Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

There’s more than than one way to hack an election. Are we about to return to so-called voter literacy tests that asked African Americans how many bubbles are in a bar of Ivory soap? It looks like it.

Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee: site of Martin Luther King’s assassination

Clip from Martin Luther King’s last speech in Memphis: http://youtu.be/Oehry1JC9Rk
Link: http://youtu.be/Oehry1JC9Rk

“Congressman Cohen Seeks Answers from Shelby County Election Commission
October 11, 2018 Press Release
Follows Commission claim that 55 percent of voter registration applications are invalid
 
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen late yesterday sent a letter to the Shelby County Election Commission about its procedures for processing applications following the Commission’s assertion that 55 percent of the voter applications it had received were invalid. Congressman Cohen is a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Voting Rights Act. A copy of the letter can be found here. https://cohen.house.gov/sites/cohen.house.gov/files/10.10.18%20Letter%20to%20Shelby%20County%20Election%20Commission.pdf

“When an election commission tells you that the majority of voter registration applications it has received are invalid, that begs serious questions,” said Congressman Cohen. 

“Our nation has an ugly history of voter suppression, especially when it comes to African American voters, and we need to ensure that voting rights are protected.  Mindful of what’s going on in Georgia, where 53,000 registration applications are being held up – 70 percent of which are from African Americans  — we must ensure that no Tennessean’s right to vote is compromised.” 

Specifically, Congressman Cohen asked the Commission: 

* What is the Commission doing to ensure that all applications are processed before early voting begins on October 17, 2018? 

* What is the Commission doing, if anything, to inform eligible citizens, whose applications are incomplete, what is required for them to complete their applications? 

* What is the Commission doing, if anything, to inform felons who have filed applications to vote, and who are eligible to have their voting rights restored, what is required for them restore their voting rights and complete an application to vote? 
                                                                                                                  ### Issues: 9th District, Civil Rights, Government Reform, Judiciary, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressmen-cohen-seeks-answers-shelby-county-election-commission

Related articles: https://cohen.house.gov/sites/cohen.house.gov/files/CA%20story%20on%20Election%20Commission%20%2810-10-18%29.pdf

Click to access A.P.%20story%20on%20Georgia%20vote%20suppression%20%2810-11-18%29.pdf

Shelby county is 54% African American: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/shelbycountytennessee

Southaven Mississippi where Trump held his Mississippi rally for Cindy Hyde-Smith is actually a predominantly white suburb of Memphis, apparently created as part of Memphis “white flight”, to avoid integration: “The racial makeup of the city was 71.0% White, 22.2% African American, 0.3% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.0% from other races, 1.7% from two or more races, and Hispanic or Latino, 5.0% of the population.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southaven,_Mississippi

“Conyers, ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who cosponsored the original Voting Rights Act in 1965, said that “Nearly fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful vision of ‘jobs, justice, and peace’ inspired my first run for Congress and became the cause of my life. After being sworn in as freshman Member of the 89th Congress, the first vote of consequence that I took was for the Voting Rights Act. Although the Shelby County v. Holder decision struck at the heart of the Act…” https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-sensenbrenner-and-conyers-lead-bipartisan-bicameral-introduction-of-legislation-to-restore-the-voting-rights-act
(Shelby County Alabama is the county in Shelby vs Holder)

Photo released to public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lorraine_Motel.jpg