Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Voter Harassment Against Hispanics In Georgia

Atkison County Georgia, October 26, 2004 - Ninety-eight letters were sent by the Board of Registrars to Hispanics registered to vote in Atkinson County. A version in both English and Spanish informs them of a challenge to their right to vote based on the fact that registered voters must be legal U.S. citizens.

The accuser, Frank Sutton says "We discovered quite accidentally that we had a lot of non-citizens registered to vote in Atkinson County." Under Georgia law, any voter can challenge the validity of any other registered voter. "We don't feel like anybody in the country should vote unless they are a citizen," Sutton says. So, Sutton walked down to the county regitrars office and asked for a list of all Hispanic voters in the county. Once he had the list, he challenged them all and a challenge letter was sent to all 98 hispanic voters. According to the letter those who vote has been challenged must show up at the courthouse Thursday at 7 PM for a hearing. That's when they must present evidence of citizenship. If they do not show up, their vote will not count, even if they are legitimate voters. Just think if you had to show up to a hearing prove you were an American every time you wanted to vote. (Link)



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, how many were illegals? How many were not citizens?

Anonymous said...

All of the challenges were dismissed by the Board of Registrars for insufficient evidence (they had none) and because the Dept. of Justice advised that the challenges based on race alone would open the county up to lawsuits, etc. The 3 white guys claimed to have 2 affidavits claiming 2 hispanics weren't citizens, but they refused to offer those to the Board, so all the challenges were dismissed. Hence, everyone can vote (and should) on Tuesday!

Anonymous said...

They had proof of ONLY 2, but challenged nearly 100. These guys should be sued til it hurts