NAACP says Block the Election...it's rock' n in NOLA

[Acebass]

NAACP President Bruce S. Gordon says holding the upcoming mayoral election would be illegal unless dramatic steps are taken to reach out to more of the mostly black people who have been displaced around the nation.

Gordon, who heads the national black civil rights organization, is urging the Department of Justice to block the April 22nd election and to force major changes to an emergency election plan cobbled together by Louisiana officials.

Before the election can take place, the Justice Department must give its blessing,




to follow this breaking story;


http://politicalswitchboard.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=8516&hl=

[goclark]

1. Yes NAACP, yes! nt

[me b zola]

2. I totally agree with this

No election in NOLA is legitamate until they can GUARANTEE that ALL of her citizens can vote---and that their votes will be counted!

[Acebass]

3. There is a meeting tonight...n/t

[Keseys Ghost]

4. NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!

They fight revolutions over that, don't they?

[pitohui]

6. they're not being taxed

the homeowners are back

it's the renters who can't be arsed to return but want to vote anyway in a place they no longer live


:shrug:

[Horse with no Name]

9. But why can't they live there?

Maybe because there isn't any housing?:shrug:
You surely aren't suggesting that just because someone rented a home in New Orleans that it made them less of a citizen than someone who owns a home there?

[pitohui]

11. i suggest they have less of an investment here

and in the event the homeowners were the ones beating down the doors to get back in the first minute it was legal to return -- and in many cases before it was legal to return

many of these renters will never come back, they have relocated elsewhere and that's where they will stay

it costs money to relocate, homeowners are motivated to return because they have a financial investment as well as a sentimental investment

[Horse with no Name]

14. FWIW, I think you are wrong

Sounds an awful lot like an ownership society to me.
You are suggesting that someone who rents isn't capable of being sentimental about their hometown.
People can rent and still have a love of their home and their town and their neighbors.
A house is not a home and owning a pile of sticks and bricks doesn't make you any better than someone who doesn't.
Many NOLA citizens would come back but most of the rentals are being bulldozed and nobody is rushing to build new rentals.
The contractors are too busy working for the homeowners at this point to care about the renters.
That isn't their fault and they shouldn't be punished OR silenced.
It's their home too.

[pitohui]

15. they didn't care enough to come back

in the event they didn't care enough to come back

the catastrophe was on aug 29, this is march 13, you know, we have terrible labor shortages and are greatly in need of hands to rebuild

if you can't be arsed to chip in, why should you any more be considered a citizen of the town you have abandoned?

[Horse with no Name]

17. But where are they going to live?

As a homeowner, you are entitled to trailers etc, but you surely cannot fault someone for not squatting with their children in tents and living in their cars. Where would they put them in the first place?
On your property?
They didn't abandon the town. Abandonment is leaving of your own free will.
Hardly the case.

[pitohui]

20. i put up an evacuee

did you?

the minute my house was habitable i did make it available

we have trailers in my neighborhood alto not on my lawn because we have two baths in the house, easier just to skip the paperwork and put the person up in the house

you do what you can do

there seem to be two kinds of people -- those who were sneaking around barriers and getting back to check on things and fix up even before it was legal -- and those who have not returned to this day

look, it's over 6 months, if you have not returned by now, it's time to accept you just didn't care that much and you're just not willing to put yourself out that much, the reason for it doesn't matter

i was here, where were you?

they no longer live here, they need to look at their futures instead of their pasts

[Horse with no Name]

24. I helped gather needed items and volunteered to help

at one of the shelters. I donated clothes and toys and money and food. I helped find evacuees places to live for free as close as we could get them.
Are you REALLY keeping a scorecard because I am quite certain I did everything I could do, considering I am not even a resident of your state.

"i was here, where were you?"

Well let me tell you. I was right HERE doing what I could.

[pitohui]

26. i can tell you're not a resident of the state actually

it was a little bit of irony

if i came into your city with a demand that former residents of your city be allowed to vote in your city's municipal elections i doubt i'd get far before getting run out of town on a rail

but it's fine for you to come to our state and tell us what to do

[Anita Garcia]

33. I demand that everyone should get to vote

and I am from your state.
And by everyone, I mean EVERY ONE.
You call them "former residents, I call them displaced voters.
They are citizens, they have an intent to live in New Orleans.
They have a right to participate in the democratic process.

And, I'm happy that there are people outside of Louisiana who also believe in the Voting Rights Act.

[American liberal]

72. did you consider that many who had to leave can't AFFORD to come back?

[pitohui]

81. of course i considered that

i think it should be fairly clear

if they can't afford to come back, then they should stay where they are, which is hopefully in a state where the public schools, housing, and health care is still in existence

no blame, it is making the smart choice for themselves and their family not to return

i don't criticize, i merely point out that those who don't live in a given area shouldn't be voting in that area

really not rocket science

[Keseys Ghost]

56. Shame on you!

You are either clueless or heartless. When was the last time you drove through Lakeview, Lakeshore South, the Bywater, the 9th, Carrolton? I was there yesterday. Ghost towns.

Ignorant or mean?

[Keseys Ghost]

51. Sounds like class bias to me.

Very unamerican.

[Keseys Ghost]

49. Really? Who told you that?

I have many friends who lost homes they own who have not been able to return. Who is the "they" of whom you speak?

"the homeowners are back"? Did George Bush tell you that?

[pitohui]

59. look i live here

the homeowners are not going quietly, they're here, even if they're on my living room floor, as in one case

how many you got on your floor?

name-calling is rude, i'm just sayin

[Keseys Ghost]

71. It is what it is.

Do you live here? Have you been here since September?

Racism and class warefare is rude.

[Anita Garcia]

73. Wait, you live "here"?

See, my eighth grade education is failing me now.
Where do you live? Across the lake? In Hammond? Baton Rouge?
How bad were you hit?
And you are right, the homeowners are not going quietly. All homeowners who need a ride to the polls will be welcome on any bus taking some of the 55% renters of NOLA to vote.

[pitohui]

77. bad enough

i live in st. tammany, my house has been hit and had to be rebuilt twice in 3 yrs so i could sit around and be bitter too

i ain't got time for that

[Keseys Ghost]

83. St. Tammany Parish?

That's the parish Grand Wizard David Duke carried in the governor's race, isn't it?

I'm not bitter.

I just think that the right to vote is important regardless of race or wealth.

[Keseys Ghost]

78. You said that you don't live here

So, which is it?

Did you get hit?

New Orleans hit?

Nearby hit?

Baton Rouge hit?

Water in the house?

Trees through the roof?

How many weeks without power?

I have friends, not the poor, black renters you would disenfranchise, mind you, who still don't have power. They had good jobs. White guys. Can they vote? Please?

[Horse with no Name]

80. I'm having a hard time believing I am reading this crap

on a progressive message board.:wtf:

[pitohui]

84. do they live in orleans? then they should vote

i don't care what color your friends are, they should vote in the elections of wherever they live now, that is the honest thing to do

i have friends in lakeview too, and you know what? some are couch-surfing, they are in trailers, they are staying w. friends or family, they are doing what it takes to stay here, but those who have moved on...well they have moved on, haven't they?

[me b zola]

90. It is not just renters who cannot afford to return

Many people from the 9th ward were home owners, but did not have much cash on hand to be able to determine how they were going to survive the disaster of the federal response (or lack there of). Many home-owners are not able to return.

[pitohui]

5. what's the alternative?

it is more than 6 months, it's a bit rich that they're letting people who don't actually live in orleans any more vote in the election as it is if you ask me, but i'm not an orleans resident any more so whatever

seriously if you can't be arsed to come back by march 13, it's hard for me to feel all that much like you are part of what we're going thru in rebuilding the gno area

[SPKrazy]

7. Absentee Ballots!

It's not like it's their fucking fault they aren't there!

They were shipped out all over the country for this very reason!

[Don Claybrook]

10. sounds like you're pushing for a backhanded poll tax

If you don't have enough money to get back to New Orleans from Houston or Denver or Chicago for election day, you don't have any business voting.

Wow, I disagree completely.

[pitohui]

13. i'm suggesting that once you move to another city

i have never been allowed to vote in my former city of residence once i relocated to a new city

people who won't return for years or maybe a decade, when everything is all fixed up without a bit of help or sacrifice from their effort, why should they be given the same vote as those who actually live in orleans?

it don't make a heck of a lot of sense

[Horse with no Name]

16. They didn't "move" or "relocate"

They were shipped out like cattle to wherever the bus they were on ended up, and in many cases with their families being bused somewhere else.
Voluntarily moving to another city is one thing, but being evacuated out of a flooded city to points unknown is completely another and not even comparable.

[pitohui]

18. it's march 13, the storm was aug 29

the people who wanted to come back and contribute are back

it is not 6 weeks it is over 6 months

the poorest of the poor should not be encouraged to return here in the first place, the public hospital system has been completely destroyed and there is no health care

like it or not, it is in their best interest to start looking at the future, not the past

they live where they live and where they actually have home, job, health care, social services

they don't need to live in a place where they might be working out of a tent or trailer for years and where there is no public health care for the uninsured

[Horse with no Name]

19. That's not your decision to make for these people

They are quite capable of making their own.
It's their town too, but perhaps if labor shortages are so extreme, then maybe residential homeowners should take a backseat with the contractors to apartments and housing for "the help".:sarcasm:

[pitohui]

21. and they have made the decision

they voted w. their feet

they couldn't be arsed to come back, it wasn't important enough to them, they don't live here any more

[SPKrazy]

25. Exactly Where The Fuck Would They Go To?

I ask you, where would they go to if they went back now?

They didn't ask to leave

They were shipped out like cattle. I witnessed the cattle herding in Arkansas firsthand.

these people were poor to start with. You ship them out and disperse them all over the place, mission accomplished. You have negated a stronghold of Democratic voters, New Orleans was about the only Democratic stronghold in Louisiana.

Take your bullshit and peddle it elsewhere please!

[pitohui]

28. er, if they are alive in space and time, clearly they've gone elsewhere

and they should stay there

the poorest of the poor should not be kidded along and told that the city is going to be a fit place for them to return any time soon, it will be years, or decades more probably

the public health care system was completely destroyed

public housing seriously impacted

public schools destroyed, no overtime for cops, hell, no housing for cops who were just turned out of the cruise ship where many were quartered

i would not tell the poorest and most vulnerable that new orleans is going to be a fit place for them to live any time soon, in the case of the elderly, it won't be safe for them to live here again in their lifetimes for many of them

everyone who lives in new orleans needs to be wealthy enough to own and operate a car, and healthy enough to be able to drive, so they can evacuate in event of another hurricane, this atlantic hurricane cycle is predicted to last another 10-50 years

to suggest that we put the oldest and the poorest, the most vulnerable of our population, back into this area is irresponsible -- and to do it for imagined political advantage is just pure-dee evil and a tad too rovian for my taste

they live now on whatever shore they have washed up safely, new orleans won't be safe for the vulnerable for many year

it is cruel to tell them otherwise, hell, it's immoral

everything can't be about scrabbling for votes, sometimes you just have to do the right thing and to hell with the votes, a la lbj and civil rights but i suppose you don't much care for him either, a bit too practical i suppose


NO ONE of us asked to leave, but those of us who wanted to and were sufficiently motivated came back, all else is just kidding ourselves

[Horse with no Name]

29. And to be blunt

The ones that were part of the ownership society came back and are sending a big "Fuck You" to those that aren't in their club.

[SPKrazy]

32. That's Fucking A' RIGHT!

ownership club is right

it's like we all knew would be the case.

Let's only let the landowners, or the property owners vote. The rest of them never really lived there anyhow?

I call bullshit on this person.

[SPKrazy]

30. I Call BullShit!

They are displaced, if they want to vote absentee they should be allowed to. Hell people who live overseas vote absentee all the time. You sound like someone who is against the poor.

Why do you even care about this?

[pitohui]

35. where do you live?

i used to live in orleans and i now live a short distance away

i lost 3 people in katrina

every house or apartment i once lived in, in that parish, has been totalled and completely destroyed

you can call bullshit all you like from a safe distance

the reality is that some areas won't, can't be rebuilt and esp. not by people who haven't come back to rebuild

manipulating people for political advantage at such a time is shameful

louisiana already has a bad reputation for letting the dead vote, now we are going to let houston, texas vote in our elections as well?

come ON

if you can't see the other side of this and have nothing to offer but foul language cast from a comfortable distance, come down here awhile

you would not live in these neighborhoods you would condemn others to, for a lifetime, just to provide some local background color for your vacation photos

[Anita Garcia]

38. Wait, you "used to live in New Orleans" ?

Then, by your definition, you are not a citizen or resident of NOLA either.

[pitohui]

45. did you read my very first post

i said i do not vote in orleans

nor would i consider it right to vote in orleans, i consider it a crime to vote in a place where you do not live

[Anita Garcia]

55. Yes, I did

Just confusing to me that you claim some sort of ownership over NOLA elections because you live in Louisiana and individuals who live in other states do not have the right to claim the same ownership of voting rights as you because you "used to live in NOLA".

[pitohui]

62. i specifically didn't claim ownership

i thought some would be interested in hearing the other point of view

if all you want is an echo chamber, then i'm not going to enable that, sorry

and if your reading comprehension skills are just plain poor, then that's your responsibility to take care of the problem, i'm not your eight grade english teacher

[Keseys Ghost]

67. That's what the "good Germanbs" said

I hope no storm blows your world away, Bubba.

But, such is karma...

[SPKrazy]

40. I Would Let Them Vote Though!

Geez

Jim Crow lives

[Anita Garcia]

36. We are talking about the right to vote

Now you're talking about keeping "the oldest and the poorest" OUT of New Orleans?
Not going to happen.
They will ALL be back!
Keeping "them" from voting is not going to change that!

[pitohui]

43. why should they come back?

i realize that houston is getting awfully anxious to boot out the evacuees by this time of century and a lot of the supposed sympathy for the poor is really about other cities wanting to get rid of the evacuees

simple as that

the racism is on the other foot, i'm afraid

you want to chase people back to a town where there is no public hospital system, where the state is broke and always had some of the lowest aid to dependent children and disability pay-outs of any state of the 50, etc. where public housing has been destroyed, where the public schools are in chaos, where there are diminished ranks of police to keep order

my god, my god, don't do me no favors!

if this is how you treat those you pretend to care abt, how do you treat your enemies?

i don't blame the poor for not returning it's the smart thing to do we have no services here i do blame those who lie and lie and pretend it's all going to be over in a few, this ain't over, it ain't over for years

get in your car and start driving

this disaster goes on endlessly, it won't be fixed for a long, long time to come

you wouldn't be willing to live in a tent in the lower 9th ward with hurricane season approaching and no levees repaired

but you are happy to wish it on others?

let them go, they have better lives ahead of them elsewhere

[SPKrazy]

48. They Should Be Able To Come Back When They Can

have a place to live

they are bringing in Mexicans to rebuild the place so they can pay them less than they would pay American citizens.

Your policy punishes the poor who would like to come HOME some day!

I have met many from NOLA who want to come home. Elderly, and people caring for their elderly parents.

What happened in NOLA was a disaster. What is happening there now and since the Hurricane is a CRIME

don't be an accomplice to that crime by not allowing those that want to vote but can't return yet to vote!

[Anita Garcia]

50. Who is chasing "them" back to NOLA?

The Republican Federal Government maybe, but not me.
It has taken 15 years to replace 50,000 units from Ivan.
It will take many more than that to replace the units lost in NOLA from Katrina and levees.
Displaced voters, who are motivated to vote now, more than ever, will be allowed to vote.
The question is really when.
Keep up the attitude that NOLA is only for the rich and white and it will soon bite you on the "arse". You need "them".

[SPKrazy]

52. Unless They Think That Maybe The Mexican Immigrants

can take the place of the blacks, and maybe they won't even vote at all, or might vote Repuke!

edited: a lot of Mexican immigrants are working on the rebuilding of NOLA because their labor is cheaper. Remember when they passed a law that the rebuilding of NOLA wouldn't have to cost the market rate (or something like that it was basically a cheap labor law. We all know who the party of CHEAP LABOR is!)

[pitohui]

57. illegals are supposedly not allowed to vote

but who the eff knows, hell, everybody else is voting, why not?

can we at least agree that you should be a freaking usa citizen to be able to cast a vote here?

or why don't we have the candidates campaign in mexico d.f. while they're at it?

[SPKrazy]

61. You Make My Point For Me Pithoui

no illegals shouldn't be allowed to vote

but wouldn't that be handy to grant them amnesty for working for cheap labor down there and then they would be the new face of NOLA

[pitohui]

65. i don't agree w. cheap labor policies

nor do i support illegal immigration pulling down wages but that's another thread for another time

[Keseys Ghost]

64. Perhaps you could build a camp for them

Been done before...

[pitohui]

66. perhaps you could!

i hardly have room in my tiny house for an entire campsite

[hang a left]

69. You said...

"no housing for cops who were just turned out of the cruise ship where many were quartered"

If there isn't housing for the police, where are the other people that were dislocated supposed to go?

[Anita Garcia]

74. Good point n/t

[pitohui]

79. they should stay where they've relocated frankly

they're better off

what is this rush to come back and be right back in the bull's eye, i'd be gone if i could swing it financially, you don't put people in harm's way just to get a few more check marks in the D column, cripes

what part of this atlantic hurricane cycle is expected to last another 10-50 years do people not get?

it is cruel and wrong to ship the most vulnerable people back and put them back on the firing line

the homeowners are back because we got no choice, we're financially held here, but if you rent and are free to go ANYWHERE why the heck wouldn't you?

[Anita Garcia]

82. as if rent is all that ties me to my hometown

[pitohui]

86. most people are tied to a place by people and community

the people and community are gone for square mile after square mile after square mile

wishing it wasn't so don't change anything

denial and anger are fine but one day you have to get to acceptance

[American liberal]

75. I do, too. Thanks for saying that, Don

[tblue37]

91. I keep seeing "arsed" in your posts.

What does it mean? Is it local dialect?

[Horse with no Name]

8. If Iraqi's can vote from anywhere in the world

Then there isn't any reason New Orleans folk can't vote from any state in the union.

[pitohui]

12. but they're no longer new orleans folk

you know, the people who are here rebuilding are the people who are here living in the tents and trailers and the second floors of washed-out houses or on air mattresses in somebody else's den

the people who can't be arsed to be here after six plus months, i just don't know how you can still say they are new orleans folks

they are from new orleans, but it's their past now

i can see the other side of the argument but someone has to argue the other side, because this is truly a case of where the other side also has merit

guess i just don't see why people in houston and atlanta should be voting for orleans mayor etc.

[Horse with no Name]

22. Because it is in THEIR best interests that the town remain

representative of it's CITIZENS--even the black ones.:sarcasm:
If this city is rebuilt as "some" would like for it to be, it won't represent NOLA of past--the NOLA with color, but instead would be just another white bread American city without any special spice or flavor.

[pitohui]

23. citizens are the people who live here

i'm not interested in a quota system and i'm already aware that houston et. al. is irritated w. having so many new black citizens and would like to pretend they're not there but i prefer to remain on the reality-based team

people voted with their feet, their bodies, their energy, their cold hard cash -- and those who voted to stay elsewhere i don't care if they be emeril himself running back to the bronx i don't care if you're a little green martian from mars if your actions say, you know, it just wasn't important enough to me to chip in and rebuild, you guys do all the work and i'll come back when it's all nice and pretty in a decade then durned if i can see why you get a vote

:shrug:

people who don't live in a city shouldn't vote in that city's municipal elections, seems a pretty basic principle to me

[Anita Garcia]

27. You need the facts!

In New Orleans, before Katrina, African Americans made up two-thirds of the electorate. Of that total, 173,471 are Black and 82,522 are White.]

Estimates are that 80-90 percent of New Orleans was forcibly evacuated.

Mayor Nagin reportedly states that today the population of New Orleans is 200,000.

Rep. Cleo Fields reports that
300 of New Orleans' 442 voting precincts-most of them in black neighborhoods-are unavailable because of storm damage.

[pitohui]

31. i already have those facts

and it doesn't change the fact that people who don't live in a city shouldn't be voting in that city's municipal elections

the population is never again going to be 600,000 people and going around getting residents of houston, atlanta, etc. to vote in new orleans election is just a lie both because it's dishonest and because it gives those people a false hope

have you seen these neighborhoods?

an atomic bomb couldn't have done this much damage, they won't be rebuilt for a decade

you drive for mile after mile after mile

it just goes on endlessly

they need to be making real plans for their future instead of living in the past

[SPKrazy]

34. So Only The Property Owners Should Vote?

sounds like a step back to the old days for Louisiana eh?

is that your message?

[pitohui]

37. my message is only residents should vote

sorry, i can't come into your town and vote nor i can vote absentee in your town

one person, one residence, one vote

it's pretty basic democracy 101

i don't think we should abandon fairness when it is perceived to be to our political advantage to do so, cheating and twisting the rules never serves the cause of good and right in the end

[SPKrazy]

39. If You Were Evacuated From My Town You Should Be Able

to vote here if you want to.

Now you shouldn't be able to vote elsewhere too, but you should be able to vote absentee here, just like anyone can vote absentee when they are temporarily elsewhere!

[Horse with no Name]

41. But my town wasn't ravaged by a hurricane

and I wasn't shipped out by the order of the National Guard to points unknown.
It is much more complex than you lend to believe.
I DO believe in one residence, one vote and feel that if the citizens of NOLA decide to cast their vote in their new town or cast it in NOLA...it is strictly their choice and they should have a say in how their city is being rebuilt so they can return home when the situation improves.

[SPKrazy]

44. Right!

you get it

what's wrong with this other person?

absentee voting happens all the time

[pitohui]

47. right your town is one to which i might actually return & live one day

so your point is?

the RESIDENTS of orleans should vote

the RESIDENTS of houston should vote in houston, the RESIDENTS of atlanta in atlanta, and so on down the line

definitely it is strictly their choice and not ncaap's choice

they have badly mis-stepped on this one in my view

[Horse with no Name]

60. Then should we put it another way?

Voluntary residents.
They were ordered out by the National Guard and have nowhere to return to.
If they were to go back and start pitching tents then the fucking ownership society would have them arrested.
It sounds to me like "some" folks are bitter because nobody is there to do the manual work and they are having to do it themselves or pay high dollar to have it done.
They are used to having a readily available minimum wage working class and now that it isn't there, it's pissing them off.
You want NOLA cleaned up? You want the town functioning again?
Give these people incentive to come back. Give them a piece of the pie.
Let them come back and work and deed them a tract of land for their efforts because now, they have no incentive to come clean up the mastah's yard because they can get a job anywhere.

[pitohui]

76. er, i'm not seeing anyone arrested for pitching tents

the parish has been legal and open for some time now, even the worse hit areas were opened on dec. 5 or thereabouts

minimum wage is no more, even burger king is paying $8.50 an hour plus bonuses

i don't object to a program for giving grants, etc. for people who work to rebuild, indeed, it sounds like a good idea, we need some sort of new deal like plan to rebuild not just homes but infrastructure for sure

i think what you're missing tho is that many who have not returned are the elderly, the disabled, etc. the people who can't work and who can't be in a place w. no public health services, nothing to be done about them except to acknowledge they live where they live and take care of them there

everybody is not coming back and it isn't fair to expect them to, they have to do what's best for them

[Anita Garcia]

42. Those facts prove that citizens displaced should vote.

They were forced to evacuate. Earlier you posted "I used to live in New Orleans".
Thankfully you found a place nearby to live.
Thousands of people have not been so lucky.
They should not be denied the privilege that you have simply because you live near New Orleans.

[SPKrazy]

46. The Powers That Be Just Are Looking For An Excuse To

change the "complexion" of politics in Louisiana

what a great opportunity for them

makes me start to actually believe that they intentionally blew the levees. (Although I really don't think they even had to they were in such terrible shape and everyone knew it!)

[pitohui]

54. you can't force people to be what you want them to be

in the end, we either believe in democracy or we don't

if we don't, if we really don't trust the voter, then we have to stoop to manipulations to change the outcome

allowing people to vote who don't actually live in a city is indeed cheating

if they blew the levees, why did they blow the 17th street canal and wipe out all the rich white people of lakeview and the city's pretty much entire tax base, i wonder

please, don't let facts bother your comfortable existence somewhere halfway across the continent

sometimes you have to do the right thing and to hell w. the maneuvering, my friend

[SPKrazy]

58. "Allowing people to vote who don't actually live in a city is indeed

cheating"

okay,

explain how absentee voters ever vote in an election? If they are on sabatical and they choose to vote absentee, they are allowed to.

Geez,

[Horse with no Name]

87. Or maybe we shouldn't allow the military to vote

when they are on active duty for more than a year?:shrug:

[SPKrazy]

89. I Think You Might Get A Hypocritical Response On That One!

:sarcasm: :banghead: :rofl:

as if I'm supposed to believe that the other poster has the greater good of the evacuees in mind when he/she says they should stay where they are!

Sounds like good old fashioned racism to me

[orleans]

53. how absurd to hold an election now

with so many of your residents gone.

they need to figure out something otherwise it's like saying you're going to hold an election but people can only vote at three in the morning till four in the morning. how big will the turn out be or how many would be able to vote in such a case? not many.

[Anita Garcia]

63. You understand

Did you know that there will NOT be satellite voting on the day of the election, only during early voting? How bizarre. Unless you saw the images of college students waiting to vote in line at 2:00 AM because they had lined up by 4:00 PM. There were not enough voting booths...in some areas.
Now we have lost 300 of the 442!

And if you need something to read to tie up your brain for awhile, check out the Louisiana Secretary of State's web page explaining who can vote by absentee and who MUST vote in person!

[pitohui]

68. there's something to that

if they wanted to give more time and see if more people return and also have more polling places, that's a lot more reasonable in my book

i don't know how realistic it is that many more will return for a long, long time, but at least give them a chance

just letting anyone and everyone who may, or may not, ever return vote is kind of a hoax in my eyes

[Horse with no Name]

88. I agree

And especially one that seeks to disenfranchise the displaced residents.

[-..__...]

70. Sour grapes.

Doesn't sound all that much different from when Guilliani tried to pull the same stunt and postpone elections after 9/11.

[pitohui]

85. ultimately there are two sides to this

i have posted one side and plenty of other posters have posted in support of ncaap's position

it isn't an easy issue but i guess in the end i come down on the side i've argued tonight, that you should vote where you live NOW not where you lived seven months ago