Government backs off on Indian Heath Service voting drive prohibition
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 at 03:43PM
TheSpook
Says Voter Registration is OK Now - BUT the Deadline has Already Passed!
The federal government has rescinded an order that
prohibited voting drives at Indian Heath Service clinics. The issue
first came to light when the Washington Post published a memo that
revealed IHS officials refused to allow even non-partisan
get-out-the-vote efforts at their hospitals and clinics. The apparent
reasoning was that since so many Native Americans vote Democrat, the
drives would have amounted to partisan politicking. A law on the books
prevents federal workers from using government resources for partisan
work. Critics argued that the law was unfairly applied because the
Department of Defense is allowed to conduct voting drives on military
installations. New Mexico Democrat Senator Jeff Bingaman, citing the
military base rule, publicly called on Heath and Human Services
Secretary Tommy Thompson to repeal the IHS voting ban. Thompson agreed.
Bingaman said the victory was bittersweet. Several states with large
Indian populations have already seen their voter registration deadlines
come and go. [more ]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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