Everybody cheats. >http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/3956129.stm > >New Florida vote scandal feared > By Greg Palast >Reporting for BBC's Newsnight > >A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida >suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the >state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation >reveals. > > Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in >Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, >contain a 15-page so-called "caging list". > >It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and >traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida. > >An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: >"The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge >voters on election day." > >Ion Sancho, a Democrat, noted that Florida law allows political party >operatives inside polling stations to stop voters from obtaining a ballot. > >Mass challenges > >They may then only vote "provisionally" after signing an affidavit attesting >to their legal voting status. > >Mass challenges have never occurred in Florida. Indeed, says Mr Sancho, not >one challenge has been made to a voter "in the 16 years I've been supervisor >of elections." > >"Quite frankly, this process can be used to slow down the voting process and >cause chaos on election day; and discourage voters from voting." > >Sancho calls it "intimidation." And it may be illegal. > > In Washington, well-known civil rights attorney, Ralph Neas, noted that US >federal law prohibits targeting challenges to voters, even if there is a >basis for the challenge, if race is a factor in targeting the voters. > >The list of Jacksonville voters covers an area with a majority of black >residents. > >When asked by Newsnight for an explanation of the list, Republican >spokespersons claim the list merely records returned mail from either >fundraising solicitations or returned letters sent to newly registered >voters to verify their addresses for purposes of mailing campaign >literature. > >Republican state campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker Fletcher stated the list >was not put together "in order to create" a challenge list, but refused to >say it would not be used in that manner. > >Rather, she did acknowledge that the party's poll workers will be instructed >to challenge voters, "Where it's stated in the law." > >There was no explanation as to why such clerical matters would be sent to >top officials of the Bush campaign in Florida and Washington. > >Private detective > In Jacksonville, to determine if Republicans were using the lists or other >means of intimidating voters, we filmed a private detective filming every >"early voter" - the majority of whom are black - from behind a vehicle with >blacked-out windows. > >The private detective claimed not to know who was paying for his all-day >services. > >On the scene, Democratic Congresswoman Corinne Brown said the surveillance >operation was part of a campaign of intimidation tactics used by the >Republican Party to intimate and scare off African American voters, almost >all of whom are registered Democrats.
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