Thursday, March 28, 2024

New book claims Latinos were disenfranchised in 2004 Election

Author urges that leaders ensure that no Latinos are disenfranchised in the upcoming elections…

On the eve of the 2004 presidential election, the Republican Party threatened to challenge the qualifications of 35,000 registered voters in Ohio, and went to court to secure their right to do so. For the most part, this turned out to be a smokescreen, or what Steven Rosenfeld has aptly called a “perfect football fake.” Not only did it force the Democratic Party to send its own voting rights advocates to inner-city polling places to defend the challenged voters, but it served as a distraction that allowed other methods of voter disenfranchisement to escape detection.

A more likely explanation would be that a great number of voters in these overwhelmingly Democratic precincts were stopped by challengers at the polls. Voters unable to speak English would have been unable to defend themselves, and would likely have left without signing the voter signature book or ever being given a ballot. Even if they knew to ask for a provisional ballot, we know from www.voteprotect.org that the refusal of poll workers to provide and validate provisional ballots contributed to the low turnout at this polling place.

This must not happen again in 2008. All eligible voters should be allowed to vote without interference, for the candidates of their choice, and have their votes counted as cast.

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Alternet.org