomas - or at all! --------------------------------------------------------------------- |