Civil rights groups to educate voters, monitor elections

By Gregory Lewis South Florida Sun Sentinel
Staff Writer
Posted August 30 2004

Concerns about possible voter disenfranchisement in Tuesday's primary election have drawn several civil rights groups to South Florida and elsewhere in the state to educate voters, monitor polls and provide legal assistance to those who may encounter problems casting ballots.

"Florida continues to distinguish itself as the No. 1 problematic state for voters in the 2004 election," said Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the monitor groups.

People for the American Way Foundation, the Florida National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, its Fort Lauderdale branch and the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network plan to be in Florida as part of the Election Protection coalition, a 60-member national group. Monitors will be working in Broward, Duval, Leon, Miami-Dade and Orange counties.

"Our aim is to minimize the risk of disenfranchisement," said Sharon Lettman-Pacheco, national elections field director for the People for the American Way Foundation.

The 2000 presidential election was marred by names erroneously purged from voter rolls, confusing ballots and voting instructions, and misinformed election officials. As a result, more than 800,000 votes in Florida did not count, many of them cast by minorities, civil rights advocates said.

This year, groups are educating voters about their rights in an effort to avoid repeating the mistakes.

The Lawyers' Committee, which is sending lawyers and poll monitors, arrived last week and began canvassing door-to-door in minority neighborhoods and visiting churches to coincide with a paid media campaign. The flyers they are distributing contain a voter's bill of rights and a hotline number. Also included are sections of the election code that pertain to filing a provisional ballot, for voters who have registration cards but whose names do not appear on the rolls. If election officials later find the registration in their records, the vote counts.

The Lawyers' Committee encourages voters who encounter problems Tuesday to call its hotline, 866-687-8683.

The state NAACP will mobilize its voting initiative Monday in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

"As a longtime champion of election protection, the NAACP will be on hand to guarantee every person votes without intimidation or persecution for the primary and general elections," said Adora Obi Nweze, state president of the NAACP.

Fort Lauderdale NAACP President William McCormick said the local organization will monitor 15 precincts Tuesday in minority neighborhoods where people had trouble voting in 2000.

"Monitoring sends a message to voters who are not fully confident in the [voting] process," McCormick said. The 2000 presidential election "pulled the curtains off democracy and showed us the other side."

This week's efforts by the groups are a test to determine what kinds of problems voters in Florida may encounter for the Nov. 2 general election, group leaders said.