A DUer Investigates - The Disenfranchisement Of Katrina's Survivors

[althecat]

A MAGNIFICENT special to Scoop.co.nz by DU's own autorank….

See the full story here…
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0603/S00016.htm

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."

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."

************

A second loss in state court.

In the second case, Louisiana State District Court Judge William Morvant, Baton Rouge, ruled out candidate access to potential voters by denying New Orleans candidates access to a FEMA list of addresses for evacuees. This is the most comprehensive list of evacuees and their current locations. The Louisiana Attorney General and Secretary of State have the list. It is unclear whether FEMA would release the list even if the court had allowed it. State Representatives Charmaine Marchand and Cedric Richmond are seeking the list to contact voters and encourage voting. They represent the sections of New Orleans hardest hit by hurricane damage which were predominantly black. The American Civil Liberties Union opposed the release on the basis of privacy rights.

Judge Morvant noted that the plaintiffs failed to prove that this was a "voting list" or public document. He left the door open for an expected appeal (Morvant previously ruled that the states anti-gay laws were unconstitutional, a ruling reversed by the Louisiana Supreme Court). This prompted State Senator Cleo Fields, D, Baton Rouge, to term the upcoming primaries "secret elections" since voters have no way to gain information about the candidates or their positions. Fields went on to say: "How are these people going to run for office if they can't get in touch with their constituents? Ninety-seven percent of the people in their districts have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina." (From Baton Rouge Channel 2)

MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE…
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0603/S00016.htm

& thanks Michael

Alastair
Scoop.co.nz

[bleever]

1. Woo hoo! I got to be autorank's first Rec. on this post.

Wondered what you've been up to, bro.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[autorank]

13. The Election Integrity/Fraud movement is part of thef Voting Rights

movement. We're all in this together.

Voter suppression is the essence of everything that's done to distort the vote from Photo IDs to centralized registration databases; from voter intimidation to touch screen vote switching; from switching polling places to switching memory packs.

We're part of a grand tradition.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Remember when the Iraqis living here in the US voted in their election?

So how come we can set up polling places for Iraqis to vote but we can't do the same for Katrina victims?

[autorank]

14. Isn't that total nonsense. The Mexican government did it for US expats.

What a disgrace. The Bush administration is negligent. The Civil Rights Division of DOJ should be all of this. Gonzalez is probably going to sit this out. The state legislature of Louisiana crafted their emergency election provisions during their special session in November 2005. They made sure that Secretary of State Ater was unable to go outside of the state to promote awareness of the election.

The silence of national leaders is, once again, noted.

What does it take to get a national Democrat to stand up for Voting Rights today?
It was our proudest moment as a party in the 1960's

Conyers does it.

Bonifaz does it.

The Congressional Black Caucus does it.

Where is the Louisiana Democratic Party.

Where is Mary Landrieu?

Where are the other Senate Democrats?

Why are Katrina evacuees, 300,000 of them, denied the right to efficient access to candidate information and polling places?

Who benefits?

[neuvocat]

24. Exactly.

They're trying to survive the wave of anti-incumbant fever right now (along with the wave of disease-carrying mosquitos).

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. autorank

:yourock:

and I haven't even read it yet. Thank you for not forgetting the voters of NOLA

[paineinthearse]

9. Second

A true star, great story line.

[autorank]

15. Thanks for the advanced praise;). You'll like the conclusion.

I went a little overboard. :blush:

[KitchenWitch]

18. Thank you Michael!

[autorank]

27. Thank you KW! n/t

[Wilms]

4. ER Crosspost

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x414936

[understandinglife]

5. Recommended!!! Thank you Michael....

Peace.

[RB TexLa]

6. I don't see why there will not polling stations in Dallas and Houston

We've had out of jurisdiction voting stations here in the past and I'm sure we will have them for this years presidential election.

[autorank]

28. This the primary and general election for Orleans Parish, NOLA

The whole issue is why not. The LA legislature passed ACT 40 which does not allow for this.

As of right now the only way you can vote is absentee by mail, return to NOLA and vote early, or return and vote on election day.

That's the outrageous thing about this. It's a no brainer to set them up.

[RB TexLa]

32. I know what election it is, I have voted absentee in La from Dallas

for 5 years. I was just saying we will have polling stations for the Presidential elections here this year and I don't see why we can't do that for Orleans Parish.

[Wordie]

7. Thanks to autorank! K&R!

[FogerRox]

8. BIg Story- BIg Crime-- Big Article KnR

[Swamp Rat]

10. kick and recommended n/t

[Ellipsis]

11. 34%! (kick)

[autorank]

29. LOL 34% and dropping! n/t

[Kurovski]

12. Important and thoughtful.

I've yet to hear this angle to the Katrina story in any corporate media.

Thank you, autorank.

The closer, "Who benefits"? was a rhetorical question, I must imagine. :-)

[autorank]

20. "Who benefits?" A rhetorical question with an obvious answer.

They've taken several hundred thousand people out of NOLA and also out of the political equation.

For the life of me, I can't understand why people are not all over this. It's pretty obvious what's happening. If you don't know about an election you will not vote. These folks have no real way of knowing and the Scty of State (a Dem) can't effectively publicize it with out a few bucks. FEMA said no. If you can't use the internet, you can't begin to register. What's that all about. I've heard about the digital divide but this is ridiculous. Oh, and when you try to register, better have ID, Red Cross or FEMA IDs won't count. What a load!

Peace!

[EFerrari]

16. Excellent. autorank, when do you sleep?

:)

[autorank]

19. Always just before the dawn, the light and all;) Thank you!!! n/t

[Wilms]

17. .

[EFerrari]

21. kick

[ClayZ]

22. K and R

:kick:

[Balderdash]

23. Thank you autorank

Katrina survivors everywhere thank you!

[autorank]

30. Thank you. Katrina survivors deserve our total respect.

Our government failed them, the federal government. The local and state government did as well. I was utterly stunned to read the excellent summary of links out of LSU on hurricane preparedness. The article that shocked me to the core was the one that wrote off the "poor" and put in place a community awareness program through churches and other community organizations. There was a CD or DVD developed to hand out at these occasions. I'd love to see that.

This is the single most upsetting thing that's happened in this country in my life time, and I was around when JFK was murdered (the only event which comes close). I hope everybody gets back, I hope that they all vote, and I hope that there's a DA in NOLA with unparalleled ambition. That would assure a lot of great investigations and convictions. Justice must come for the survivors.

Peace!!!

[lies and propaganda]

25. isnt this fucking illegal?

the horrors of Katrina will never end. Their gonna milk the shit out of this like its 911 two.

[autorank]

31. BushCo propaganda is so tired and flaccid it barely stands up.

We're getting a lot of truth about Katrina and I'll bet we get a lot about 911 in the not too distant future.




Discussions are underway
to pull it out of the fire.

[Kurovski]

26. Kick. (No Text).

[upi402]

33. somebody just poured gas on the white hot hate for the asshats

I am beginning to see Brownie as a scapegoat for these evil evil bastards.