The urban legend of black voter disenfranchisement in 2000 Florida election......

A San Francisco Chronicle article on the myth of black voter disenfranchisement arguing against the oft repeated charge can be read in its entirety here. The column is a regular piece called the 'View from the Right.'

The writer cites several arguments and asks that if disenfranchisement happened, then how did it happen? He makes some very strong points....

Keep in mind two basic facts: the same voting system had been in place for well over 20 years in Miami-Dade County, without incident. No one claimed conspiracy when Clinton was elected by the same voters from the county using the same system. Also, remember that it's the local elections chief in each county who determines the local voting system, including all the details, from the type of voting machine to the location of the polling stations.

In Florida, all but one of the 25 counties that experienced the greatest ballot "spoilage" during the 2000 election were controlled by, you guessed it, Democratic election chiefs, and the one remaining county was controlled by an independent.

So, lets get this right.....somehow the Republicans were able to infiltrate and cause some type of damage to the voting of blacks in these 25 counties. How did they do this? Did they bribe the local election officials? Did they intimidate voters somehow? Did they somehow inject some type of false information into the process? Were they able to mind control voters using some kind of military laser beam to affect voter decisions?

Or was it the same shoddy system that always caused problems that breaks down every time and broke down in 2000, again?

Of the two official investigations conducted immediately following the 2000 election to investigate conspiracy theories of black disenfranchisement, one was done by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, led by Mary Frances Berry, an African American.

It found that "potential voters confronted inexperienced poll workers,
antiquated machinery, inaccessible polling locations and other barriers to exercise their right to vote." So, what else is new? That's going on all over America. However, the commission went on to say, "Moreover, even if it was not foreseeable that certain actions by officials led to voter disenfranchisement, this alone does not mean that intentional discrimination occurred." (emphasis added)

So, were these isolated cases in only black communities or is this something that happens in other communities too? Is this a problem that is limited to Florida or does it also happen in other states? And how did the Republicans intentionally create this catastrophe? How were they involved at all?

In addition, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department conducted its own investigation into the Florida voting "irregularities." Its conclusion? The office reported that it "found no credible evidence in our investigation that Floridians were intentionally denied their right to vote during the November 2000 election."

So, what do we have here? Its the Democrats again playing the race card. Fire up the base with claims that you are being cheated in an attempt to get blacks out to vote. But who is cheating who here?

Maybe the Democrats are cheating black voters themselves. Why weren't they diligent in ensuring that the voting process was fair; election workers were properly trained, there were enough polling locations and that the equipment worked? Whose responsibility is this in Democratic voting districts?

Maybe one day Black folk will wake up and figure out that if they want to vote and be heard, then they have to be diligent and make sure that things are set up properly. Obviously, the Democrats have not done too good a job of making sure that these people's voices are heard. Come on over and give us Republicans a chance one day, we will welcome you with open arms!