The Center for the Study of the American Electorate estimates 131 million Americans cast ballots in the 2008 election, the highest turnout since 1960. Curtis Gans, director of CSAE, reported:
Given where the enormous rise in Democratic turnout and where those turnout increases occurred—all, with the exception of Colorado, in states (and the District of Columbia) with a large percentage of African-Americans—it is virtually certain that African-Americans were a major factor in Democratic turnout increase and Democratic victories in Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia. It is also virtually certain that when the Census Bureau comes out with its biennial survey on reported registration and voting, African-American turnout rates will have exceeded white turnout rates for the first time ever.
But that’s only part of the story. As in the 2000 election debacle, some voters were turned away from the polls because of inaccurate voter registration rolls. An analysis of calls to 866-MYVOTE1 shows voter registration problems accounted for nearly 50 percent of all calls to the voter assistance hotline.
Still, opponents of the Voting Rights Act claim mission accomplished. And they will have their day before the highest court.
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the Section 5 preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act. In asking the Supremes to take the case, former Texas Solicitor General Gregory Coleman wrote:
The America that has elected Barack Obama as its first African-American president is far different than when Section 5 was first enacted in 1965.
Coleman told the Austin American-Statesman:
Truth is, a survey by the Pew Center on the States found racial disparities in voters’ experiences on Election Day. As my colleague Wayne Dawkins writes:
Even in the age of Obama, extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is appropriate and constitutional. Congress and President George W. Bush agree.
Racially motivated political mischief lingers stubbornly in corners of this nation and like an infectious disease, it must be contained.
The case is Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Mukasey. For more info, go here.
