-Caveat Lector- Sounds like these stories are all made up. I don't believe a word of it. On Mon, 19 Feb 2001 15:31:54 -0800 radman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > -Caveat Lector- > > Black voters believe they were denied > > While the truth might never be known, the perception that many were > disenfranchised in November is a strongly held one. > > By ADAM C. SMITH and JOUNICE NEALY > St. Petersburg Times, February 18, 2001 > > Despite the pending civil rights lawsuits, official inquiries and > hundreds > of sworn statements gathered by the NAACP, no one might ever know > whether > African-Americans really faced widespread infringement of their > voting > rights in November. > > But a Times poll of black voters shows just how firmly that belief > has > taken hold. More than eight in 10 black voters in Florida believe > blacks' > ballots were disproportionately rejected or not counted during last > year's > election. One in three said they or someone they know personally was > denied > fair access to voting in November. > > The deep suspicions come from people like 69-year-old Lillie Jackson > of > Miami who tried to vote for Al Gore. When she punched the pin > through the > punch-card ballot, it appeared the hole was in the wrong place, not > by > Gore's slot. A poll worker let her try once more, and the same thing > happened. She still suspects her vote for Gore was never counted in > the > machine tally. > > Then there's Lori Pitts, 37, of Jacksonville, who before Election > Day had > called the elections office to verify she was registered. She went > to the > precinct where she had always voted and was told she needed to vote > elsewhere because she had recently moved. > > They sent her to another precinct, where no one could find her name > on the > voter list. She headed to the downtown elections office to > straighten out > the problem, but the polls closed by the time she arrived. > > "I went around the world in a day and still got nothing," said > Pitts, who > never filed a complaint. > > Robert Little, a 38-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident, had no > problem until > he tried to vote. The punch-card ballots, he said, were very tough > to punch > through. He had difficulty with them, and so did a number of elderly > voters > he saw. > > "I think they did it on purpose, so the Republicans can get back in > office," said Little, who voted for Gore. > > Leighwynn Howell, an associate pastor in his church and a Pinellas > County > correctional officer, has little doubt what decided the presidential > election: "It was Jeb Bush and his cronies." > > "It was predicted a month before the election that everything hinged > on > Florida. Isn't it amazing that so many blacks went to the polls, and > then > it turned out so many of their votes weren't counted?" > > In follow-up telephone interviews, many of the people participating > in the > poll offered anecdotes of voting problems that could just as easily > be > explained as random confusion amid massive voter turnout, rather > than > intentional obstacles placed in front of voters. Some recounted > difficulties they had heard happened to friends of friends or heard > through > the media. > > "The wings of the media may be flying this story, but that really > doesn't > matter," said Rob Schroth, the Washington D.C.-based pollster who > conducted > the poll for the Times. "A large percentage of African-American > registered > voters believe it to be true, which in the world of politics has > always > been more important than fact. In this case, it's a perception very > strongly held." > > The complaints about voting rights infringement began streaming into > civil > rights groups well before polls closed Nov. 7. There were reports of > intimidating law enforcement officers near predominantly black > polling > places, about people being turned away from the polls, being refused > assistance with their ballots, or being incorrectly pegged as felons > ineligible to vote. > > Various election analyses have helped fuel the suspicions about > systematic > disenfranchisement of minority voters. > > Large urban counties with big black populations tended to have > problematic > punch-card ballot systems; majority white precincts were more likely > to > have extra equipment available to help straighten out questions > about > voters left off of voter lists; thousands of voters, many of them > black, > were wrongly removed from voting lists because of a faulty program > aimed at > purging convicted felons from voter rolls. > > Ballots rejected for not showing a presidential vote or showing too > many > disproportionately fell in predominantly black precincts. In Duval > County, > for instance, an estimated 50 percent to 60 percent of the 26,000 > discarded > ballots came from black neighborhoods. > > "In Duval County, the votes that weren't counted were mostly black > voters. > That's fact," said Mary Graham of Jacksonville. "I grew up in > segregation, > and I know what the right to vote means. People died for it. > Something > happened in Florida that's not right." > ----- > > About the Poll > > The St. Petersburg Times poll of African-American voters in Florida > was > conducted Feb. 3-5 by Schroth & Associates, a Washington polling > firm that > works primarily for corporate clients but also for both Democratic > and > Republican candidates. The telephone survey of 600 registered voters > has a > margin of error rate of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The > margin of > error rate for the responses in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties > is plus > or minus 8 percentage points. Totals may not add to 100% due to > rounding. > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> > DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER > ========== > CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing > propagandic > screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are > sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, > mis- > directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different > groups with > major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and > thought. > That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, > and > always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no > credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. > > Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. > ======================================================================== > Archives Available at: > http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html > <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives > of > [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> > > http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ > <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> > ======================================================================== > To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: > SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: > SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Om <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
