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http://www.newsmax.com/politics/NAACP_louisiana/2007/08/31/28870.html
NAACP Challenges Louisiana Voter Purge
Friday, August 31, 2007
NEW ORLEANS -- The NAACP filed a civil rights lawsuit challenging a purge of
Louisiana voters believed to have registered in other states following
Hurricane Katrina.
In the federal court action, the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People contends that the purge has already begun without the
necessary pre-approval of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Because of its history of racial discrimination before the passage of the
1965 Voting Rights Act, voting changes in Louisiana and other Southern
states must be approved by federal officials.
On June 15, Secretary of State Jay Dardenne announced that his agency was
mailing notices to 53,554 voters saying they must give up their registration
in other states or risk losing the right to vote in Louisiana. Dardenne said
the state had compared Louisiana voter roles with those of other states and
identified people with identical names and dates of birth.
Voters were given one month to prove they had canceled their out-of-state
registrations. After that, they had to appear in person at their voter
registrar's office with documentation that their non-Louisiana registration
had been canceled.
On Aug. 17, election officials said more than 21,192 people had been
dropped -- the majority from areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Of
those, 6,932 were from Orleans Parish, which was majority black before the
storm.
In its lawsuit, filed Thursday, the NAACP said that ''the voting rights of
many more may be threatened unless this court enjoins this practice.''
The named plaintiffs in the suit include Rosa Segue, a woman described as a
lifelong Orleans Parish resident who lost her home to Katrina and has
relocated to Katy, Texas and a person identified only as John Doe-Jane Doe
displaced from Louisiana who intends to return.
The suit says the second plaintiff has not voted in another state, does not
intend to and never received any warning about the pending removal from
Louisiana voting rolls.
Merietta Norton, general counsel for the secretary of state, said her office
had not received a copy of the lawsuit Thursday and she could not comment.
Since the suit involves a voting rights case, the NAACP is requesting, as
provided by federal law, that the case be heard by a three-judge panel of
federal district judges.
NAACP Challenges Louisiana Voter Purge
Friday, August 31, 2007
NEW ORLEANS -- The NAACP filed a civil rights lawsuit challenging a purge of
Louisiana voters believed to have registered in other states following
Hurricane Katrina.
In the federal court action, the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People contends that the purge has already begun without the
necessary pre-approval of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Because of its history of racial discrimination before the passage of the
1965 Voting Rights Act, voting changes in Louisiana and other Southern
states must be approved by federal officials.
On June 15, Secretary of State Jay Dardenne announced that his agency was
mailing notices to 53,554 voters saying they must give up their registration
in other states or risk losing the right to vote in Louisiana. Dardenne said
the state had compared Louisiana voter roles with those of other states and
identified people with identical names and dates of birth.
Voters were given one month to prove they had canceled their out-of-state
registrations. After that, they had to appear in person at their voter
registrar's office with documentation that their non-Louisiana registration
had been canceled.
On Aug. 17, election officials said more than 21,192 people had been
dropped -- the majority from areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Of
those, 6,932 were from Orleans Parish, which was majority black before the
storm.
In its lawsuit, filed Thursday, the NAACP said that ''the voting rights of
many more may be threatened unless this court enjoins this practice.''
The named plaintiffs in the suit include Rosa Segue, a woman described as a
lifelong Orleans Parish resident who lost her home to Katrina and has
relocated to Katy, Texas and a person identified only as John Doe-Jane Doe
displaced from Louisiana who intends to return.
The suit says the second plaintiff has not voted in another state, does not
intend to and never received any warning about the pending removal from
Louisiana voting rolls.
Merietta Norton, general counsel for the secretary of state, said her office
had not received a copy of the lawsuit Thursday and she could not comment.
Since the suit involves a voting rights case, the NAACP is requesting, as
provided by federal law, that the case be heard by a three-judge panel of
federal district judges.
