Tuesday
Apr252006
Jesse Jackson: Big Easy Voting Was Much Too Hard
Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 10:38PM
Published on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 by the Chicago Sun-Times
by Jesse Jackson
Against the odds, New Orleans and Katrina survivors went to the polls last week to elect the mayor and other officials who will guide the reconstruction of the city.
The current mayor, Ray Nagin, placed first, and will face a runoff against leading challenger Mitch Landrieu on May 20. Newspapers hailed the election as demonstrating the grit of the people of New Orleans. But this election was marked by voting wrongs, not voting rights.
This election was held under protest in flagrant violation of the Voting Rights Act. The votes that were tallied were less significant than the voters who were disenfranchised. Voter turnout was 20 percent lower than the mayoral election of four years ago. Just 106,000 out of 296,000 eligible voters voted.
The reason isn't that the residents don't care. People in neighborhoods across New Orleans enthusiastically surged to the polls and demonstrated their deep concern for the future of their city. But two-thirds of New Orleanians are scattered around the nation, in more than 45 states. These people did not choose to leave New Orleans. They were rendered homeless by Katrina and displaced by FEMA, which arranged for them to find temporary shelter in different states.
Having relocated the survivors of Katrina, FEMA and the Bush administration were responsible for protecting the voting rights of the displaced -- and for ensuring that they could participate in choosing the leaders who will have such a large say in their futures. Instead, FEMA and the administration failed Katrina's survivors once more -- as did state officials.
Inadequate and onerous absentee ballot provisions left Katrina survivors around the country on an uneven playing field. Reports indicate that some 35 percent of more than 16,000 absentee ballots requested were not completed. First-time voters cannot vote absentee and were required to return to New Orleans to vote -- with the cost of travel in essence a stiff poll tax.
FEMA knows where the displaced are, but satellite polling places were not established outside Louisiana. This is an administration that erected satellite voting places in the United States so that displaced Iraqis could vote from anywhere in America in the Iraq elections. Does the administration care more about Iraqis than Americans? Or is it pleased to see New Orleans become a majority white city?
The New Orleans election was held with secret voter rolls. Candidates had no information on where voters around the country lived and could not contact them. Voters heard little about the election; only a few candidates could afford ads in selected cities.
FEMA said the Louisiana secretary of state could make its list of Katrina survivors displaced around the country available to candidates, but the secretary contends that he cannot do so without a court order. The secretary supported satellite polling places outside of the state to make voting accessible to Katrina survivors, but said he could not create them without legislative action. The same buck-passing and dawdling that characterized the catastrophic rescue operations were evident in the elections.
The president says he cares about the displaced, but that apparently does not extend to protecting their voting rights. The Democrats went to New Orleans to make it a symbol of the administration's incompetence, but they, too, were essentially mute when it came to the rights of Katrina's survivors to vote.
This silence must be broken. If nothing changes, the same voting procedures that disenfranchised Katrina survivors in the April 22 election will be in place for the May 20 runoff. There is still time to open the voter rolls, make the voting lists available to candidates, establish satellite polling places across the country, and ensure that absentee ballots are distributed to all and can be received in time for the runoff.
There is time, but is there the will? The Republican administration has failed to act. The Justice Department has failed to enforce the law. National Democrats have been passive at best. Louisiana Democrats -- from the governor to the state Legislature -- have blocked basic justice. Are they blocking the right of the displaced to vote because they don't want the displaced to return?
by Jesse Jackson
Against the odds, New Orleans and Katrina survivors went to the polls last week to elect the mayor and other officials who will guide the reconstruction of the city.
The current mayor, Ray Nagin, placed first, and will face a runoff against leading challenger Mitch Landrieu on May 20. Newspapers hailed the election as demonstrating the grit of the people of New Orleans. But this election was marked by voting wrongs, not voting rights.
This election was held under protest in flagrant violation of the Voting Rights Act. The votes that were tallied were less significant than the voters who were disenfranchised. Voter turnout was 20 percent lower than the mayoral election of four years ago. Just 106,000 out of 296,000 eligible voters voted.
The reason isn't that the residents don't care. People in neighborhoods across New Orleans enthusiastically surged to the polls and demonstrated their deep concern for the future of their city. But two-thirds of New Orleanians are scattered around the nation, in more than 45 states. These people did not choose to leave New Orleans. They were rendered homeless by Katrina and displaced by FEMA, which arranged for them to find temporary shelter in different states.
Having relocated the survivors of Katrina, FEMA and the Bush administration were responsible for protecting the voting rights of the displaced -- and for ensuring that they could participate in choosing the leaders who will have such a large say in their futures. Instead, FEMA and the administration failed Katrina's survivors once more -- as did state officials.
Inadequate and onerous absentee ballot provisions left Katrina survivors around the country on an uneven playing field. Reports indicate that some 35 percent of more than 16,000 absentee ballots requested were not completed. First-time voters cannot vote absentee and were required to return to New Orleans to vote -- with the cost of travel in essence a stiff poll tax.
FEMA knows where the displaced are, but satellite polling places were not established outside Louisiana. This is an administration that erected satellite voting places in the United States so that displaced Iraqis could vote from anywhere in America in the Iraq elections. Does the administration care more about Iraqis than Americans? Or is it pleased to see New Orleans become a majority white city?
The New Orleans election was held with secret voter rolls. Candidates had no information on where voters around the country lived and could not contact them. Voters heard little about the election; only a few candidates could afford ads in selected cities.
FEMA said the Louisiana secretary of state could make its list of Katrina survivors displaced around the country available to candidates, but the secretary contends that he cannot do so without a court order. The secretary supported satellite polling places outside of the state to make voting accessible to Katrina survivors, but said he could not create them without legislative action. The same buck-passing and dawdling that characterized the catastrophic rescue operations were evident in the elections.
The president says he cares about the displaced, but that apparently does not extend to protecting their voting rights. The Democrats went to New Orleans to make it a symbol of the administration's incompetence, but they, too, were essentially mute when it came to the rights of Katrina's survivors to vote.
This silence must be broken. If nothing changes, the same voting procedures that disenfranchised Katrina survivors in the April 22 election will be in place for the May 20 runoff. There is still time to open the voter rolls, make the voting lists available to candidates, establish satellite polling places across the country, and ensure that absentee ballots are distributed to all and can be received in time for the runoff.
There is time, but is there the will? The Republican administration has failed to act. The Justice Department has failed to enforce the law. National Democrats have been passive at best. Louisiana Democrats -- from the governor to the state Legislature -- have blocked basic justice. Are they blocking the right of the displaced to vote because they don't want the displaced to return?
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