For those of you who are familar with my diaries you know I'm very carefull about calling a person a racist. I find it's more like to end conversations then to start them. But I find this story from the NYT is loaded with politics and racism masked as concern. I have developed a deep loathing for the word CONCERN in politics. More often then not it's a code word, because it's never elaborated on. Concern about what? Concern usually masks racism, sexism, politics, or homophobia. The reasons expressed for this concern always seem flimsy.
In this case the CONCERN is over the large number of black people registering to vote in Louisiana. You see the Democrats’ Vote Drive in Louisiana Stirs Concern. Why is it stirring concern?
A Democratic voter registration drive in largely black neighborhoods of Louisiana has swamped the state’s voter registrar offices, forcing them to hire new staff members and work 12-hour days to process thousands of applications.
Buoyed by the popularity of Senator Barack Obama, the drive has raised complaints from registrars about large numbers of duplicate, invalid or incomplete applications, and has led to an investigation by the Louisiana secretary of state, Jay Dardenne, a Republican.
Election officials have expressed concern that large numbers of people who believe they are registered will show up at the polls in November, only to find that they cannot vote because their application had been improperly submitted.
O dear people are enthusiastic about exercising a constitutional right. Call the secretary of state. Great, Mr. Dardenne is already on the job, can't have all these new people showing up to do something radical, like voting for change! Workers have to work longer hours? That's tax payers money you know? Oh yeah, by the way the one valid point about the large numbers of duplicate, invalid, or incomplete applications. There is a LEGAL reason for this.
In Louisiana, voting drive canvassers are required by law to submit the applications they collect, even if they are obvious pranks, like two cards in Shreveport that listed George Bush as the name of the applicant and 1600 Pennsylvania Drive as the address.
But Jacques Berry, a spokesman for the secretary of state, said canvassers should be "educated enough to not leave the house until the card is in order."
So if a person starts to fill a registration card and it's incomplete THEY MUST SUBMIT IT! I know these are just more reasons for CONCERN.
Registrars have reported that as many as a third of the applications cannot be entered into the system, and many of the rest require more information. The state Republican Party called the operation "the Dems’ phony registration drive."
You see the GOP is just concerned. They don't want any phony voters to show up. THere can't be any REASON for this huge jump in voter registartion could there be?
Well according to a 2006 study by Project Vote nationally, 39 percent of eligible blacks and 46 percent of eligible Latinos are not registered to vote, compared with 29 percent of eligible whites. That means that if in Louisiana blacks are as enthusiastic to vote this election cycle as whites are there would be a 10% jump in the black vote nationally. I'm not sure about in Louisiana but in several Red states, they are that red because of lower black turn out. If I remember correctly, blacks in Pennsylvania and Michigan (Blue States) vote at about a 5-8% higher rate then in Ohio (a Red State). Think that could be causing some concern?
Imagine if for the first time, blacks were MORE enthusiastic to vote then whites. Well that would make me VERY VERY CONCERNED.
Michael Slater, the deputy director of Project Vote, said high numbers of incomplete applications were not unusual in such drives. He said as a rule of thumb, 35 percent of voter drive applications were new voters, 35 percent were change of address, and 30 percent were duplicates or incomplete.
Now keep those stats in mind, when you read this next excerpt.
In Louisiana, the biggest complaints about the drive have come from Republican registrars in Caddo Parish, which includes Shreveport; East Baton Rouge Parish, which includes Baton Rouge; and Jefferson Parish, just outside New Orleans.
The registrar in Jefferson, Dennis A. DiMarco, said that about 35 percent of the 4,000 cards his office had sorted were invalid because they had no address, the applicant was already registered or was a felon, or the signature did not match one on file at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Another group of cards, he said, was missing information that the office hoped could be obtained by mail.
The number of invalid registration cards is close in numbers to the number expected. WOW! I don't know about you but I feel some concern coming on!
But this CONCERN isn't going to be confined just to Louisiana. All progressives should be prepared for similar out breaks of CONCERN nationwide.
Much of the enthusiasm, and some of the chaos, may be repeated in the months to come in other states where Democrats and liberal groups are planning similar drives in an effort to change the demographics of the electorate.
Nationally, 39 percent of eligible blacks and 46 percent of eligible Latinos are not registered to vote, compared with 29 percent of eligible whites, according to a 2006 study by Project Vote, a nonpartisan group that promotes voting in low-income and minority communities.
Project Vote and Acorn, a left-wing national organizing group, have teamed up to conduct large voter drives across the country, with the goal of registering 1.2 million people by Labor Day. They have already submitted 600,000 applications, said Michael Slater, the deputy director of Project Vote. Acorn is among several groups registering voters in Louisiana.
The Obama campaign itself has announced a 50-state registration drive known as "Vote for Change."
It remains unclear whether election officials will be prepared to handle more registrations and the potential for overwhelming turnout on Election Day, Mr. Slater said. "Party politics is driving up registration at unusually high rates," he said.
I would like all Kossacks to do the following. Write your secretary of state, and ask them the following.
To the Honorable Secretary of State,
In 2004 many people were forced to wait in long lines due to higher than exected voter turn out. In 2008 many sources are pointing to similar high turnout figures. I am very concerned about this. Are you prepared for large numbers of new voter registration applications? Are you prepared for a large voter turnout? What steps have you undertaken to be prepared for these eventualities? I am concerned if proper steps are not taken proactively you could become overwhelmed. As voting is a constitutional right I am sure you would want the greatest number of people to excercise their right. Thank you.
Sincerly,
a concerned citizen