Message From Greg Palast: Black Voters and Disenfranchisement

[Joanne98]

BLACK AMERICANS DISCOVERED BY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
KERRY MENTIONS THE 'D' WORD

Like Christopher Columbus blinking in shock at first seeing an American Indian, John Kerry has just discovered African-American voters.

On Thursday afternoon, Kerry landed at the NAACP convention, stepped off his slow-moving campaign boat and announced that he was exploring for one million missing Black voters.

Let me explain -- because the New York Times won't. In the 2000 elections, 1.9 million ballots were cast which were never counted --"spoiled" is the technical term. Ballots don't spoil because they are left out of the fridge. There's always a technical reason: a stray mark, or my favorite, from Gadsden County, Florida, writing in Al Gore's name instead of checking a box.

According to data from the US Civil Rights Commission and the Harvard University Law School Civil Rights Project, about half the nation's spoiled ballots -- one million -- were cast by Black folk. Just as African American communities get the worst schools, the worst hospitals, they also get dumped with the worst voting machines, which eat, mismark, mangle and void ballots.

Poof! A million Black votes gone, zapped, vanished.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[yardwork]

1. Excellent piece. Thank you for posting it.

I think this kind of thing happens a lot all over the country. He's right that Democrats are as much to blame as Republicans.

[nofurylike]

2. thank you for this post. kick! n/t

[Moderator]

3. Good article. Thanks for posting but please remember copyright rules.

DU copyright rules limit an acceptable excerpt from
the linked article to four paragraphs.


Moderator

[RedCloud]

4. Was there a link?

if so editing the link may be an administrative snafu...

[Moderator]

5. Link.

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=350&row=1

[Catfight]

6. Are there no black Senators? Because not ONE Senator

in FH911 bothered to come to the aid of any complaints!!!! NOT ONE! WHY?