U.S. to sue Florida over 2000 voting

MSNBC ^ | 5/21/02

[Mean Spirited]

The government will file three lawsuits against Florida counties alleging voting rights violations resulting from the bitterly disputed 2000 presidential election, a Justice Department official said Tuesday.

TWO OTHER LAWSUITS also will be filed, in Missouri and Tennessee, by the department’s civil rights division, Assistant Attorney General Ralph Boyd told the Senate Judiciary Committee. The lawsuits will allege disparate treatment of minority voters, improper purging of voter rolls, “motor voter” registration violations and failure to provide access to disabled voters, Boyd said. Other charges, he said, include failing to allow voters with limited proficiency in English to have assistance at the polls and failing to provide bilingual assistance.

[zip]

I only have one question. Were Bush and Ashcroft always dimocRats or have they switched sides recently.? There is absolutely no reason to kiss *** of the dims when we have tons of instances where they were guilty of voter fraud. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????

[cake_crumb]

"Actually Boyd is on the record as being confrontational toward Berry."

They seem in accord on this one...

" 'My hope, my aspiration and my expectation is that in each of those we'll reach an enforceable agreement prior to the filing of the lawsuit,' Boyd said. Even so, he indicated the suits still would be filed"

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

I SINCERELY hope this whole thing is designed to blow up and splatter egg all over the faces of the Democrats, too. Perhaps it's a preemptive strike on the part of the Administration? I Hope?

DOJ, Civil Liberties Division Website

[Demidog]

Actually, gun owners and lovers of the 2A love to prosecute those who use guns to commit crimes.

That is fine. And in that case, the gun has no real bearing on the issue since the crime itself (the taking of a life or property) is what is at issue.

The notion that there can be any crime which strictly revolves around the posession of a gun or failure to register or pay a tax for the "privilege" of carrying or owning a firearm is in error since the 2nd amendment is quite clear about the federal government's role.

Furthermore, the federal government is not authorized anywhere in the constitution to prosecute crimes other than the three listed as falling under federal justisdiction: Treason, Piracy and Counterfeitting.

In this case, we have the federal government filing a CIVIL suit. Something they should be barred from doing.

[Miss Marple]

Now, surely you don't trust MSNBC to understand and report on anything positive for us, do you? Yes, Ms. Berry has been whining. She is about to learn that it is not always good to get what you asked for.

[windchime]

People need to calm down and look at the ramifications of this...personally, I think this is a good thing. I, as usual, agree with you. The Bush team is smart and probably has initiated a perfectly timed plan. 11,000 complaints and 5 suits?! The 2000 election will be eliminated as an issue in 2002.

[cake_crumb]

"She is about to learn that it is not always good to get what you asked for."

I SINCERELY hope so. That tic in my face is STILL going over the "What did he know and when did he know it" Bushbashing fests right here on FR. Have you noticed the number of rather non-complimentary comments concerning Bush and Ashcroft on this thread already? That's what's getting to me.

I'll just go make a cup of tea and hope this blows over soon. Here's to hoping lots of egg meets the faces of all the Democrats.

[Benjamin Dover]

You have to remember that all these counties that they plan to file suit against are democratic counties, the election committee's are all run by democrats, the ballots were designed by democrats, and the democrats did the re-count. So who will be shown to be corrupt?

I'm with you. My basic take is that the Feds have done some digging and know there were shenanigans. Could it be that GW is sucking the Dims into praising this lawsuit because it outwardly looks to side with them, but when the suit is filed, it also charges military disenfranchisment, extended polling hours in (Dim) precincts, thuggery,intimidation..etc. The Dims will then look hypocritical for initially praising it but later railing against it. I like it. This is also Bush's circumvention of a partisan Congress. He get's a high profile revelation of what really happpened in 2000, and the defendants are Democrat election board members. Ultimately it will incense Americans when they find out the sheer corruption revealed.

The reason the Civil Rights Division is filing this is because voting is a civil right. It doesn't always mean "Black folks were treated bad by white Republicans."

[GraniteStateConservative]

The issue is that robbery with a gun, for example, is worse than robbery without one. I believe that criminals who use guns to commit crime should be treated more harshly than those who don't. Perhaps you don't think so.

Regarding federal crimes, the founding fathers supported federal crime laws. How does this fit with your contention that the founders disapproved of designating offenses as federal crimes?

[MJY1288]

BINGO, If we believe the mainstream media and the Euroweenies, we would thing Dubya is stupid and simplistic, but it sure seems to me that a guy that came into office with no mandate and would probably get none of his agenda through Congress and will never remove the cloud of illegitimacy from over him. 15 months later he has maintained the highest approval ratings in the history of this nation, he passed the tax cut, he abandoned the ABM treaty, he killed Kyoto, Revoked the ICC, and has ignored the U.N. Not bad for a lightwieght with no mandate or brains.

The rats have been outflanked at every crossroad, Just think where we would be if Daschle didn't undermine the will of the Vermont Voters when he bribed Jeffords into jumping ship?. Sure Bush has signed some things I don't like or agree with, but he is the best thing going and the best chance we have in defeating these liberals. This law suit will back-fire like all the other attempts by the RATS. Nothing like having the democrats filing suit on the grounds of discrimination against themselves :-)

Mary Francis Berry's Civil Rights Commission budget = 1.2 million

Al Gore's legal bills for the re-count = 120 million

The democrats expose themselves for the race baiters they are after a protracted law suit = PRICELESS

[Soul Citizen]

"Why is the government not suing the networks and the VNS for obstructing the election process by saying the polls were closed in Florida an hour before they were and otherwise calling and uncalling states before the results were in?"

Exactly! This is far more an important scandal than local election fraud in say: Dade county, West Palm Beach, or possibly Pinellas County (all Democrat socialist controled)

[DaGman]

"What's the problem? They let dead people vote. In Missouri they let a dead man be elected. How much more disabled can you be?"

And they let a guy who couldn't beat a dead guy be Attorney General.

[keats5]

We're just going to have to put this case on hold. We just don't seem to have enough judges to attend to the cases already scheduled.

[Eagle Eye]

What more could these 'voters' have wanted?

Heck, in the Democratic precincts the precint workers already had the ballots marked, punched, and ready to go. Except in Palm Beach county, that is. When the Dems actually there had to do it themselves, they botched it big time.

[Eagle Eye]

What more could these 'voters' have wanted?

Heck, in the Democratic precincts the precint workers already had the ballots marked, punched, and ready to go. Except in Palm Beach county, that is. When the Dems actually there had to do it themselves, they botched it big time.

[bluefish]

Darn straight it is ! It will expose all the crap the DNC pulled during 2000 while at the same time showing the Bush admin is for civil rights etc. taking the issue away from the dems. It's a win - win !

I was kind of thinking this was nuts, but then I thought about the possibilities from a strategic standpoint. Starting here gives the impression that there is nothing "political" about it. However, it could easily lead to exposing some major and REAL corruption. We all know where the true corruption comes from. If you wanted to go after it while not galvanizing the base on the other side, you start right where Bush is starting to catch them off guard. Even if the Dems know that this is what is going down, what could they do about it? Complain that charges are being brought? If they do, while Bush is investigating, the truly clueless sheep that follow the Libs will end up confused and begin believing that those opposing Bush were the ones that "disenfranchised" them - whether that ever really occurred or not. Could my thoughts above be what is really planned, or is this commission completely unrelated to Bush - i.e. typical leftist bureaucrats?

[toupsie]

And this should bother Republicans how? If we committed no fraud in any of these states, this is the best thing that can happen. I am sure this type of lawsuit is going to be a boon for Republicans. Bush is too smart to let loose the Justice Department unless he knows pretty much the end result of the case.

So far, Al, Bill, Terry and Jesse haven't produced one disenfranchised African-American voter that was prevented from voting by a Bull Connor style Road Blocks set-up by Jeb's racist mob of State Troopers. Just like all the off-the-wall accusations that have been hurled about Florida 2000 by the Democrats, this disenfranchised African-American voter hasn't stuck. If there was a strong Democrat case for Al's victory being stolen, it would have already entered the court system. So all they can do is say, "We wuz robbed", "Bush is stupid", "Polls don't matter", "Bush was selected not elected" and, of course, "We support the President in the 'War on Terror'" (Except when we can score political points).

Can't wait for these cases to be filed!

Plus, David Brock has just been revealed as a Nut House Author. Can life get any better today? This lawsuit and Brock.

[Cold Heat]

I've got a bad feeling about this...

I don't feel that way. They are attempting to put this to bed. There will be a couple of months of press leaks and then assurances and legal mumbo jumbo to indicate that it will never happen again.

It also puts some of the other states on notice that the fed will be watching closely in 2004. I an thinking of Illinois, New Mexico, California and others not mentioned. These voter fraud cases cut both ways. We know what happened but they believe otherwise. I hope this clears the air somewhat with the fed as the final arbitor. So far this has been tried in the press and is totally screwed up.

[stainlessbanner]

You're right - All this lawsuit is going to do is increase the credibility of the claims of "disenfranchisement." Unfortunately, there are many minorities out there who want to believe they were disriminated against. This is just a power play by the left to spur voters to the polls again.

I wish we could get past the race thing - it's getting old!

[Lancey Howard]

The lawsuits will allege disparate treatment of minority voters, improper purging of voter rolls, “motor voter” registration violations and failure to provide access to disabled voters, Boyd said. Other charges, he said, include failing to allow voters with limited proficiency in English to have assistance at the polls and failing to provide bilingual assistance

Man, that scumbag Clinton Justice Department is really going for the throat this time, hitting every single scumbag race-hustler button....
Hey, wait a minute....!