10/25/2004

The Left Wing Media Matters gets it wrong as usual:

The USCCR report actually found no evidence that even one voter was prevented from voting due to intimidation

When I was on CNN, I responded to the first part of Lou Dobbs question that dealt with voter intimidation by noting that:

Even the Democrats on the Civil Rights Commission were not able to point to a single case of voter intimidation in Florida. They had possibilities that might have existed. But the only cases that people could even point to that were even remotely were similar would be like a police officer's car who was a mile from the polling place. Nothing that the police officer intimidated people or talked to people or threatened them and he was a mile from the polling place. And no evidence, not one case where they could point to somebody who, because of intimidation, didn't vote.

Media matters makes it look like I was talking about "voter disenfranchisement" (which I assume includes the non-voted ballot issue) by adding into what I said the broader statement "[on voter disenfranchisement]," and misconstrued what I was saying. I have written extensively on the myths regarding the Florida vote here, and would have been happy to get into the issue of non-voted ballots, but the amount of time available was just so limited we barely got to talk about the intimidation part of Dobb's question. Second, even if the point I was making wasn't clear at first because I was cut off, when I was allowed to continue I clearly stated what I was talking about involved voter intimidation.

From the US Commission on Civil Rights report on Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election, chapter 2 entitled "First-Hand Accounts of Voter Disenfranchisement":

As a result of its investigation, the FHP found that some policy violations had occurred, but concluded that no citizen was unreasonably delayed or prohibited from voting as a result of the Oak Ridge Road checkpoint.

Neither of these witnesses’ testimony indicates how their or others’ ability to vote was impaired by these events. . . . Despite this one, highly publicized incident, there has been no evidence whatsoever of police intimidation of voters. . . . Colonel Hall’s testimony conclusively demonstrates that there was no intent by members of the Florida Highway Patrol to delay or prohibit any citizen from voting on Election Day. All pertinent evidence shows that in fact no one was delayed or prohibited from voting by virtue of the equipment checkpoint operation.

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