Justice Suing MS County For Voting Discrimination, Against Whites

[Annie]

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1449254

Lawsuit Alleges Discrimination Against Whites in Mississippi
For the First Time, Justice Department Alleges Voting Disenfranchisement Against Whites
By JAKE TAPPER and AVERY MILLER

MACON, Miss., Dec. 28, 2005 — - In overwhelmingly black and Democratic Noxubee County, Miss., everybody knows local Democratic Party chairman Ike Brown.

Officials at the U.S. Justice Department know Brown too; they're suing him. Using the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the government has alleged that Brown and local elections officials discriminated against whites. It is the first time the Justice Department has ever claimed that whites suffered discrimination in voting because of race.

"When I read the letter, it was junk, you know, bogus," Brown told ABC News.

The Justice Department says Brown and local elections officials disenfranchised whites -- challenging their voting status, rejecting their absentee ballots and telling voters to choose candidates according to race.

Brown says he has merely tried to keep white Republicans from voting in Democratic primaries. He says the lawuit is all political -- an attempt to discredit him because the Democratic Party in eastern Mississippi has been doing so well at bringing new voters to the polls, which may mean someday soon that Mississippi, a red state, could turn blue.

"The Justice Department's become an arm of the RNC," Brown said.

The Justice Department would not comment, but county prosecutor Ricky Walker is a potential witness for the government. Walker was surprised when Brown recruited a black candidate who didn't even live in the county to run against him. Walker, after all, is a Democrat.

"Mr. Brown seems to favor black candidates," Walker said. "He's always encouraged blacks to vote strictly for the black candidates."

Unapologetic About Bias

Brown is unapologetic.

He says some local white Democrats aren't "true" Democrats.

"We support the black candidates because we're sure they're going to vote in the liberal interest," Brown said.

The case takes on added complexities given the state's turbulent history during and after the civil rights era, especially those struggles having to do with voting. Mississippi is where civil rights leader Medgar Evers was murdered, as were the three civil rights workers looking to register blacks to vote, as depicted in the film "Mississippi Burning."

The president of the Mississipi NAACP, Derrick Johnson, says there is still plenty of discrimination against black voters in the state, and he questions the Bush administration's priorities in bringing this suit.

"We've had several issues over the years of what appeared to be racial discrimination against black voters and the Justice Department has yet to come in and do a thorough investigation," Johnson said. "And for them to take on this case is highly unusual and very suspect."

But others in the civil rights community take a more circumspect attitude in the case against Ike Brown.

"Voting is precious. It's a right that people sacrificed for for years and years," said Leslie Burl McLemore, director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute at Jackson State University. "There is a way to encourage participation, and it can be done without having to discriminate against another set of voters."

Racial Divide

Like so many things in Noxubee's Macon community, opinions about the case divide along racial lines. Residents opined at Geneva's Kitchen, a local restaurant, over soul food and sweet tea.

"I think Ike's a pretty good man," local resident Alonzo Phillips told ABC News.

"I guess he do target, you know, the Republicans, and they are white. Most of them," said Geneva, the restaurant's owner.

On Main Street, whites express a different sentiments: "I think Ike Brown is a racist," said a white man.

"I think we're getting a little dose of our ancestors' medicine, if you want to know the truth," said another.

Those ghosts from civil rights battles past have never left Noxubee County, and they continue to influence the way the case against Ike Brown is viewed. But guilty or innocent, the Justice Department wants this case to be about Ike Brown, not the state's historical disenfranchisement of black voters.

 

[NATO AIR]

wow. this should be very interesting. it seems the whites are modeling their complaints in similar fashion to blacks in other states. this is why we need NATIONAL standards for voting... i.e. id checks, electronic voting w/ reciept, etc etc. This is the one good policy Al Gore has promoted since the 2000 election mess. We could save ourselves a lot of money and grief if we just got the ball rolling on this.

Nevertheless, i think there is validity to this.

 

[Annie]

wow. this should be very interesting. it seems the whites are modeling their complaints in similar fashion to blacks in other states. this is why we need NATIONAL standards for voting... i.e. id checks, electronic voting w/ reciept, etc etc. This is the one good policy Al Gore has promoted since the 2000 election mess. We could save ourselves a lot of money and grief if we just got the ball rolling on this.

Nevertheless, i think there is validity to this.

Ok, radical suggestion:

1. Everyone has to produce a utility bill or proof of residency-rent receipt, something.plus picture ID.

2. Everyone uses paper ballots, deposited into a locked box.

3. Each party has pairs to count ballots.

4. End of story.

 

[insein]

Ok, radical suggestion:

1. Everyone has to produce a utility bill or proof of residency-rent receipt, something.plus picture ID.

2. Everyone uses paper ballots, deposited into a locked box.

3. Each party has pairs to count ballots.

4. End of story.

Or a shorter solution.

- Provide an ID (Soc Security Card, Driver's License etc.)
- Make like the Iraqis and stick your finger in the paint.

Problem solved on the repeat voters and voter fraud (for the living anyway). Still got to put an end to the dead rising and voting democrat.

 

[Annie]

Or a shorter solution.

- Provide an ID (Soc Security Card, Driver's License etc.)
- Make like the Iraqis and stick your finger in the paint.

Problem solved on the repeat voters and voter fraud (for the living anyway). Still got to put an end to the dead rising and voting democrat.

Well coming from Chicago, we have this tradition... :teeth:

 

[007]

Gee... discrimination against whites... in America... that can't happen... can it?

 

[insein]

Gee... discrimination against whites... in America... that can't happen... can it?

According to some, by law it can't.

 

[BATMAN]

Or a shorter solution.

- Provide an ID (Soc Security Card, Driver's License etc.)
- Make like the Iraqis and stick your finger in the paint.

Problem solved on the repeat voters and voter fraud (for the living anyway). Still got to put an end to the dead rising and voting democrat.

Good idea. But somehow, someway, somebody, would find a way to call it discrimination or a violation to someone's right to an ink-free finger.

 

[007]

According to some, by law it can't.

Well... hold on to your hat insein... it's going to get worse before it gets better.

IF... it ever gets better.

 

[insein]

Good idea. But somehow, someway, somebody, would find a way to call it discrimination or a violation to someone's right to an ink-free finger.

If by "find a way to call discrimination on it" you mean "find a way to keep the ability to rig ballot box with democrat votes alive and kicking" then yes it will happen.

 

[NATO AIR]

Ok, radical suggestion:

1. Everyone has to produce a utility bill or proof of residency-rent receipt, something.plus picture ID.

2. Everyone uses paper ballots, deposited into a locked box.

3. Each party has pairs to count ballots.

4. End of story.

No the paper ballots can be too corruptible IMHO. Electronic voting where you get a reciept back, that's how I would think it would work.

Oh well, we're both on the same point though, we need standards.

Dems are still far more prone to corruption on this because they're desperate to get power back.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1449254

Again, a verbatim copy of another person's opinion! Brilliant original thoughts.

 

[Mr. P]

I like the photo ID idea, but it’s racist, ya know. Huh!

Dennis C. Hayes, NAACP General Counsel said: "Georgia's voting identification law threatens to disfranchise an entire class of people, especially the poor, the elderly and minorities who do not have a driver license and cannot afford the fee for a state approved identification card. This law amounts to a poll tax which was declared unconstitutional decades ago."
….
The lawsuit was filed against state and local election officials and asks the federal court to declare H.B. 244 "unconstitutional, null and void," and issue both a preliminary and permanent injunction against implementation of the law.

http://www.naacp.org/news/2005/2005-09-23.html

 

[Annie]

No the paper ballots can be too corruptible IMHO. Electronic voting where you get a reciept back, that's how I would think it would work.

Oh well, we're both on the same point though, we need standards.

Dems are still far more prone to corruption on this because they're desperate to get power back.

The most simple is the easiest to spot fraud. With electronic the possibilities are endless.

 

[musicman]

Again, a verbatim copy of another person's opinion! Brilliant original thoughts.

Hey, dickhead:

Consider, for a moment, the glorious possibilty that original thought can be refined, stimulated, expanded, and improved upon by input from the world at large. What are you so afraid of - learning something?

 

[Mr. P]

Hey, dickhead:

Consider, for a moment, the glorious possibilty that original thought can be refined, stimulated, expanded, and improved upon by input from the world at large. What are you so afraid of - learning something?

He doesn’t understand the concept of a “Thread Starter”.

 

[musicman]

He doesn’t understand the concept of a “Thread Starter”.

Evidently not. Oh, well - one can hope. He might actually come away from here having learned something.

Then again, maybe not...

 

[nukeman]

Again, a verbatim copy of another person's opinion! Brilliant original thoughts.

once again your stupidity shines thru!! This was not an "opinion" this is an actuall news story!!!

Can you tell the difference?????

 

[NATO AIR]

The most simple is the easiest to spot fraud. With electronic the possibilities are endless.

I'm all papered out, hanging chads and all.

upon further research of the story by asking folks who live down there, i'm even further inclined to support the case of the plantiffs. apparently this type of stuff is also happening in places like detroit, milwaukee and kansas city too (st. louis also).

 

[Annie]

I'm all papered out, hanging chads and all.

upon further research of the story by asking folks who live down there, i'm even further inclined to support the case of the plantiffs. apparently this type of stuff is also happening in places like detroit, milwaukee and kansas city too (st. louis also).

Saw it in FL too, (like that's news, FL and voter fraud?) I still say, 'go with the simpliest' it is the easiest to spot for problems, especially if there are 'recounts'. The electronic stuff is so much mischief just waiting to be made.