New Florida vote scandal feared
Our Election 2004 Fiasco Preview begins where the fiasco began last time: Florida. While The Sunshine State’s 2000 debacle gave us 36 days of breezy, lighthearted fun, there were negative aspects as well, and the state has been warned by God four times this hurricane season alone to never let it happen again.
Let the fun begin. As Election Day draws closer, the battle lines are beginning to harden, and the question becomes: just how low will Republicans sink in their effort to “win” the White House? Florida led the way in 2000 when it came to voting irregularities and disenfranchising voters, and it appears that it may well be out in front again on Tuesday.
Florida has had four years to get it’s electoral act together. By all indications, however, not much has really changed. In fact, it would appear that Florida is ripe for the stealing once again.
Making matters worse is that Florida may not be the only state running the risk of see a repeat of 2000’s contentiousness and legal wrangling. Prior to 2000, this country had never experienced a Presidential election that could reasonably be described as stolen. Now, we are running the very real risk of seeing that happen in consecutive elections.
It would seem that Jeb Bush and Florida’s election officials have learned exactly nothing from the 2000 debacle…or maybe they really are OK with voter intimidation and disenfranchisement in the service of George W. Bush. What a disgrace….
A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state’s African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.
Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign’s national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called “caging list”.
It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida.
An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: “The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day.”
Ion Sancho, a Democrat, noted that Florida law allows political party operatives inside polling stations to stop voters from obtaining a ballot….
The list of Jacksonville voters covers an area with a majority of black residents.
When asked by Newsnight for an explanation of the list, Republican spokespersons claim the list merely records returned mail from either fundraising solicitations or returned letters sent to newly registered voters to verify their addresses for purposes of mailing campaign literature.
Republican state campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker Fletcher stated the list was not put together “in order to create” a challenge list, but refused to say it would not be used in that manner.
Rather, she did acknowledge that the party’s poll workers will be instructed to challenge voters, “Where it’s stated in the law.”
There was no explanation as to why such clerical matters would be sent to top officials of the Bush campaign in Florida and Washington.
Gee, do you think it just might have SOMETHING to do with making a concerted effort to intimidate African-American voters into staying away from the voting booth? Since African-Americans historically vote overwhelming Democratic, Republicans would certainly have an interest in minimizing the numbers who appear at polling places, wouldn’t they?
It would be nice to think in this day and age that one man/one vote actually means something. We may well find out on Tuesday that in battleground states like Florida and Ohio, Democrats may be fighting an uphill battle when it comes to ensuring that their votes count.
It is my hope that this fear will turn out to be an unjustified false alarm, but given what took place in Florida in 2000, and given the contentious nature of this election…well, use your imagination. This could get ugly early, and it could stay that for an extended period. It took 36 days in 2000. That may just be the warmup period this time around.
