Democrats’ Vote Drive in Louisiana Stirs Concern

[cal04]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/us/politics/15vote.html?hp

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.

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.”

[flashl]

1. Good. The drives should offset voter database purges. nt

[Radical Activist]

2. Obama once worked for Project Vote.

People who still think Obama is some kind of corporate conservative should look up Project Vote and ACORN.

[sam sarrha]

3. the party should be informing and assisting

[Radical Activist]

4. Some of the excuses and bellyaching from election officials is disgusting.

They need to stop making excuses to disenfranchise people and do their fucking job.

[Wilms]

5. That 15th Amendment is such an inconvenience. n/t

[bluestateguy]

6. "Voting should only be for white people"

That is an actual quote that someone said to me in all seriousness in 1994.

[Frances]

7. Shouldn't someone have a list of newly registered voters as well

as those who registered before so that volunteers can knock on doors and alert anyone who thinks they are registered but aren't.

That would help on election day to cut down on the confusion that the registrars are predicting.