Republicans Prevail on NO More Early Voting Sites in Black Areas of Florida
Monday, November 1, 2004 at 04:57PM
TheSpook
Early Voting Lawsuit Rejected -- Largest Black County has 1 Early Voting Site
A federal judge Monday rejected a "racial
discrimination" lawsuit filed against the Duval County Supervisor of
Elections. The lawsuit was filed by a variety of groups including the
Jacksonville Coalition for Voter Protection, the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, the Service Employees International Union, the
AFL-CIO, CLC. The groups argued that African-Americans in Duval County
had less of an opportunity than other members of the state's electorate
to vote in the upcoming election. The claim was based on grounds that
Duval County has the largest percentage of registered African-American
voters of any major county in the state, but only one early voting site
to go to. The suit claimed the state violated voters' rights under the
14th and 15th Amendments by having fewer polling sites than
similarly-sized counties. United States District Judge Harvey
Schlesinger late Monday afternoon denied a "preliminary injunction".
Judge Schlesinger found that not opening four more early polling places
in outlying areas of Duval County does not result in African-American
voters being denied, "meaningful access to the political process." [more ]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.
]