Lynching by Laptop
- 18 years ago
JIM CROW REVIVED IN CYBERSPACE
At the heart of the ethnic purge of voting rights was the creation of a central voter file for Florida placed in the hands of an elected, and therefore partisan, official. Computerization and a 1998 "reform" law meant to prevent voter fraud allowed for a politically and racially biased purge of thousands of registered voters on the flimsiest of grounds. Voters whose name, birth date and gender loosely matched that of a felon anywhere in America were targeted for removal.
Florida was the first state to create, computerize and purge lists of allegedly "ineligible" voters. Meant as a reform, in the hands of partisan officials it became a weapon of mass voting rights destruction.
More right here: www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=306&row=2
At the heart of the ethnic purge of voting rights was the creation of a central voter file for Florida placed in the hands of an elected, and therefore partisan, official. Computerization and a 1998 "reform" law meant to prevent voter fraud allowed for a politically and racially biased purge of thousands of registered voters on the flimsiest of grounds. Voters whose name, birth date and gender loosely matched that of a felon anywhere in America were targeted for removal.
Florida was the first state to create, computerize and purge lists of allegedly "ineligible" voters. Meant as a reform, in the hands of partisan officials it became a weapon of mass voting rights destruction.
More right here: www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=306&row=2