Posted on 04/22/2006 1:18:21 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW ORLEANS - A steady stream of voters, some from storm-scarred neighborhoods and others by the busload from evacuee havens across the nation, cast their first ballots since Hurricane Katrina in a crucial election Saturday to decide who oversees how their city is rebuilt.
Incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin predicted he would lead the field, but he faced 21 challengers, including the state's lieutenant governor. If none gets more than 50 percent, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be held May 20.
Because of the Aug. 29 storm, what ordinarily would be a routine municipal race has become an unprecedented experiment in democracy: Of the city's 297,000 registered voters, more than 20,000 cast ballots early by mail, fax or at satellite voting stations around the state.
Turnout figures would not be available for hours, but Secretary of State Al Ater said steady streams of voters were moving in and out of polling places he visited Saturday morning. He said there was no way to measure whether turnout was light or heavy because the election was so unusual.
Several hundred people traveled from Atlanta to New Orleans on buses provided by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s former church, Ebenezer Baptist Church.
"We're still citizens of New Orleans," said J. Todd Smith, 24, who made the trip from Atlanta. "We still want to know what's going on there. I still have my driver's license. My license plate still says Louisiana."
The line was already 80 voters deep when the polls opened Saturday at the University of New Orleans. The enormity of the task facing the city's leadership weighed heavily on Rosalie Ramm, 52, who was in line shortly after 6 a.m.
"It feels like a lot of responsibility," she said. "I don't take it lightly."
Nagin, who cast his ballot during an early-voting period more than a week ago, arrived at the polling place in his neighborhood Saturday to accompany his wife, Seletha, as she voted.
He noted that another hurricane season is rapidly approaching and said there's no time for a transition of administrations. "We don't have a year to wait," Nagin said.
The winner of the mayoral and city council races will face a host of politically sticky and racially charged decisions about where and what to rebuild in a city where whole neighborhoods remain uninhabitable.
Four-fifths of the city was flooded, and large parts of New Orleans are still woeful tracts of ruin. Rebuilding plans — and the federal money to pay for them — are being debated. Nearly all the public schools remain closed, and the tourism business, long the economy's mainstay, has drawn few conventions.
The election "is hugely important. I'm not one to fall into hyperbole, but for New Orleans and Louisiana and potentially even the country, as a whole, it's critically important," said political analyst Elliott Stonecipher.
The election, which includes seven City Council seats and other local offices, was originally scheduled to take place Feb. 4 but was postponed because of the damage and dislocation caused by Katrina.
Ater said he's confident that election officials, who have fielded thousands of calls from voters on where to vote, have done what they can to educate voters.
But not all evacuees who returned to New Orleans Saturday were able to cast ballots. Dana Young, an 18-year-old college freshman, transferred to Spelman College in Atlanta from Dillard University after Hurricane Katrina struck last fall.
Poll workers told her they had no record of her registration. Young said she had a voter registration card but lost it along with her birth certificate during the hurricane.
"I'm really upset," she said as tears welled up in her eyes. "I came all the way down here and now I can't do anything about it. They said they couldn't find me in the system, so I can't vote."
The turnout is being closely watched by civil rights groups, which have questioned whether the election in a city that once was two-thirds black will be fair with so many black voters scattered around the country. Of the early ballots, about two-thirds were cast by black voters, but analysts caution that the numbers may not be reflective of overall turnout.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said civil rights activists would challenge the election outcome in court regardless of the winner. He said the election violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act because all the complications of displaced voters were not addressed.
"The Voting Rights Act itself is in jeopardy for lack of enforcement," said Jackson in New Orleans.
Less than half the city's pre-Katrina population of 455,000 have returned. As a result, candidates have had to travel to cities like Atlanta and Houston, where many evacuees live, to get their message out. Many of those remain scattered outside the city are black.
Pre-election polls have offered little guidance because they account only for residents with home phones in New Orleans — a minority of potential voters. But most observers believe Nagin, who is black, will advance to the runoff against Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu or executive Ron Forman. Both challengers are white. The city has not had a white mayor in nearly three decades, when Landrieu's father, Moon Landrieu was mayor.
Nagin has sought to paint himself as the leader who stayed behind in a city overwhelmed by catastrophe.
Landrieu and Forman, a nonprofit executive who turned the zoo around, have been hesitant to openly criticize Nagin's leadership. Both, however, argue the city needs someone new for the unprecedented rebuilding.
"The next mayor has got to be able to unite the city and get the job done," Landrieu said Saturday.
Four other candidates, considered among the second tier, appeared during a nationally televised debate Monday: corporate lawyer Virginia Boulet, businessman Rob Couhig, the Rev. Tom Watson and former City Councilwoman Peggy Wilson. Twenty-three names are on the ballot for mayor, but one candidate withdrew.
It's amazing how quickly they found the buses this time.
THROW THE BUM OUT NOLA, THROW HIM OUT!!!!!
More dead people than usual could be voting this time around I'm sure.
I voted at St. Dominic's today, and even though turnout seemed fairly heavy, all the lines were moving mighty fast. Keep in mind, these are Lakeview voters we're talking about. Lakeview is/was probably the most heavily Republican area in Orleans Parish.
"I voted at St. Dominic's today..."
Good job!
It's all about the runoff, though. That happens May 20th.
"It's all about the runoff, though."
Is that manifest failure, Nagin, really expected to make the runoff? I think that's truly sad.
"It's all about the runoff, though."
Is that manifest failure, Nagin, really expected to make the runoff? I think that's truly sad.
Anybody would be better than Landrieu
Spot on! Its amazing how fast they can get those buses out for truly important events, like electing a dim. When it comes to lifesaving evacuations, however, they aren't so swift. I wonder if these idiots can appreciate the irony.
Nagin, y'see, got elected with the white vote. His Chocolate City nonsense cost him that. Landrieu has avoided angering anyone too badly by sticking to vagueness, platitudes, and extremely general references to a "plan."
My guess is that he realizes that Blanco is going down and doesn't want to polish the brass on her ship for any longer than he has to.
I'm curious of the exit polls. Can't wait for the results.
NOLA is toast!!! Governor Kathleen Blanco, Senator Mary Landrieu, Ray "Chocolate" Nagin, his legions of NOLA destruction citizens he sent to other cities has killed whatever concern there was for NOLA among the general USA population, and the racist Congressional Black Caucus and NAACP have put the topping on the cake. Until Black folks dump their present leaders and the Democrat Party, they are going nowhere. Thankfully, many Blacks have begun to get the message, witness the rapidly growing number of Black owned and operated businesses. There is hope, but not for the Blacks of NOLA and Louisiana. They ain't got "real" yet!!! Maybe we can send Cynthia McKinney and John Conyers down there and let them run Louisiana and NOLA. Then when the incompetents destroy all in sight, maybe average Black folks will see that they have been had to the max by their power hungry leader misfits!!!
Yes, I read about that. Good job!
Your post reminds of something I read in post of a fellow FReeper a few months ago. His quote, "My grandad voted republican from the time he turned 21, until the day that he died. Then he voted democrat."
I'll bet we find they packed up and moved to NOLA.
I do believe that was me. And he started voting Democrat because he became a Necro-American, which is a special interest group whose needs are only met by the Democrats. Hence, it is not surprising that all Necro-Americans vote Democrat.
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