Florida's Lessons For Black Leaders
MichaelP
http://www.blackelectorate.com/archives/120400.asp
Black Electorate
December 4, 2000
Florida's Lessons For Black Leaders
By Cedric Muhammad <blackel...@cs.com>
Everyone, and we mean everyone, White or Black, should take their hat off
or bow in respect for what the NAACP and Black opinion leaders did in
Florida. The Black voter turnout in that state was simply unbelievable and
without question is the only reason that Al Gore is as close as he is to
winning the presidency. Black Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) efforts deserve a
tremendous amount of credit for this impressive show.
Black voter turn-out rose a whopping 65% in Florida this year. In 1996,
Black Floridians cast 527,000 votes and in this election not counting the
tens of thousand of votes that were not counted, 952,000 Blacks voted and
overwhelmingly Democratic.
However, accounts of voter confusion, intimidation and voting rights
violations do indicate that Black GOTV-efforts may have focused too much
on the ends (high turnout) rather than the means (removing impediments to
accurate voting). There is compelling evidence that more than the
necessary amount of votes needed to put Al Gore over the top in his
presidential race were lost due to the previously-mentioned reasons:
ballot confusion, intimidation and voting rights violations.
And of course, as we have indicated before, the Black incarceration rate,
which shot through the roof during the 8 years of Clinton-Gore and which
in Florida makes one out of every three Black men ineligible, is a crisis
that by itself may have cost Gore the election. Interestingly, we heard
several reports out of Florida and New York that Blacks were mistakenly or
erroneously informed that they could not vote because of felony
convictions.
Because the amount of first-time voters was so high among the Black
electorate in Florida and because of the high rates of illiteracy, more
attention should have been given to voter education and proper voting
techniques.
Hopefully, next time around, Black GOTV efforts will spend a considerably
greater amount of time on voter education as opposed to simple voter
mobilization. Then there are indications that Black elected officials and
opinion leaders did not focus properly and quick enough in the face of
voting problems and were possibly misled by local officials about voting
results.
In Duval County, Florida, confusion and a slowed response surrounded the
disqualification of some 27,000 votes - 42% of which were reported to be
in Black precincts. Some Black leaders are alleging that a Republican
election supervisor provided misinformation regarding the votes in
question. Black leaders who were initially unaware of what happened were
unable to respond to the problem before Nov. 10 when the 72-hour deadline
to file protests had already passed.
Certainly, as a result of incidents like these, Black leaders should learn
that it is as important to watch what happens to votes immediately after
they are cast, as it is in getting them cast in the first place. In
addition we can only hope that Black politicians and opinion leaders will
realize that winning elections for Democratic candidates and protecting
Black voting rights are not always the same thing.
What has been striking about the Florida vote dispute is how the color
lines have been drawn, within the Democratic Party, in terms of how to
dispute the vote count in the presidential race. While Black Democrats are
very clear about wanting to assert and document that Black voting rights
were violated, White Democrats are placing the focus on voting machine
malfunctions and have even implied that the Black voting rights violations
argument would hurt the Democrats in the court of public appeal among
White swing voters and southern Democrats.
In the days immediately following the election, Black leaders were vocal
and adamant about wanting Black voter intimidation and voting rights
violations to be at the center of Gore's contest of the vote totals in
Florida. The NAACP held urgent public hearings and sought Justice
Department help and the CBC wrote letters to President Clinton as well as
Janet Reno asking for their help in addressing instances of suspected
violations. Neither the Clinton administration or the Justice Department
have done anything significant to address the problem.
Only today, three weeks after Black leaders voiced their concerns and
asked for intervention, is the Justice Department willing to look at the
complaints. But few have high hopes for the success of the effort and for
several reasons.
First, even if the Justice Department were to find voting rights
violations, the Justice Department, in and of itself, has no power to
change the outcome of the election. Second, the argument is really Gore's
to make. And the Gore campaign has downplayed Black voting rights
violations in its court challenges and public relations efforts. And
third, many believe that Janet Reno has no desire to stir up tensions in
Florida, particularly in the Miami community where it is believed she
hopes to retire. Her decision to send Justice Department investigators
into Florida is mainly seen as symbolic.
To compound matters White Congressional Democrats, particularly
conservatives known as "Blue Dogs", have been virtually silent about what
is alleged to have happened to Black voters in the south, hoping to not
alienate their white constituents. Interestingly, it is these same Blue
Dog Democrats who benefited from the high voter turn-out in the South even
though many of them specifically rejected Black GOTV-efforts, believing
that such a campaign strategy would turn off white voters in their
districts.
But without a doubt, the most striking aspect of the debate over Black
voting rights violations is that they have not shaped the Gore legal
challenges to the election results.
One member of the Black Caucus told us that they are extremely
disappointed with the manner in which the Gore campaign and legal team
have decided to contest the election believing that Gore has placed the
strongest arguments against the election results aside in favor of a more
moderate approach.
And the belief that Gore has deliberately downplayed the alleged Black
offenses is widespread among Caucus members. Even outgoing Black Caucus
chairman James Clyburn has publicly indicated his skepticsm at Gore's
commitment to fight for the voting rights of Black voters in his efforts
to win the presidency through court challenges.
Several Caucus members have indicated that they are tired of the lack of a
quid pro quo in their relationship with the Democratic Party, believing
that they have gotten little in return, in terms of an agenda, or
increased influence inside of the Party in return for their unflinching
support of President Clinton in 1998. Many fear the same trend beginning
to develop in reference to Al Gore.
Blacks have shown that they are the most loyal group of voters in the
American electorate. And they have proven that their support only gets
stronger under the most difficult of circumstances. Now the question
remains, what will Black leaders do to protect the sanctity of the Black
vote? After all, voting rights violations have occurred where Blacks are
concerned, in every election since the late 1800s.
Are Black leaders willing to place the long-term interests
of Black voters over the short-term interests of the
Democratic Party and Al Gore?
Only time will tell.
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