Civil Rights Groups Protest Upcoming New Orleans Municipal Elections
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 4/5/2006
Nearly 2,000 people rallied April 1 to protest New Orleans municipal elections scheduled for April 22. The "Our Right to Return, Vote, and Rebuild" March, led by Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and featuring comedian Bill Cosby, drew major civil rights organizations together for the first time to demand voting rights for New Orleans natives."To hold the New Orleans election on April 22 would violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and disenfranchise thousands of voters forced to evacuate their homes because of Hurricane Katrina," said Bruce S. Gordon, president of the NAACP, in a statement. "If provisions can be made to allow Iraqi and Mexican expatriates to vote in their national elections then surely we can do no less for American citizens forced to relocate through no fault of their own."
The rally took place at the convention center, the site of some of the most vivid scenes of desperation after the hurricane. Participants then marched across the Mississippi Bridge where Katrina evacuees trying to leave the city had encountered police resistance to enter Gretna on September 1.
The protests took place after the US Department of Justice on March 16 "precleared" state and city officials' plan for the election under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The scheme allows only two ways of voting--voting in New Orleans and in satellite polling places around Louisiana or by absentee ballot.
A state Senate committee rejected a bill that would create satellite polling places in other states with Katrina evacuees. Fewer than half of New Orleans population, some 460,000 residents, have returned since the August 29 hurricane.
Tens of thousands of displaced voters currently live in Houston, Atlanta, and Jackson, Mississippi.
Civil rights groups contest the election scheme because it favors the mostly white population that has returned to the city or can easily travel to New Orleans over the minority, low-income evacuees who are less likely to have fixed long-term addresses. According to at least one published report, less than 10,000 registered voters have requested absentee ballots.
Orleans Parish contains 297,000 registered voters.
To ensure a fair election, civil rights groups have demanded 1) satellite polling places in all 44 states with Katrina evacuees and not just Louisiana, 2) giving ballots directly to voters, and 3) releasing updated lists of voter addresses so candidates can access voters.
At the rally, Reverend Al Sharpton expressed the importance of the elections. He said, "What happens in New Orleans will affect voting rights all over the United States."
Groups have already started mobilizing for the court battles expected after the April 22 primary and May 2 runoff election.
