[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 4 (Saturday, January 6, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H31]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GROSS VIOLATIONS OF VOTING RIGHTS ACT

  (Ms. McKINNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, we had our problems in Georgia, but the 
Florida elections were marred by gross violations of the Voting Rights 
Act.
  Voters who had never been to jail were listed as felons and then were 
not able to vote. Translators were not provided. A second ID was 
requested of immigrants even though it was not required.
  But while Floridians pored over hanging chads and dimpled ballots, 
one-third of Florida's African American males were unable to vote 
because of felony convictions.
  The Congress today will rubber stamp these gross violations of the 
Violating Rights Act. For black voters, these egregious insults must be 
addressed. It is not the act of voting that is democracy, but the 
counting of those votes; and that is what measures a true democracy.

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