- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
old methods of U.S. discrimination at the polls have been replaced by "subtler
and more creative tactics," according to a report released on Wednesday.
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- Julian Bond, the board chairman of the civil rights group
NAACP, voiced special concerns about attempts to turn away minority voters.
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- "Minority voters bear the brunt of every form of
disenfranchisement, including pernicious efforts to keep them away from
the polls," Bond said in a statement.
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- The statement said the report, by the NAACP and People
for the American Way Foundation, found that the kinds of voter intimidation
found in the past -- discriminatory literacy tests, poll taxes and physical
violence -- have been supplanted by other methods, including:
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- -- a plan in Kentucky to place "vote challengers"
in African-American precincts during the upcoming elections;
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- -- the use of armed, plainclothes officers from the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement to question elderly black voters in Orlando
as part of a state investigation of voting irregularities in the city's
2003 mayoral race, which critics said intimidated black voters, potentially
suppressing this year's turnout;
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- -- the barring of Native Americans from voting in South
Dakota's June primary after they were challenged to provide photo identification,
which is not required by state or federal law.
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- In a separate development, the AFL-CIO union federation
said it will watch for any attempt to reprise voting rights violations
that marred the 2000 election.
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- Voting irregularities in Florida threw the presidential
contest four years ago into a muddle that was ultimately decided by the
U.S. Supreme Court, putting Republican George W. Bush even though Democrat
Al Gore won the popular vote.
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- "We're particularly concerned about treatment of
African-Americans, Latino, Asian-American and Native American voters, who
were disproportionately disenfranchised in the 2000 federal elections,"
the AFL-CIO's Cecelie Counts said in a statement.
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- The AFL-CIO, which represents some 13 million workers
in 60 labor unions, plans to work in 12 states where the 2004 presidential
election is expected to be close, calling attention to changes in election
procedures, voter education and possible technical problems.
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- The labor federation will focus on communities in Arizona,
Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Washington state and Wisconsin.
- © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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