Black groups rail against Orleans registrar of voters
9/30/2004, 5:35 p.m. CT
By BRETT MARTEL
The Associated Press
 

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Numerous residents who have participated in voter registration drives — some held months ago — have not received identification cards and are fearful of being disenfranchised, activists told a city council committee Thursday.

Leaders of several groups who have run get-out-the-vote drives — mostly in black neighborhoods, high schools and colleges — voiced those concerns, angrily at times, to the City Council's Government Affairs Committee.

"When they try to disqualify people from voting in national elections ... this is very serious," said Carl Galmon, representing the Selma-to-Montgomery Historic Voting Rights Trail. "There is a conspiracy to disenfranchise African-American voters from the Nov. 2 elections that you are a part of."

While council members avoided discussing conspiracy theories, they did show concern over why the perception exists that numerous people in New Orleans won't be able to vote.

They had asked Orleans Parish Registrar of Voters Louis Keller to show up at their special meeting Thursday, but Keller instead sent a written statement saying his office was too swamped with work for the upcoming election.

When reached by phone later, Keller said anyone concerned about whether their registration is current could call his office.

"We encourage them to do that in spite of all the other work we have to do," Keller said. "We will take a few seconds to find the information on the computer."

Part of the outrage exhibited in council chambers was a reaction to a recently published list of about 45,000 New Orleans residents who are classified as being inactive voters. That means they soon could be purged from voting rolls if they have not voted in two prior federal elections.

Elsie Cangelosi, director of national voter registration for the Louisiana Secretary of State's Office, said people become classified as inactive when the addresses they have on file are in question because verification cards sent to them were returned by the post office.

The deadline for registering for the Nov. 2 election is this coming Monday. Mail applications postmarked by then but received later also will be accepted statewide, Cangelosi said.

More registration drives are scheduled to take place in churches throughout the city and state Sunday. But several organizers in New Orleans expressed concern as to whether their work would be for naught.

Gwendolyn Carriere, representing the Voices for Working Families, said her group has helped more than 2,000 residents fill out voter registration cards since June. She told the council she gets calls daily from people who have yet to receive their identification cards.

"I have a concern that if the registrar of voters is not given serious assistance and direction ... many of our African Americans are not going to be able to vote."

Councilmembers said they would compile comments and complaints in a report and seek to find out what happened to if cases exist where cards were properly filed but residents were not registered in time to vote.

Keller said all registration cards submitted on time for the Nov. 2 election would be processed on time, even if it means working extended hours.

"We've been working the past two weeks extra hours to catch up," he said. "For this election, it seems like a great majority of people are interested in registering because of what happened in 2000. The interest is very high."