Cheat the Vote! Part VI: City Under Siege

Any good sixth part in a series should revisit the themes of its first and perhaps third installments. That being the case...let's go back to Jacksonville. (Oh, dear.) Be sure to read the following excerpts with your best British accent...

A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.

Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list".

It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida.

An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day."

Wow. Just...wow. Remember, this is the same county that disproportionately rejected new black voter registrations. Now it appears they intend to reject black voters as well.

When asked by Newsnight for an explanation of the list, Republican spokespersons claim the list merely records returned mail from either fundraising solicitations or returned letters sent to newly registered voters to verify their addresses for purposes of mailing campaign literature...

There was no explanation as to why such clerical matters would be sent to top officials of the Bush campaign in Florida and Washington.

I'm no expert on fundraising, but I'm sure it's a bad idea to focus your efforts on areas concentrated with people who are traditionally hostile to your beliefs and don't have any money.

Oh, and be sure to check out that bit on the end about the private investigator hired to film early (black) voters. I read about this a few days ago, and it reminds me of the intimidation tactics used on black voters back when they first got the vote. That's Jacksonville for ya -- steeped in tradition!