The Left does not accuse you of racism because it believes it to be true, but rather because it gives them status and power. Jesse Jackson's charges scurrilous and baseless, ....what else is new! Black voter turnout was up 65% since 1996 and a higher percentage of blacks than whites voted on Nov. 7. Sounds like vote fraud to me.
washingtontimes.com
December 20, 2000
Florida probe finding no evidence of black
disenfranchisement
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Visit our Election 2000 page
for daily election news and analysis
Accusations that Florida blacks were denied access
to polling places as part of what the Rev. Jesse Jackson called "a systematic
plan to disenfranchise black voters" remain under investigation, although no
evidence so far has surfaced to support the charges.
Allison Bethel, head of the Florida
Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights,
said investigators have not discovered "any
grand scheme" — as charged by Mr.
Jackson and others — to deny blacks and
minorities access to voter precincts during
the Nov. 7 election, although the probe is
continuing.
"We haven't received any hard and
fast evidence to suggest that the problems
people had in voting was intentional," she
said. "What we have found at this point is a
need to educate the voter and reform the
system, although we can conclude that the
problems had a disproportionate impact on
the black community."
Mr. Jackson was among several civil rights spokesmen who charged
that a "pattern of voter suppression" by Florida officials and law enforcement
authorities had prohibited blacks from entering polling precincts throughout
the state, allowing Texas Gov. George W. Bush to "steal" the election from
Vice President Al Gore.
He accused Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of being part of a conspiracy to
deny access to blacks who showed up at the polls, including stationing police
near the precincts to intimidate minority voters.
Joining in the dispute have been Donna Brazile, Mr. Gore's campaign
manager, who said black voters faced "dogs and guns" in trying to get to the
polls, and Lyndon LaRouche, a perennial presidential candidate, who called
for a congressional investigation.
"Congress ought to conduct an immediate and bipartisan investigation
to investigate outright illegalities and voting patterns," Mr. LaRouche said.
"We have a responsibility of coming up with justice for the voters, to secure
the rights of all the voters."
Mr. Jackson said the Supreme Court's decision last week giving the
election to Mr. Bush "goes down in infamy with the Dred Scott decision —
both disenfranchised black voters."
But in the two specific cases cited as part of the suspected conspiracy,
both involving the presence of police near black polling sites, so far there is
no evidence to support the accusations.
Joe Bizzaro, spokesman for Florida Attorney General Robert A.
Butterworth, said the State Highway Patrol dismissed accusations that a police
roadblock set up near a predominantly black precinct near Tallahassee, was
aimed at intimidating blacks. He said an internal investigation determined that
the roadblock had been set up in the same spot a month earlier and was
routinely designed to conduct inspections.
A total of 150 drivers were stopped at the site — located about 2 miles
from the polling precinct —and 18 warnings were issued, a dozen to white
motorists. The officers stopped every fifth vehicle, as is their routine, with no
regard to the race of the driver.
Mr. Jackson and others had said that only black drivers were targeted.
Col. Charles Hall, head of the Florida Highway Patrol, said the
accusations were "unsubstantiated" and did "a great disservice to the men and
women of the Florida Highway Patrol who put their lives on the line everyday
to serve, protect and defend the rights of all Floridians."
In the second incident, a Florida radio station reported that black voters
had been denied access by police to a predominantly black polling site near
Tampa, but it was later determined that law enforcement officers had moved
into the area as part of an ongoing robbery investigation.
A roadblock set up near the site detained only one man.
In addition to those incidents, the Associated Press reported last week it
erred when it said in an earlier story that a company hired by Florida officials
to compile a database of potentially ineligible voters was only required to
match a person's name with the name of a felon. The state required Database
Technologies of Boca Raton to use a person's name as well as address, date
of birth and Social Security number, if available, to determine who would be
on the list.
Mr. Jackson had charged that black voters were mistakenly labeled as
felons and taken off the voter rolls because of the firm's selective database.
Several Florida officials, community leaders and law enforcement
authorities said that while voting problems did occur, accusations that blacks
and others were illegally denied access to polling sites as part of a coordinated
scheme were unfounded.
They said logistical problems caused by an unexpectedly large turnout
of black voters were to blame for most of the controversies, along with flawed
registration lists, faulty ballots and voting equipment, and a flood of telephone
calls to precinct offices that clogged many of the available lines.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
which threatened a civil rights lawsuit over what it said was "voter
intimidation" in the presidential election, spent months in a massive effort to
register black voters in Florida, many of whom were first-time voters. More
than 900,000 blacks voted Nov. 7, a 65 percent increase from the 1996
election.
Miss Bethel noted that her investigation found that many of the
first-time voters were unfamiliar with the process, and mistakes were made by
them and at the various polling precincts.
"Some things are pretty clear," she said in commenting on her ongoing
probe. "We had a problem with voter knowledge, and there is a need for
training and outreach. A lot of these problems can be attributed to the
first-time voters, who weren't familiar with the process."
Miss Bethel said the investigation would continue and if evidence is
found to substantiate accusations that voters were illegally denied access to the
polls, charges would be filed. The Justice Department also is reviewing the
accusations, although no formal investigation has yet begun.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will begin hearings Jan. 11 in
Tallahassee, the first in a series in which information about that state's
electoral system will be sought from subpoenaed records and the sworn
testimony of public officials, experts and voters.
The commission, composed of four Democrats and three independents,
voted unanimously this month to review accusations of voter intimidation,
eligibility discrepancies, altered ballots and limited access to polling places.
Commission Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry said the two-day
hearing would focus on whether all the votes were properly counted. The
commission has no enforcement power but can hold hearings and subpoena
witnesses. If it decides that laws were broken, it can make criminal referrals to
the Justice Department.
The NAACP said it has 486 complaints of voter irregularities and 300
pages of sworn testimony regarding the "massive, systematic exclusion of
black, Jewish and immigrant voters." |
