Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Jackson opposed to election
Not enough polling places to include all N.O. voters, he says
ADVOCATE
(excerpt)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in Louisiana on Monday to promote an upcoming rally in New Orleans, said elections shouldn’t be held in the city next month because the state hasn’t done enough to give hurricane evacuees a chance to vote.
The rally and march for “Our Right to Return and Rebuild” is scheduled April 1.
A federal judge refused to postpone the New Orleans elections after hearing arguments that not enough has been done to ensure that the city’s population, mostly black before Hurricane Katrina, is able to vote.
Jackson, along with members of the Rainbow Push Coalition and state Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, also are criticizing the lack of access to voter rolls.
“People don’t know the candidates. Candidates don’t know the people,” Jackson said. “I’ve never witnessed an election in America where voter rolls are secret.”
