Unease Sits Heavily in a Group of Black Voters

[Pirate Smile]

Source: The New York Times

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For weeks now, James Jones has been extra courteous in traffic and at the gas station because he has an Obama sticker on the back of his truck. “Something like that might make a difference for Barack Obama,” Mr. Jones explained. “I’m not taking a chance.”

Mr. Jones, a black warehouse worker, bought campaign signs for his yard and made sure his family had valid voter registration cards. He and his wife cast their votes 10 days early to avoid last-minute problems at the polls.
So imagine Mr. Jones’s disappointment this week when he got word of a rumor making its way around his humble southeastern part of town — that early voting is nothing more than a new disenfranchisement scam, that early votes are likely to be lost and never counted.

-snip-
But in conversations with about a dozen Jacksonville residents in cafes, outside churches and at their homes over three days, Mr. Jones and many of his black neighbors worry anyway, unable to put aside the nagging feeling that somehow their votes will not be counted.

Wounds have not healed here in Duval County since the mangled presidential election of 2000, when more than 26,000 ballots were discarded as invalid for being improperly punched. Nearly 40 percent of the votes were thrown out in the predominantly Democratic-leaning African-American communities around Jacksonville, a reality that has caused suspicions of racial bias to linger, even though intentional disenfranchisement was never proved.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/us/politics/29anxiety.html?hp

[Xipe Totec]

1. I'm glad I live where I live

I see Obama signs in nearly every yard in Milton, MA, a predominantly Irish neighborhood.

Walking to Mattapan and getting on the trolley, riding the Red Line to Ashmont.

Black faces all around me, smiling, hopeful, wearing their Obama buttons.

And as I move from Ashmont to Kendall MIT in Cambridge, the faces change, but the buttons remain the same;

Obama, Obama, Obama.

[cullen2382]

16. I live in Georgia

I bought an Obama/Biden magnet from the campaign for a donation. Sadly, I had to promise my husband I'd take it off every time I parked the car anywhere so my car wouldn't get keyed. Sad that's the way things are down here at the moment.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. They have every right to be concerned. Hopefully, there will be lots of lawyers around

to protect their rights.

[featherman]

3. Duval County was a travesty that deprived Gore of his clear win in Florida and

our country and the world have suffered enormously as a result. Unspeakable.

[Enthusiast]

18. They would have impeached Gore

by now, for some imagined wrong. Of course he actually won in 2000. This is why it is clearly within' the realm of possibility that Obama will be elected, as Gore was, but never sit in office. I hate fucking Republicans.

[Connonym]

4. Too bad we don't have the UN monitoring our voting

Huge irony that we force voter monitoring on the rest of the world but refuse to allow it here. I'm surprised that the rightwing hasn't suggested dying our finger to protect against voter fraud. But that would assume that they really care about voter fraud when really all they want to do is disenfranchise voters.

[Name removed]

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[mojowork_n]

33. I could live without the UN

If they just threw out all the voting machines, went back to paper ballots, and gave you a paper receipt -- to keep, showing how you voted.

Of course it wouldn't hurt to have election monitors, but it's probably just as important to keep watch on the ballot keepers/counters. (So the Other Side couldn't automatically throw out a huge percentage of "spoiled" ballots in low income neighborhoods.)

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[FLyellowdog]

6. I live in a neighboring county,

and this man has real cause for concern. The republican machine is alive and well in our area and they will do whatever it takes to "lose", "steal", or "disqualify" African-American votes.

I hope we can prove Mr. Jones' worry to be for naught, but somehow, I'm afraid we'll see a repeat of 2000/2004.


Bigotry is still a major part of some areas in the United States. Jacksonville happens to be high on that list. It's a sad commentary for 2008.

[Name removed]

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[Zhade]

8. STOLEN presidential election of 2000.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET.

[byronius]

11. Ever. As long as I live.

Long live the Restored United States!

[AzNick]

10. That guy lies. And on top of that, he is a bad liar. nt

[Lochloosa]

30. Care to clarify what you mean by "That guy"

The person in the article? Or the one that wrote it?

[AzNick]

31. The one in the video nt

[TheDonkey]

12. Those found tampering with people's votes or trying to suppress the vote should be locked up

for a long time. Talk about terrorism. They are trying to deprive people of THE basic principle of democracy.

[snake in the grass]

13. I feel for these people.

I grew up in Jacksonville and left for Europe when I was 20. I don't miss that scumhole one bit.

[BlueJazz]

25. Yep..I agree...I lived there when I was doing IT (computers) for a large..

..insurance company.
The town is infested with ignorant, redneck hillbillies.
Every person I worked with thought Rush Limbaugh was the "Savior" of their Society.

:puke: :)

[wvbygod]

27. Why insult hillbillies?

Hillbillies are generally the kindest and most open people on this planet.

[snake in the grass]

28. It is uncanny...

...that so many people there worship him. When I begin to criticize his polemic they say I should just listen to him without the 'drive-by' media bias. They just don't get how ignorant they are.

[bitchkitty]

29. Agree with the ignorant redneck - but they're not hillbillies.

To be a hillbilly you need the hills - think W. Virginia, Tennessee, etc.

[BlueJazz]

32. I meant the ones that live in High-Rises.

:silly:

[Enrique]

14. it wouldn't surprise me if McCain started that rumor

Obama and his campaign are pushing early voting HARD where it's available. Every email I get from them informs me that I can early vote in FL, and they applauded Gov. Frist's decision to expand early voting hours.

[Dems4me]

15. I feel the same way were I live too. So we'll just stand in line and vote on the 4th.

I am not a black voter but I live in a small town, heavily repug, so I
don't trust my counties election office.

[thraxis]

19. I really do think early voting increases the chances of vote tampering.

votes just "out there" are a sitting target for nefarious interests

[TWiley]

17. REPUBLICAN BASTARDS!

I really dislike them anymore. The more religious they are, the bigger the flag on their car, an the larger the cross around their neck is, the more I hate them. They so believe that the "end justifies the means" that no act is too depraved to be unconsidered. Some have actually declared war on us and our blue values.

Ed Kennedy said it the best, and I agree:

REPUBLICAN BASTARDS!

[Rose Siding]

20. My AA boss said she's walking to the poll on Tuesday

-just to be certain she doesn't get pulled over for anything. Now she doesn't really believe that would happen, but there's that consideration in her mind.

Everyone I know is in a Take-No-Chances state of mind.

[superconnected]

21. In otherwords they were traumatized by not being able to vote legally.

My what it means to be a republican and do things like that to people.

I hope these people get their votes counted and a system they can trust someday. I know the republicans are already out there at the head of most of the fliers/rumors that are currently trying to make sure people don't get their vote in. What a way to feel they have to win - steal. And they act like they believe in America and are somehow patriots.

[shaniqua6392]

22. I have Tuesday off work and I will stand there forever to vote.

I will not take any chances. I think many people feel this way.

[fasttense]

23. I live in a very red area,

though there is only one McPalin sign in our area. I have Obama, and all the local Dems, bumper stickers on my car. Though my neighbor down the street, that owns a large dairy farm, had all three of her Obama yard signs stolen, nobody has touched my yard signs or my car.

I think it is the No Trespassing sign I have up. It reads: "Trespassers will be shot on sight, and survivors will be shot again."


OK, I just saw where a McPalin idiot actually shot a kid for trying to take his yard sign. I was just joking. I would never actually shot someone for that. Man people have really been riled up by the hate mongers.

[IsItJustMe]

24. LOL I see that you are an old school Democrat like myself. That is what I am talking about.

[HillbillyBob]

34. Where did you get that No Tresspassing sign?

I have been looking for them for a while now.
While I would not shoot someone just out of hand, but for a threat directly to my family.
The signs would be more of a humorous nature.
That is a shame that someone should die for a 5$ sign.

[florida08]

26. am worried too

Am in Clay county and McCain signs everywhere. Have never seen such a turnout. Am on my way to try to early vote again..yesterday
the line was very long in the afternoon. The hours have been extended to 7 pm. Quite extraordinary how Obama has brought people to the polls as never before. God keep him safe.