A travesty of democracy in Illinois
Democrats conspire against voters in bid to remove SEP from ballotBy Jerry White and Elisa Brehm
16 July 2004
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Anyone who wants to understand the real state of democracy in America should have witnessed the travesty which took place in the county clerk’s office of Champaign County, Illinois this week. Over the past several days functionaries of the state and local Democratic Party have used lies, obstruction and intimidation in an effort to throw Tom Mackaman, the state legislative candidate of the Socialist Equality Party, off the ballot.
Last month Mackaman and his supporters submitted 2,003 signatures, far more than the 1,325 required to attain ballot status in the 103rd District, which includes the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. Within one week Democratic officials filed an objection against more than half of Mackaman’s signatures. On July 6, the Champaign County Electoral Board ordered a line-by-line review of the challenged signatures.
After a week of a painstaking review of the 1,003 challenged signatures the board’s staff was able to find the voter identification numbers of nearly 700 persons—the vast majority which perfectly matched the names and addresses of the signers on the SEP petitions. Nevertheless representatives of the Democratic Party continued to object to 611 signatures, accepting only 71 as valid registered voters.
The events of this week expose the inner workings of a party that claims to oppose the Bush administration, but relies on the same anti-democratic and heavy-handed methods employed by the Republicans to disenfranchise voters in Florida and steal the 2000 elections. For the Democrats no serious political debate on the war, social inequality and falling living standards is to be permitted.
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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jul2004/illi-j16.shtml________________
Now, don't these "Democrats" have anything better to do -- like swaying and making changes in their own party apparatus? This kind of stuff, if true, really is annoying. Where are they fighting the Republicans in this fashion? When the Repugs steal Florida, not even one Democratic member of the U.S. Senate would stand up with some balls and sign an objection. Many Democrats are not democratic. But, rather, are bought and paid for by big business and the wealthy, just like the Repugs. And, they'll do what they have to do to stay in power -- to hell with democracy.
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