Posted on 06/15/2010 7:44:06 AM PDT by tophat9000
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.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
this is EXACTLY the issue that forced Clinton to drop the Lani Guinier nomination 15 yrs. ago. She supported “proportional representation” schemes that would give minorities more than one vote. Guess that has gone from being whacko thinking that got your nomination pulled to mainstream judicial philosophy.
I did misread the article... all resident’s get six votes
I should not have to move to a crime-ridden $#!+hole in order to enjoy my rights.
Disenfranchisement means you are barred from the process altogether, not that you feel your vote doesn’t count.
You're splitting hairs. Effectively speaking, the votes of people in such areas do NOT count. Whether we all stayed home or came and vote it makes no difference.
Is this supposed to impress me?
How would that help the “minorities”, though? If everyone gets six votes, then what’s the difference?
lets say the town has 200 people, half of which are hispanic.
6 votes times 100 (half) = 600 votes.
If the Hispanics vote for their candidate with all 600 votes, he/she wins the seat.
Remember, there are 6 seats available, so the odds of having a hispanic on one of those seats is pretty good.
If this dumb Italian-Irish-Yankee-Jewish town can go half-Hispanic, the whole country will be half Hispanic. I just hope the bloody foreigners didn't seize the Life-Saver Candy factory!
WTF? Over.
The largest portion of any voting block is neither R or D, it is I. While you’re complaining about your disenfranchisement, other people are getting off their asses and organizing campaigns TO BRING THE INDEPENDENT VOTERS OVER TO OUR SIDE. It is hard work, and it requires sacrifices of time and energy and money.
Look at what has happened in states like HI, MA, and NJ: overwhelmingly liberal-voting states with well-funded liberal candidates have voted for conservatives. I live in a state where the majority of the population lives in the southern half, and they’ve moved here from CT, MA, NJ, and NY. If I sit on my ass and let the liberals win, I have no right to complain about being disenfranchised... because I disenfranchised myself through my inaction.
Volunteer. Man a phone bank. Put a fundraiser together. Host a neighborhood barbeque for your candidate of choice. Donate, but not just money. Get people involved, and get them motivated to motivate and involve others.
Get in the game... because you can bet your ass the liberals already are.
It is also very common on threads related to judges to advise the readers of who appointed the Judge in question. In this case the judge was appointed by President Bush, which I found surprising in view of the absurdity of the decision.
I was also curious as to how you extended this decision to be the responsibility of the current administration.
The Chicago decision from the Supreme Court is due any time now. Naturally I hope and PRAY that the 2nd amendment will be upheld. But maybe, just MAYBE it would be a GOOD thing for leftists + Kennedy to “overturn” the 2nd amendment. Nothing short of this and the eventual, resultant kicking in of people’s doors and confiscation of American’s guns will begin the MUCH needed Second American Revolution. Forty to seventy million armed Americans, marching on Washington DC, throwing the left out of power and reclaiming our nation and our rights...that will be the ONLY way to straighten things out again. And as “patient/lazy/stupid/ignorant” as the people have been over the past 50 years, only the loss of our most important right could get actual Americans to act.
Hey!
Don’t Shoot!!
I was only answering a question!!!!
:0)
????????????????????????????????
some animals are more equal than others.
Stunning isn’t it?
Another little known item....’legal’ aliens with green cards are allowed to vote in most municipal elections.
[snip]Voting
One of the most important privileges of democracy in the United States of America is the right to participate in choosing elected officials through voting. As a Permanent Resident you can only vote in local and state elections that do not require you to be a US citizen
http://www.ailc.com/howdoi/PermRes.htm
Non-discriminations is only proven by results, so discrimination in favor of minorities is inevitable. In so far as white children will soon be a minority, I fear this country will fully Balkanize.
Not surprising at all. Neither of the Bushes were poster children for conservatism, despite what many people think, and neither were poster children for common sense either. Besides many court appointees prove later to be "mistakes" in rendering decisions. Either they were not properly vetted, or their opinions changed with time.
The Obama Justice Department under Holder was part of this action, no?
It's a valid way to make sure that minority populations (not just ethnic minorities) get representation on board-like bodies.
It works like this: If an area is, say, 30% Martian, but 70% Venusian, then in a "normal" (one-man-one-vote) election for each seat (let's say 3 seats here for easy math), a Venusian is most likely to win each of the 3 spots. Each seat will go 70-30 on the voting.
With a Cumulative Vote system, the Martians can concentrate their votes on just a few candidates, and ensure some voice on the board.
Example: 3 seats local board, all seats up for election. 7 candidates, 2 of whom are Martian (28%). 30 Martians voting, and 70 Venusians. The Martians vote only for their two candidates. 30 X 3 divided by 2 = 45 votes each. The other 5 candidates will be sharing the 210 Venusian votes, averaging 42 votes each. If the votes are perfectly spread, the minority could actually get two of the 3 slots!
Of course, in the real world, it won't get spread like that. It is possible that the Venusians hate 2 of their more radical candidates, and only vote for the other 3... At 70 votes each (210 divided by 3), the board is still all Venusian... unless the Martians give ALL of their 90 votes to just ONE candidate. Then it would be impossible for the Venusians to keep the Martians off of the board! With only 210 votes, they can only guarantee that TWO candidates will get more votes than the Martian's 90. This is the whole point. If they organize, the minority can guarantee a minority share of the body. They have a chance at a majority, but taking that chance also could mean they get shut out... but at least they have a CHANCE.
The system assumes that voters only vote by identity, and seems a bit crass to me... but modern politics the way we've been suffering through it, is at its very best, still pretty crass.
But the rest have the same number of votes, so if they use all their 600 on another candidate...
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