From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Tue May 20 2003 - 11:04:40 MDT
Dehede011@aol.com wrote,
> In a message dated 5/20/2003 2:00:56 AM Central Standard Time,
> Karen@smigrodzki.org writes: I remember hearing about this on the
> news during that election. Afterwards, many blacks were
> complaining that the whites were doing it only to them to
> prevent blacks (Dems) from voting. Conspiracy of
> the Repubs against the Dems.
>
> Is that a modern urban legend or is it true? The areas
> where this is alleged to have happened is heavily Democrat.
> The polls, police department and all city - county offices
> are Democrat. Why would they prevent their own voters from
> voting when they needed every possible vote to carry the state?
> Frankly, I am puzzled.
Living in Florida, I can assure you that this is not an urban legend. It
really happened. The police used were county sheriffs and republicans. The
rules for elections were dictated by Katherine Harris who supervisor of
elections while also being on Bush's campaign team. The Tallahassee
computers the knocked blacks off the rolls were programmed by Jeb Bush and a
company from Texas. The democrats didn't do any of this stuff. It was all
done by the Republicans.
The reason it was seen as a racial issue is that blacks tend to be poorer,
less likely to not have multiple forms of ID, and more likely to be scared
of police or have warrants of other issues that made them afraid to vote.
(Basically, by running criminal checks, they made it so nobody with legal
problems, even minor ones, could vote. This unofficially prevented people
with speeding tickets, unpaid child support, etc., unable to get past the
police to get into the voting booth.)
Also, the company hired by Jeb Bush accidentally removed all people with
criminal records from the rolls, not just people with felonies. This
eliminated thousands of people (mostly blacks) who had minor arrest records
from voting, even though they legally should have been able to vote.
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, IAM, GSEC, IBMCP <www.HarveyNewstrom.com> <www.Newstaff.com>
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