New Florida vote scandal feared

A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.

Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list".

It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida.

An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day."

Ion Sancho, a Democrat, noted that Florida law allows political party operatives inside polling stations to stop voters from obtaining a ballot.

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[edit on 26-10-2004 by bodrul]

I just wonder how long we are going to sit on our butts watching all the voter fraud cases make the news and do nothing about it? It's sickening really. Regradless of what party you support, regardless of whatever your opinions may be, this entire electoral process has deteriorated to a scandal. The very foundation of the democracy we are so hell bent on spreading to the rest of the world has become a sham, and we sit here touting the righteousness of a system we can't even oversee. You can write your senators and congressmen all you like, but legislation only comes from political pressure and $, it is no longer mandated by the population at all.