February 2001

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

On the Sacredness of Honest Elections

This statement by civil rights activists who worked in the South in the 1960s for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was endorsed by 300 participants in attendance on Dec. 2 at the Southern Human Rights Conference. It was endorsed as well by the Southern Regional Council and the AFSC. Mendy Samstein, a SNCC veteran of Jackson and McComb, MI said: "It's encouraging that the Justice Department is apparently starting an inquiry in Florida. We want a full-fledged investigation into the many charges of voting exclusion. Mindful of the courage shown by journalists in the Deep South during the 1960s, we also hope that the press will vigorously investigate these charges." For information: Mendy Samstein, 607/263-2476 or <msamstein@aol.com>

As activists in the 1960s struggle of black Americans to achieve voting rights, we believe that far more is at stake in Florida than choosing whether George Bush or Al Gore is to be our next president. In the sixties we fought to overcome a century of systematic and brutal disenfranchisement. Our cry was One Man, One Vote, a cry that resonated throughout this country because it appealed to the basic American sense of justice and fairness.

Today we need to remember the importance of that concept and the sacrifices that were made to ensure its realization. We still mourn the colleagues and friends who lost their lives in the struggle. What is at stake here is precisely what we fought for in the sixties-the right of everyone to vote and for everyone's vote to be counted. One Citizen, One Vote!

Substantial evidence is accumulating that many people were denied the right to vote. Was it just a coincidence that a State Police roadblock was set up near a predominately black precinct in Tallahassee that stopped voters going to the polls? We know that thousands of ballots were not counted in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties because machine counts of hand ballots are grossly inaccurate--despite all the hysterical Republican drumbeat to the contrary. We have increasing documentation of thousands of registered voters being turned away because their names were not listed or because their polls closed while they were waiting on line. These are voting injustices that must not be ignored.

We are horrified at the prospect that in the year 2000, we Americans would resign ourselves to the results of an election achieved by questionable and undemocratic means. We urge all Americans who believe in the sacredness of honest elections to support the legal battle for a full and fair counting of the votes in Florida and to demand a Justice Department investigation into incidents of voter irregularities. We must not let this happen again!

Sandra Adickes, Elaine Baker, Frances M. Beal, Debbie Amis Bell, James Bond, Julian Bond, Joan Browning, Ron Carver, Charlie Cobb, Nancy Cooper Samstein, Connie Curry, Dave Dennis, Betty Garman, Ira Grupper, Gene Guerrero, Ed Hamlett, Bruce Hartford, Casey Hayden, Faith S. Holsaert, Matt Jones, Marsha R. Joyner, Mary King, Dorie Ladner Churnet, Joyce Ladner, Julius Lester, Fred Mangrum, Sheila Michael, Mike Miller, Linda Moses Dehnad, Penny Patch, Bill Perlman, Martha Prescod, Judy Richardson, Wally Roberts, Howard Romaine, Dinky Romilly, Mendy Samstein, Cleve Sellers, Judy D. Simmons, Nancy Stearns, Marsha Steinberg, Barbara Summers, Susan Thrasher, Maria Varela, Penny Weaver, Carl Imiola Young, Dorothy M. Zellner, Zoya Zeman, Mitchell Zimmerman.

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