Thursday, September 11, 2008

Lose your house, lose your vote

The Republican Party in Michigan plans to bring lists foreclosure notices to polling places on Election Day, to disenfranchise people who may have lost their homes.

This is evil and should be illegal. It is a tactic to gum up the works and discourage people from voting, by creating long lines and slow-downs.

A foreclosure notice doesn't necessarily mean a person has moved out of their house to a new address.

In Wayne County, where I lived when I was a kid in Detroit, 1 out of every 150 people got a foreclosure notice in July 2008. In Michigan state-wide, 62,000 people got foreclosure notices.

The economy sucks! People are suffering!

I know, let's *pick out those very people* and target them for harassment, and pick the very counties where working class and middle class people are suffering the most, and systematically try to deny them the right to vote.

They appear to be targeting voters in predominantly African-American communities who are under threat of losing their homes.

Great idea, Republican Party. Keep it coming. Voter caging, and now this. Your obscene, sleazy tactics will be your DOWNFALL.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

> Your obscene, sleazy tactics will be your DOWNFALL.

Or, y'know, how they win the election.

Again.

Anonymous said...

This does not surprise me in the least! I take great pride in the fact that that I spent three weeks educating my 5th graders to become educated and knowledgeable citizens about our election process and our country and it disgusts me that sleezy tactics are allowed to be put into play! Hopefully I am educating a group of citizens that will be able to think for themselves and take care of us in an ethical manner as we turn our future over to them.
If I were to win your contest I would give all the equipment to my school to use to better educate my students in a media rich environment. I would make the classroom I use is technology rich and then I would gift several families that are struggling in these hard times to make sure their children do not have to do without during this Christmas season. You can find out more about me at: http://www.emsisd.com/512820811111920547/site/default.asp

Srini said...

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Unknown said...

I remember hearing this in the news and going off on a similar rant. I was very glad to see that the Obama campaign was willing to sue over this and force the republicans to admit their scheme and be watched more carefully.
Using anyone's address to keep them from voting is wrong and always has been. One of the first things that convinced me that political activism is important was related to voting and housing. I grew up in Maryland and our Cadette girl scout troop used to volunteer weekly at a local nursing home. We got to know some of the residents very well. Some were in fact not mentally all there, but many were just there because they needed medical care their family could not provide, or their family had just abandoned them. They were wise and witty and had great stories to share. During an election year, we found out that the Md state law was written in such a way that a nursing home was considered a temporary residence and could not be used to register to vote. However,to many of the nursing home residents, this WAS their permanent home. Their house had been sold to afford their care and they could not survive outside the nursing home. This seemed so wrong that we started a public campaign- newspapers, TV, and got adults involved. Eventually this ruling was changed- with a start from a bunch of kids who were too young to vote. It taught me a lifelong lesson that you CAN make a difference, no matter how small or insignificant others may tell you you are. It was one of the most empowering lessons I learned growing up and stays with me now, decades later.

If I won your contest, I would hope to make some of the same impact into other people's lives. I want to share one of the computers with my best friend. He is an amazing man who works hard against many odds in a small midwestern town. He does not own his own residence, but shares room and board with a young family to help them continue to afford their own house. He has never owned a computer of any kind and borrows mine to try to make a connection with the special man we know is out there for him somewhere. I want to share the mini with my youngest daughter who is a freshman in high school and really struggling with the act of switching houses between my house and her dad's house. Now that she is older, connected and writing more long term papers, the mechanics of switching household and household computers is really frustrating her. I know with her own personal laptop, small enough to easily move from house to house that she would again have a way to find her voice and stay connected to all the important people in her life.
I would also share one of the computer with my new In-laws, a small farming family in northern indiana. Again, they do not currently have a computer- but I know that the ability to share pictures. video and email online with their growing family of grandchildren scattered across a couple of states would excite them and connect them in ways they never dreamed possible. They would get the printer as well, because you have to have some pictures in hand to show off your grandkids. The final computer we would use to upgrade our home system, and make it so much easier for my new husband to communicate with his sons ( my step sons) who are 3 hours away and further apart from him than they have every been. I see it tearing a little at his heart every day, and being able to video conference them easily would be such a good thing for them and for him.

thanks for offering this opportunity.....