Kerry Calls For Voting Rights for Katrina Victims

[Anita Garcia]

Tuesday, 4 April 2006, 8:01 pm
Press Release: U.S. Senator
Kerry Calls on Justice Department to Protect Voting Rights for Victims of Katrina
Current election plan will deny voting rights for tens of thousands of Louisiana residents

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and John Tanner, Chief of the Voting Section at the Department of Justice, urging them to immediately reconsider approval of a voting plan that will disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters in the upcoming Louisiana elections.

Kerry opposes the Department of Justice’s decision to allow the April 22 election in Louisiana to take place without first addressing the fact that tens of thousands of residents – disproportionately African Americans – will be unable to cast their votes.

Kerry is urging the Justice Department to set up satellite voting stations in cities outside Louisiana where large numbers of Katrina evacuees are living, similar to the satellite voting opportunities made available to Iraqi voters living in the United States during the recent Iraq elections. Kerry is also calling for the voting system to be strengthened in communities affected by Katrina before the elections take place.

Below is a copy of the letter:

April 3, 2006
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
John K. Tanner, Esq.
Chief, Voting Section
Civil Rights Division
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

Dear Attorney General Gonzales and Mr. Tanner:

I am writing to express my disappointment in your decision to pre-clear the state of Louisiana’s election plan for the April 22 election in New Orleans and to urge your reconsideration. In light of the tremendous number of displaced citizens who would be disenfranchised in next month’s election, as well as problems that face voters who remain in the city, the Department of Justice should not have given its approval.

<http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0604/S00074.htm>