9/18/2008, 6:22 p.m. CDT
By JAY REEVES
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Prisons Commissioner Richard Allen stopped a voter registration drive for inmates Thursday under pressure from the Alabama Republican Party.
In a letter to state Republican Party Chairman Mike Hubbard, Allen said individuals conducting the program "were not doing anything for the inmates that they could not do themselves by simply contacting the Secretary of State's Office for the voter registration postcard."
Still, Allen said he decided to stop the drive because of a section in the state code that prohibits using state-owned property to promote or advance candidates for election.
"While it is not clear that assisting voters to register would violate those provisions, I cannot expose departmental employees to that possibility," he wrote.
The problem with this flimsy excuse is that no candidate was being promoted. All we were doing was registering those in jail who are eligible to vote UNDER STATE LAW. No one was supporting McCain or Obama. No names were mentioned during the registration. However, as I mentioned before most of those in jail or prison for drug charges are black despite the fact that blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate and the Republicans know this. Hell, they are largely responsible for this. How convenient the drug war is for marginalizing certain classes of people for political gain.
I won't be hard on Commissioner Allen because deep down in my heart of hearts I know that he was told to stop and he had to follow orders.
Allen's letter to Hubbard was in response to one the chairman e-mailed him earlier in the day, saying the GOP supports the idea of registering more people to vote, but not when it comes to prisoners.
"Furthermore, I have concerns about potential issues with how this effort is being monitored to ensure no form of voter fraud occurs," wrote Hubbard, who is also minority leader of the Alabama House, which votes on the prison system's budget.
Let me translate this Alabama Republican-ese for you. Mike Hubbard essentially said, "Quit allowing them niggers to register to vote or I will cut your prison budget." This is no different that George C. Wallace standing in the school house door. No different at all. Since Alabama has horrible problems financing our bloated prison system Commissioner Allen could not afford to lose money because then he would be hit with more human right's lawsuits from the many, many groups who currently have an eye on Alabama.
But, you know what? The Republicans are just doing damage control. We had almost an entire week in and out of Alabama jails and prisons registering people to vote. So, we had to stop on the last day. So what? Since there is little excitement and even fewer positive moments in the life of a prisoner you can bet that word of this has already spread like wild fire and that anyone currently in jail or prison who thinks they might be eligible to vote will request a form to vote in the November election. There is no stopping this, despite all the blow hardin' being done by the Republican party who has NO SHAME when it comes to trying to suppress legal voters in the state of Alabama. I'd bet right now that inmates are on the phone to Mama asking her to get a voter registration form from the SoS and mail it to them. I'll be sending a number of them out to folks I know who are currently in jail or prison along with a note asking them to get others to join in. I hope you will too.
8 comments:
This is just ugly.
This kind of garbage makes me so angry. These people are presumably trying to do these inmates a favor, and they aren't breaking the law, but because the Repugs seem to have everybody in Alabama by the nuts/oves, they can get away with this flagrant abuse of power.
Just let me know what you need me to do to help. This is outrageous!
Now Let Me get the Right,Ya'll Are In Favor Of People In Jail To Being Able To VOTE, Hell No!! If they wish to Vote,Then Don't Get Put In Jail,work Like the Rest Of Us In The Real World!
Then You Have the Right to Vote,Black,White,green or what ever part of the Rainbow they Are.
GOOD People Don't go To JAIL!!
anon...good people go to jail every day because of the failed drug war. The only people we are registering to vote are the ones there for drug charges. The law says THEY CAN VOTE while in prison and we are just following the law. The ones breaking the law are the same ones who ruled that drug offenders can vote while in prison and they are the ones sworn to uphold the law. Since they are law breakers they should be in jail and unable to vote. Wonder how well you would like that?
The voting issue is much more complicated that your simplistic view of it.
Amen to that, Loretta. This is outrageous. We cannot let this get swept under the rug.
It seems to me that the reason such a high number of minorities and women get incarcerated is because most of them vote a Democrat ticket. So the best way to prevent Democrats from voting is to incarcerate them. Of course good people go to jail. I don't know what kind of fantasy world anon lives in. Apparently he's afraid to leave a name.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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