Some US Areas Unsafe for Vote: 42% of Voters at Risk
By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: October 7, 2004
"WASHINGTON, USA, Oct. 7 - With three weeks to go before nationwide elections, significant areas of 13 of the US's 50 states are still not secure enough for citizens to vote, the commander of American ground forces here said Thursday.
"California, Texas, New York, and Florida are four of the thirteen states identified by the commander, Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, as having insecure areas. The other states, the general said, were Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Kansas, and Arkansas. Continuing violence was reported in six of those states on Thursday."
"General Metz said the US's 37 other states were more or less ready to hold elections as scheduled. 'I just can't guarantee that everyone will be able to go to a poll in total safety,' he said. 'I cannot put a bubble around every person walking from their home to the polling site.'"
numbers after the jump...
In reality, Gen. Metz was talking yesterday about 4 of Iraq's 18 provinces:
- 5,423,964 Bagdad (1)
- 2,042,852 Nineveh (2)
- 1,023,736 Anbar (9)
- 904,432 Salahadin (10)
UNSAFE TOTAL: 42.6 % (9,394,984 of 22,046,244)
By the way, that's also 46.4 % of the land area (for all you Republicans out there). Now here is a proportional set of 13 US states:
- 33,871,648 California (1)
- 20,851,820 Texas (2)
- 18,976,457 New York (3)
- 15,982,378 Florida (4)
- 4,041,769 Kentucky (25)
- 4,012,012 South Carolina (26)
- 3,450,654 Oklahoma (27)
- 3,421,399 Oregon (28)
- 3,405,565 Connecticut (29)
- 2,926,324 Iowa (30)
- 2,844,658 Mississippi (31)
- 2,688,418 Kansas (32)
- 2,673,400 Arkansas (33)
UNSAFE TOTAL: 42.3 % (119,146,502 of 281,421,906)
But it's even worse than that if the goal is a "fair" election. The affected areas in Iraq are predominantly of one faction (Sunni), so a more analogous set of states might be these:
- 20,851,820 Texas
- 15,982,378 Florida
- 11,353,140 Ohio
- 8,186,453 Georgia
- 8,049,313 North Carolina
- 7,078,515 Virginia
- 6,080,485 Indiana
- 5,689,283 Tennessee
- 5,595,211 Missouri
- 4,041,769 Kentucky
- 4,012,012 South Carolina
- 3,450,654 Oklahoma
- 2,926,324 Iowa
- 2,844,658 Mississippi
- 2,688,418 Kansas
- 2,673,400 Arkansas
- 2,233,169 Utah
- 1,998,257 Nevada
- 1,819,046 New Mexico
- 1,808,344 West Virginia
UNSAFE TOTAL: 42.4 % (119,362,649 of 281,421,906)
If you live in one of those states, Gen. Metz cannot gaurantee your safety as you go to the poll. Good luck!
(numbers are from 1997 Iraq census, 2000 US census)
-jethropalerobber