[Marxism] Anita Hill on the election

[Jim Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxx>]

Questionable tactics by GOP
By Anita F. Hill  |  November 6, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/11/
06/questionable_tactics_by_gop/

PRESIDENT Bush's margin of victory in Ohio may have spared the country
the anguish of postelection lawsuits, but unaddressed claims of minority
voter intimidation cast a shadow over this election just as rumors of
Florida voter disenfranchisement did in 2000. Even if the results are
undisputed, what is at issue is the integrity of the process.


The most publicized accusations came out of Ohio on the eve of the
election.

Voicing concerns about voter fraud, the Republican Party sought to place
3,500 in polling places to challenge individual voter eligibility.
According to state Democrats, Republicans planned to dispatch the
challengers primarily to precincts with predominantly minority voters.
Representing a pair of black voters, civil rights attorneys charged that
the tactic was aimed at intimidating voters and brought suit to stop the
practice. Two separate federal district court judges, one a Republican
appointee and one appointed by a Democrat, agreed with the civil rights
attorneys. According to both courts, in weighing the interest of
preventing fraud against that of preventing voter intimidation, the
balanced tipped in favor of voting rights.

In a predawn Election Day ruling over one judges' dissent, the Sixth
Circuit Appeals Court overruled both decisions, deferring to Ohio's right
to control its election process through state laws.

This preelection battle must not be read without the benefit of a bit of
history about race and political parties in this country. In 1870, aided
by the newly adopted 15th Amendment to the Constitution and the
protection of the Republican Party, seven Southern states elected
African-Americans to the House and Senate. In 1876, when the Republican
Party removed its protection, widespread voter intimidation aimed at the
newly freed slaves predominated. No African-American was elected to
Congress until well into the 20th century.

Blacks remained loyal to the party of Lincoln until the New Deal era when
they left in large numbers to become Democrats. Voter suppression, often
violent, followed them, despite court suits to end disenfranchisement.
Hispanic and language-minority voters suffered similar experiences.
Suppression of minority voting was so prevalent that it became a chief
platform in the struggle for civil rights. In response to that struggle,
Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to address the problem.

President Johnson's signature on this legislation further secured the
African-American vote for Democrats as Southern whites were leaving the
party.

Despite some efforts by President Reagan's administration to attract more
blacks, recent analysis suggests that both Democrats and Republican take
African-American votes for granted. Democrats count on getting the bulk
of the black vote and Republicans count on the proportionately higher
white voter turnout to offset that advantage.

Following the 2000 claims of minority voter intimidation, attention again
was focused on minority participation. By registering record numbers of
new voters in urban, largely minority and poor communities, Democrats
hoped to tip the balance of the minority vote back in their favor.

Republicans chose the path of increasing rural voting but also, it
appears, to engage in what one Michigan official called "suppression" of
the urban vote.

Fortunately, Ohio Republicans backed off from a plan to use poll
challengers. But the choice to litigate in federal court for the right to
use untrained personnel to go after individuals, rather than those who
were registering them, lends support to the conclusion that the goal was
intimidation and not fraud prevention.

Given President Bush's decisive victory, the larger lessons of this
episode may be lost. Somewhere between claims of voter fraud and voter
suppression exists the reality of the continued saliency of race in
American politics. In this lies an opportunity for President Bush.

In 2007 when the Voting Rights Act comes up for review, his support for
renewing the legislation should be clear. In the meantime, he should
examine the Justice Department's enforcement of the statute and enhance
it as needed.

Importantly, the public should not brush aside Democratic charges of
minority voter intimidation as divisive identity politics or more
politics as usual. Though Democrats and Republicans may still approach
the vote of identifiable racial, class, gender, and now religious groups
differently, such tactics are only acceptable if they enhance voter
participation.

The very idea of voter suppression ought to be repugnant to any of us who
value democracy.

Anita F. Hill is professor of law, social policy, and women's studies at
Heller Graduate School at Brandeis University.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

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