FLORIDA, the "sunshine state," may just be casting clouds into its own forecast. With one of the closest gubernatorial races in the country reaching its climax in the polls today, we can't help but be reminded of the slight discrepancies in Florida voting that took place two years ago in the 2000 presidential election. With Jeb Bush attempting to defeat Democrat Bill McBride to become the first Republican governor to be re-elected in state history, the Democratic Party is squarely set against having Florida remain in the Bush family strongholds for any longer. The Florida Republican Party Web site has a photo of Bill Clinton and McBride along with pictures of the two Bush brothers -- the President and the Governor. Beneath this collage, the question "Who do your trust?" is indisputably rhetorical for members of the Republican party. However, for a growing number, especially within minority communities, the answer is very appropriately "Not the Republican party!" The reason? Florida seems to have had a problem of disenfranchisement, especially concerning voters who are black. Unfortunately, this year's election will take place without a change to the exclusionary.
Let's reminisce to the nasty circumstances surrounding those little Florida inventions called "chads." Since then, the political stigma surrounding Gov. Bush has been quite shady and suspect of ill dealings. Many of the disenfranchised voters -- those whose vote was not counted due to the indefinite "chad" ballots -- were either elderly or minorities, and uproar ensued over whether the "chad" problems occurring in these two demographic groups were intentionally planned. To make matters worse, in December 2000, news reports began to surface regarding Florida's "scrub" lists, allegedly a specific tool to block groups of voters from exercising their right to vote. Apparently, the faulty, inaccurate and questionable list of supposed felons and dead people -- the majority of whom were African-American -- may have been responsible for Al Gore's loss to Florida by a mere 537-vote margin (http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/11/fla.
hearings/). Not to mention, it is wrong for anyone to have their right to vote taken from them. Granted that was then, and this is now. So, what exactly does this information have to do with today's election? Everything. This is the most important election to occur in Florida since the presidential election, and once again a large number of voters are wrongly stricken from registration lists due to the scrub lists.
Today brings us to the heels of yet another political race in Florida that is expected to come to a similarly close finish. Even better, the official scrub list has yet to be corrected and is still in effect for today's election. The company that electronically generated this list, DBT Online, is very aware that the electronic register is disastrously flawed. Even still, the list containing thousands of names is in use at this very moment. What is even worse is that DBT has reported that if they actually were to follow the strict criteria necessary to eliminate all of the existent errors, the majority of the names would not remain on the supposed "scrub" list. Florida could potentially disenfranchise (once again) masses of eligible voters, the majority of whom are black, in this decisive election (http//www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=55&row=1).
McBride has accurately accused Bush of running a "campaign of lies" that constitutes "the most dishonest campaign in Florida history." Much of this has been exploded by the media, who recorded Governor Bush saying that he "had devious plans" in order to get around a statewide bill that passed concerning class size in schools (www.fladems.com). Understandably, this statement embodies the feelings of many voters who feel they may have suffered from dubious practices at, and even before, the actual polls. The fact that African-Americans -- who historically vote for Democrats -- are the primary group of people suffering from this scrub list shows the inefficient political practices that are occurring in the Sunshine State. In the 2000 Presidential election, 93 percent of African-Americans voted for Gore. Clearly, it is unjust for any group to be suffering from this travesty, but the fact that the black population is primarily suffering indicates a political bias and direct manipulation. The fact that the press, media and public are aware of the flawed list is even worse. It seems that no one is concerned enough to truly look into how this is affecting political balance.
In an address at Miami Dade Community College during his brief visit to Florida last week, Rep. Carrie P. Meek (D-Fla.) introduced Bill Clinton as "the honorable brother." He eagerly addressed the serious issues of voting rights in this predominately black neighborhood, but under the auspice that Election Day was perhaps too close to focus the concern on actually altering and disqualifying the immoral scrub policy at this point in the election season. Rather, Clinton urged the attentive audience to go out to the polls and vote. He asked them to undo the troubles of multiple past Florida elections, reminding them that even he was old enough to accurately recall the time in this country when there was a Southern poll tax implemented to purposely disenfranchise black voters. "I've seen black people turned away from the polls in droves," he said, drawing an ovation and cheers.
Things are fairly sketchy down in Florida. Between chads, scrubs and family ties, one cannot expect any outcome to be fully viable due to the circumstances. Hopefully, Florida will not continue its bad reputation concerning voting, but there is reasonable doubt that things will go over smoothly this evening. What is important is that people are aware of their voting rights and even more aware of how they may be unjustly taken away. In one of the nation's closest races, our eyes should not be blinded to the underlying problems of a political structure gone wrong.
(Amey Adkins' column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at aadkins@cavalierdaily.com.)
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