We Didn't Do Enough to Help Katrina Victims Vote

[paineinthearse]

Posted in full, with permission.

http://www.johnbonifaz.com/blog/20060428

Submitted by Ofer Inbar on Fri, 04/28/2006 - 11:50am.

Last weekend, New Orleans held the first round of its mayoral election. You may have heard that voter turnout was 36%, lower than usual, but not disastrously low. The real story, however, is that voter turnout was very high in the city, and very very low among over 100,000 New Orleans residents who are still displaced. I looked at the numbers and was shocked to find that displaced voter turnout was probably only about 7%-9% (and almost certainly no higher than 15%)!

Several weeks ago, John Bonifaz wrote,

Hurricane Katrina exposed to the nation and the world the sad reality that too many of our citizens are locked out of the political process and their voices, therefore, go unheard. In the midst of the ongoing struggle Katrina victims face to rebuild their lives, we ought to ensure that we are doing everything possible to protect their right to vote. Massachusetts can and should be leading the way.

What did Massachusetts do, and what could we have done?

Concerned that Katrina evacuees in the northeast were not hearing about the election or about ways they could vote, a coalition of voting rights advocates in Massachusetts formed earlier this year to urge Massachusetts to do something about it. The coalition, led by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association, along with Representative Gloria L. Fox, state Senator Dianne Wilkerson, and other local leaders, wanted Massachusetts to actively reach out to displaced New Orleanians.

The Boston Globe reported on March 30th,

The coalition is urging Secretary of State William F. Galvin to open polling sites, advertise, and spend state money if necessary. Galvin said yesterday he was not enthusiastic about ads, but is working with New Orleans officials to see what is legally and logistically possible.

As Galvin studied the issue and the election got ever closer, John Bonifaz issued a call for quick action, focusing on four measures we could take:

Widely publicize the availability of absentee ballots through paid media advertising and community outreach to the groups working with these voters.

Ask all city and town clerks' offices in the state to provide Katrina victims easy access to the absentee ballot process, allowing them to receive applications, submit them by fax to the Secretary of State office in Louisiana, and receive absentee ballots.

Work with civil rights organizations to help their coordinated effort to provide transportation for those Katrina survivors who were ineligible to cast absentee ballots.

Lead a coalition of Secretaries of State to take the same measures to ensure as full participation as possible by Katrina victims displaced throughout the country.

"The clock is ticking on this hotly-contested mayoral election. Where is our Secretary of State on these specific matters - advertising, easier access to the absentee ballot process, and transportation where necessary? If I were Secretary of State today, I would have long ago been leading the charge among secretaries of state around the nation to address these exact issues."Text

The Massachusetts Secretary of State's three offices in Boston, Fall River, and Springfield, did provide assistance to Katrina evacuees seeking absentee ballots. And in early April, after the deadline to register to vote in the New Orleans primary, the Secretary's office sent out letters to Katrina victims in Massachusetts whose addresses are known, informing them of the absentee ballot procedures and available assistance. This was a small step that did nothing to help people who were not registered, or whose address the state did not know.

Massachusetts never used advertising or active community outreach to publicize the availability of absentee ballots or promote participation in the election. We never opened up city and town clerk's offices statewide to assist Katrina victims. We didn't provide transportation in coordination with the national effort. We showed no national leadership on this issue.

Shouldn't we have a secretary who doesn't need to be pushed by voting rights community to promote Democracy at home?

[IndyOp]

1. A plea for help from PFAW. Worried - TERRIFIED is a better word -

I just got back from observing the polls for the mayoral election in New Orleans, and I’m fighting mad. Too many voters – mostly poor and African American, many of them still devastated by Katrina – were denied the access to the ballot box that our Constitution guarantees.

It was infuriating. Polling places had been moved at the last minute. Some were poorly marked. Poll commissioners demanded to see identification when the law does not require it. And there was an intimidating police presence around polling places in predominantly African-American neighborhoods. Too many absentee ballots for displaced voters were not counted. Our poll watchers and legal teams are going back to New Orleans for the May 20th runoff. For those of us who lived through the 2000 and 2004 elections, the scene was all too familiar.

It was a life-changing experience for me and our partners, the Louisiana Voting Rights Network, the NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The various layers of government could have – should have – made voting easy for these citizens. But they didn’t.

I’m worried – terrified is a better word – that this injustice is going to repeat itself around the country as Americans go to the polls to elect new Congress Members and Senators this November.

Someone has to put a stop to the shameless abuse of our fundamental rights. That’s why People For the American Way Foundation and our allies created the Election Protection project.

We believe that everyone’s vote must be counted. We are working hard this election year – in New Orleans, Ohio, Florida and in communities across the nation – to make sure every voter has equal access to the ballot box. If you believe that too, please support our work with a tax-deductible donation.

http://www.PFAW.org/go/SupportElectionProtection

In the coming months, our Election Protection project will educate voters about their rights, monitor the polls for illegal and intimidating practices and challenge discriminatory or disenfranchising laws. And we won’t stop there. We will register African American, Latino, and younger voters – and make sure they get onto the rolls.

I’m not saying it will be easy. Every state in the nation has different laws that govern voting. Voting machines and ballots vary even from county to county. Powerful forces – including some government officials who have a duty to remain nonpartisan – will try to block us every step of the way.

In the oldest and proudest democracy in the world, citizens should not have to donate money to make sure their elections are fair and accurate. But we can’t let them get away with it. Not this time. Never again.

Please help with your donation of $50, $35 or any amount you can afford.
http://www.PFAW.org/go/SupportElectionProtection

Thank you for all that you do.

Yours in the struggle,

Sharon J. Lettman
Director, National Programs and Outreach
People For the American Way Foundation

[SoCalDem]

3. The new New Orleans 'masters' do not want "those people" voting.

There's a reason they were exiled to disparate places in 33 states. They are poor, considered to be a "drag" on New orleans' economy, and they are not going to be welcomed back. The services that these people depended on (lots of them) will NOT be a features of the New New Orleans. The new plan will be a combo of Disneyland/Stepford with a smidge of the "self-sufficient" wild west.

[autorank]

2. ***March 1st*** EARLY WARNING: "Scoop" on Katrina Voting Bull Shit

Excellent article, if I do say so myself. The so-called leftie internet media gave it little play (too busy linking to MSM). This was over a month an a half before the vote. PROJECT ADVANCEMENT AND ACORN rang the bell early, with NAACP and other civil rights groups' support. "Scoop" ran this article then DEAN AND BONIFAZ spoke up. Where the hell was the rest of the left. Voting Rights was one of the greatest Democratic Party issues. Everybody supported it, save the most vile racists. Now people run from the issue or talk about paper ballots for machines we should never allow in the first place. How truly and totally pathetic.


http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0603/S00016.htm#7

The Disenfranchisement Of Katrina's Survivors

Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 3:02 pm
Article: Michael Collins
Adding Insult to Injury for Katrina Survivors
- Barriers to Voting Due to Inadequate State & Local Efforts
- Two Law Suits Fail to Remedy the Situation.

Special for "Scoop" Independent Media
Michael Collins


Does this Katrina evacuee have the right to vote in the upcoming New Orleans municipal elections? Without a doubt but her prospects have been limited by an unresponsive state legislature and Federal authorities.

CONTENTS

* A second loss in state court.
* Demographics and disaster.
* April 22, 2006: Primary Election Day in New Orleans.
* A limited ability to vote further limited by scarce information.
* Acting in good faith?
* Iraqi and Mexican citizens voting in the United States have more rights than Katrina evacuees.
* A new chapter in the ongoing American Revolution: the struggle for voting rights for Katrina
survivors.

Wash. DC. - Two court decisions this weekend create barriers to voting for hurricane Katrina survivors spread around the United States. The U.S. District Court of Louisiana (Eastern) denied a lawsuit that sought to delay elections and allow special measures to enable voting by several hundred thousand displaced New Orleans evacuees. Advancement Project, a civil rights organization, filed the suit with ACORN (a national community rights organization) and individual voters.

The suit asked for immediate relief for displaced voters through satellite polling places in major evacuee locales, publicity efforts in these areas to let people know their right to vote, and an expanded form of identification to include Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Red Cross documentation with a New Orleans address. The suit also asked the court to declare that the Louisiana legislature's Act 40 and the Secretary of State's emergency voting plan "impose a severe burden on displaced voters' fundamental right to vote."
ADVERTISEMENT

After the judge ruled against the Plaintiffs, Advancement issued a statement saying, "Advancement Project is extremely disappointed at the recent ruling of Judge Ivan Lemelle (a Clinton appointee) against providing satellite polling places to Katrina evacuees currently residing outside of the state of Louisiana." The statement went on to note that current election law "fails to ensure that displaced residents will be able to exercise their voting rights - and that thousands of displaced victims of Katrina will have to travel great distances in order to cast their ballot."

<snip>

Iraqi and Mexican citizens voting in the United States have more rights than Katrina evacuees.

In the 2004 Iraq national elections, Iraqis in the United States had the option of voting at satellite voting facilities in several major cities. This process allowed expatriates, some of whom had not been in Iraq for years, to go to a location, establish their current or former nationality as an Iraqi, and then vote for the candidate of their choice. Several thousand Iraqis living in America, citizens and visitors, took advantage of the opportunity and the voting went off without incident.


Iraqi expatriates residing in the United States had satellite voting locations throughout the country to vote in their 2004 national elections.

<snip>

The betrayal of New Orleans has been manifested for years through poor planning, poor execution, sloppy workmanship, and negligent oversight of basic safety requirements.

The Federal government provided Louisiana $24 million to fund voting machine purchases in 2004. In that same year, it withdrew $24 million from levee maintenance support in the Federal budget. The de facto and de jure disenfranchisement of New Orleans evacuees is shaping up to be one of the most disgraceful chapters in the history of American governance. The ballot box, the purported solution, is hidden, swathed in absurdist regulations and out of reach for those most in need of access. The denial of voting rights to Katrina evacuees is a denial of their right to self determination. It is a national disgrace.

Who benefits?


New Orleans is the only city in the world where you can hire a jazz marching band for your funeral. Hopefully, there will be no funeral for the voting rights of Katrina survivors.

ENDS

[paineinthearse]

4. Prove Autorank wrong

Post links to any other "lefty" outlets that covered this. We'll probably find he's right.