Deputy Fife
New member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2010
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Folks, this is possibly some of the worst we've seen yet.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_voting_rights_election
This makes Barney irate and high-pitched in voice for two reasons:
1. The judge invoked the lack of elected Hispanic representation as a VIOLATION of the Voting Rights Act, and proceeded to ORDER the district to adopt measures to ENSURE the election of a Hispanic candidate, regardless of substance or character, to the city council just because of his/her skin color.
2. The US Department of Justice WAS involved and once again Chicago style politics are deliberately pushing elections in the favor of state-sponsored candidates.
Some people will be like, "But everyone gets six votes!"
But you don't understand. There are more white candidates than Hispanic candidates. Despite a 50% Hispanic population, turnout is very low for their community and a six vote tally will allow the Hispanic voters to pool their six votes in the smaller Hispanic contingency of candidates, statistically outvoting Caucasian voters who would spread their votes over all the candidates rather than just the Hispanic ones.
A very clever and very sinister ploy to hand pick candidates. Not to mention completely unconstitutional.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_voting_rights_election
Residents get 6 votes each in suburban NY election
PORT CHESTER, N.Y. – Arthur Furano voted early — five days before Election Day. And he voted often, flipping the lever six times for his favorite candidate. Furano cast multiple votes on the instructions of a federal judge and the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a new election system crafted to help boost Hispanic representation.
Voters in Port Chester, 25 miles northeast of New York City, are electing village trustees for the first time since the federal government alleged in 2006 that the existing election system was unfair. The election ends Tuesday and results are expected late Tuesday.
Although the village of about 30,000 residents is nearly half Hispanic, no Latino had ever been elected to any of the six trustee seats, which until now were chosen in a conventional at-large election. Most voters were white, and white candidates always won.
Federal Judge Stephen Robinson said that violated the Voting Rights Act, and he approved a remedy suggested by village officials: a system called cumulative voting, in which residents get six votes each to apportion as they wish among the candidates. He rejected a government proposal to break the village into six districts, including one that took in heavily Hispanic areas.
Furano and his wife, Gloria Furano, voted Thursday.
"That was very strange," Arthur Furano, 80, said after voting. "I'm not sure I liked it. All my life, I've heard, `one man, one vote.'"
It's the first time any municipality in New York has used cumulative voting, said Amy Ngai, a director at FairVote, a nonprofit election research and reform group that has been hired to consult. The system is used to elect the school board in Amarillo, Texas, the county commission in Chilton County, Ala., and the City Council in Peoria, Ill.
The judge also ordered Port Chester to implement in-person early voting, allowing residents to show up on any of five days to cast ballots. That, too, is a first in New York, Ngai said.
Village clerk Joan Mancuso said Monday that 604 residents voted early.
Gloria Furano gave one vote each to six candidates. Aaron Conetta gave two votes each to three candidates.
Frances Nurena talked to the inspectors about the new system, grabbed some educational material and went home to study. After all, it was only Thursday. She could vote on Friday, Saturday or Tuesday.
"I understand the voting," she said. "But since I have time, I'm going to learn more about the candidates."
On Tuesday, Candida Sandoval voted at the Don Bosco Center, where a soup kitchen and day-laborer hiring center added to the activity, and where federal observers watched the voting from a table in the corner.
"I hope that if Hispanics get in, they do something for all the Hispanic people," Sandoval said in Spanish. "I don't know, but I hope so."
FairVote said cumulative voting allows a political minority to gain representation if it organizes and focuses its voting strength on specific candidates. Two of the 13 Port Chester trustee candidates — one Democrat and one Republican — are Hispanic. A third Hispanic is running a write-in campaign after being taken off the ballot on a technicality.
This makes Barney irate and high-pitched in voice for two reasons:
1. The judge invoked the lack of elected Hispanic representation as a VIOLATION of the Voting Rights Act, and proceeded to ORDER the district to adopt measures to ENSURE the election of a Hispanic candidate, regardless of substance or character, to the city council just because of his/her skin color.
2. The US Department of Justice WAS involved and once again Chicago style politics are deliberately pushing elections in the favor of state-sponsored candidates.
Some people will be like, "But everyone gets six votes!"
But you don't understand. There are more white candidates than Hispanic candidates. Despite a 50% Hispanic population, turnout is very low for their community and a six vote tally will allow the Hispanic voters to pool their six votes in the smaller Hispanic contingency of candidates, statistically outvoting Caucasian voters who would spread their votes over all the candidates rather than just the Hispanic ones.
A very clever and very sinister ploy to hand pick candidates. Not to mention completely unconstitutional.