Racism Watch Denounces Race-Based Voter Intimidation

2004 Racism Watch Denounces Race-Based Voter Intimidation
and IRS Attack on NAACP

Accuses John Ashcroft of Partisan Support of Intimidation
Efforts

Calls for Blacks to Rise Up, Challenge and Defeat It

For immediate release
October 29, 2004

For more information:
Ted Glick, 973-338-5398

Dr. Ron Walters, noted political analyst and author,
speaking for 2004 Racism Watch, today condemned the
continuing cascade of examples of attempted voter
intimidation and disfranchisement of voters of color by the
Republican Party. He was particularly critical of the
Internal Revenue Service which, according to today's N.Y
Times, "has begun reviewing the tax-exempt status of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."

"The IRS action brings back memories of President Richard
Nixon, impeached for his illegal and unconstitutional
actions against his political opposition," Walters said. "As
the November 2 election approaches, the Republican Party
appears to be pulling out all the stops to intimidate and
scare voters in communities of color in their campaign to
win by hook or by crook. In states all across the country,
Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Louisiana, Maryland,
Arkansas, Kentucky, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania,
Arizona and elsewhere, there are examples of race-based
activities to discourage voters from exercising their right
to vote.

"Attorney General John Ashcroft, constitutionally charged
with defending voting rights, is doing just the opposite,"
Walters charged. "He has said that his prime concern on
election day is to prevent so-called 'voter fraud,' a
classic blame-the-victim approach. A 'voter integrity'
program was enacted by Ashcroft in 2002 that has done little
more than federalize the state-based 'ballot integrity
programs' traditionally run by Republicans in many sections
of the country. The outrage of these programs is that they
focus on intimidating minority voters, inspecting and
challenging their registrations and general voter status.
There is little, if any, focus on inspecting voting
procedures to ensure that disfranchisement does not occur."

Ted Glick, Co-coordinator of 2004 Racism Watch, added that
"There is a deep-seated, racist bias to the way our
electoral system works. As one example, electoral equipment
tends to be older, more prone to breakdowns, and resources
are generally less in minority election districts. As a
result, in 2000, a study by CalTech and MIT universities
revealed that 4-6 million votes were thrown out as no good,
and nearly half of them were from communities of color.
Ballots from such communities are thrown out at a rate 20
times that of white, affluent voting districts, especially
where antiquated, 'butterfly' punch-card ballots or optical
scan machines were used."

Walters concluded, "There are two immediate remedies for
these grave problems with our upcoming elections. The media
needs to do its job by conscientiously investigating and
reporting the truth about what is going on from now until a
President and a new Congress have been chosen. And Black
voters and other voters of color must have the courage to
resist intimidation. We must meet it by doing as we have
done in the past: rise up, challenge and defeat it in
massive numbers on election day."

More information on 2004 Racism Watch can be found at
http://www.racismwatch.org.