Posted on October 28, 2008

Will Black Voters Be Powder Keg?

World Net Daily, October 28, 2008

The Obama campaign is accusing Republicans of trying to disenfranchise black voters in Detroit and other cities by using home foreclosure lists to turn them away from polls on Election Day.

The charges were initially raised by Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters of the Congressional Black Caucus, prompting Obama and the Democratic National Committee to sue the Michigan GOP.

The federal suit, which campaign lawyers acknowledge is based solely on unconfirmed reports and rumors, also alleges that Ohio Republicans and the Republican National Committee also have schemed to challenge voters who have lost their homes in the battleground state.

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Last month, Waters, D-Watts—who fanned the flames of the deadly Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, earning her the nickname “Kerosene Maxine”—demanded the FBI investigate the rumors.

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Convinced an actual conspiracy is under way, Waters said, “It’s a violation of the Voting Rights Act, and we shouldn’t linger with this.

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James Carville and other Democrat activists have already hinted at similar riots breaking out in heavily black cities in the event Obama, the first African-American presidential nominee, loses the election.

Senior NAACP official Hilary Shelton said blacks would get angry if they felt disenfranchised because of voting irregularities.

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While Shelton said police should prepare to control crowds, she warned against too big a police presence near polls, which she said could intimidate first-time minority voters.

In anticipation of possible unrest, police in Detroit, Chicago, Oakland and Philadelphia are beefing up their ranks for Election Day. Police based the need for enhanced patrols in part on the Internet rumors alleging disenfranchisement.

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But election officials there say registered voters who left their foreclosed home for a different address in the same precinct are still eligible to vote. And officials deny the distribution of any foreclosure lists.

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