[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 27, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E220-E221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CBC HEARING ON ELECTION REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 27, 2001

  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, in 1857, the Supreme Court majority penned 
these infamous words: ``[The black man has] no rights which the white 
man was bound to respect.'' The state of minority voting rights in 
America is in disorder, and I see a direct line between the debacle of 
2000 and that shameful ruling in the Dred Scott case that found that 
blacks could not be citizens of the United States of America. From that 
decision and onto Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, which struck down a 
federal law passed to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution, black Americans have known that the Supreme Court can, at 
its worst, become a reflection of the particular mutation of racism of 
the day.
  We find ourselves today in a serious retrenchment on our country's 
commitment to mainstreaming into American life its former slaves. 
Affirmative action has been decimated. The Voting Rights Act has been 
bludgeoned, with its enforcement section due to expire in less than a 
decade, and the ability of minorities to elect their candidates of 
choice severely hampered by the Supreme Court in its rulings limiting 
the ability to create black-majority congressional districts and 
limiting the enforcement powers of the Department of Justice.
  But no one, I'm certain, ever thought that the kind of voter 
suppression witnessed in the 2000 Presidential elections would ever be 
revisited upon America's minorities. If I had to give a State of the 
State of the Minority Vote, I would say that disfranchisement, not 
enfranchisement, is the order of the day. First, in 1978, the Burger 
Supreme Court turned the Fourteenth Amendment sideways by outlawing the 
use of racial quotas implemented for the purpose of including 
minorities in Americas life. A few years later, the Rehnquist Court 
stood the Fourteenth Amendment on its head by issuing its startling 
decision in Shaw v. Reno that completely changed the political map for 
Americas minorities. In the Court's ruling in Johnson v. Miller, 
Georgia's redistricting case I learned the hard way that Supreme Court 
justices, like other participants in our judiciary, are political 
actors first and foremost. I saw them dismantle my district and pave 
the way so that other black voters across the South could receive 
similar mistreatment.
  The Voting Rights Act was passed to prohibit impediments to voting. 
The original focus was literacy tests, poll taxes, and direct threats 
and intimidation, along with redistricting, dual voter lists, location 
of polling places and eventually, voter registration, and purging of 
names from the voter list. However, innovation has never been lacking 
among those who want to suppress and deny minority voting rights. As we 
have seen in the debacle of the Year 2000 Presidential Elections, 
especially in Florida, minority voter suppression comes in many forms.
  Take my State of Georgia. In the majority black precincts of my 
district, the chaos was so pervasive it could have been planned. In one 
precinct in my district, white police even blocked the entrance and 
refused free access for voters because of an erroneous belief that I 
hadn't supported their pay raise. Too often there was only voter list. 
There were poorly trained elections workers, old equipment and 
overcrowded precincts right next to unused spacious accommodations. The 
frequent inability to handle high voter turnout is particularly 
disgraceful. Having to stand in line, sometimes outside in the rain and 
sometimes for as many as five hours, is outrageous and unconscionable 
and should not be tolerated anywhere, let along the world's wealthiest 
nation. Yet that happened at many of my precincts in my district. It is 
also inexcusable to stand in line for hours, only to reach the table 
and be told that you are not at the correct voting place, that there is 
no time to get to the correct place and that you won't be able to vote. 
This also happened over and over again in my district.
  Interestingly, we have Democrats in charge of our county, yes they 
vote to deny funds to allow a smooth voting process for the areas of 
the county now experiencing tremendous population growth. It shouldn't 
be surprising that this population growth is nearly all black. What 
makes this governing body's failure to appropriate the necessary funds 
to accommodate our new voters is so shocking that we had this same 
scenario in 1996, a Presidential election year and the year in which I 
faced reelection in a majority white district with well-financed white 
Democratic and Republican opposition. An overwhelming black turnout 
returned me to Congress despite the new district and in the process the 
county elected its first black sheriff and superior court clerk. They 
immediately voted to give the black newspaper the legal organ 
designation and a change in the county was evident. There should not 
have been a repeat of the chaos this year, but there was. I would 
suggest that perhaps the leaders responsible for appropriating funds 
for DeKalb County don't want large voter participation from the black 
residents on its south side. That's the only way I can explain the 
failure to fund adequately the elections office for the past four 
years. I would argue that, this is a subtle violation of the Voting 
Rights Act with the intent and effect of suppressing the minority vote.
  Let me address other ways that we are disfranchised:
  A recent study by the Southern Regional Council found that punchcard 
machines are disproportionately used by black voters in Georgia and 
disproportionately fail to register votes. Similar findings come from 
other states, yet many states are hard-pressed for funds for the 
infrastructure of democracy. If Congress fails to fund modernization of 
election equipment in the United States and better training and 
education of pollworkers and voters, we will send the message that it 
doesn't matter if votes aren't counted. A one-time Federal investment 
equal to less than one percent of the annual defense budget would give 
Americans the voting mechanics a modern democracy--let alone one of our 
status--demands. If President Bush truly wants to move beyond the 
controversy in Florida, his immediate step must be to support full 
federal support to states in modernizing equipment and procedures.
  Why should people who have served their time and paid their debt to 
society be permanently disfranchised from America's body politic? 
Fourteen States bar criminal offenders

[[Page E221]]

from voting even after they have finished their sentences. Once these 
people have returned to society, become good mothers and fathers, have 
jobs and are taxpayers, why should they not be allowed to vote? And 
because of the disproportionate impact of racism in this country, 
blacks and Latinos bear a disproportionate share of
  I strongly support creation of black-majority legislative districts. 
In a winner-take-all system in which 50.1 percent of voters can win 100 
percent of power, they often are the only vehicle for people of color 
winning representation. But why should we accept these winner-take-all 
electoral rules that by definition deny representation to any political 
grouping that is in a minority in an area? What makes Republicans 
living in a majority-Republican district any more deserving of a chance 
to elect someone than Republicans living in a majority-Democratic 
district? Why should the black voters who were so happy to help elect 
me in my original congressional district no longer have that chance 
just because the courts ordered my district changed? How can some 
downplay the role of race in voting in America even as no blacks or 
Latinos serve in the U.S. Senate--and no State has a black or Latino 
majority?
  I work hard to represent everyone in my district, but I have no 
illusions; a large number of my constituents would prefer another 
Representative. And as the only Congresswoman from Georgia and the only 
black woman Representative from the deep South States of South 
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, I feel an 
obligation to speak for many people outside my district. Different 
voting systems would allow elections to be based on this reality, 
rather than the fallacy that Members speak only for the people in their 
districts.
  Our entire electoral system should be reformed to make our 
institutions more reflective of America's voters. That's why I have 
authored in each of the past three Congresses the Voters Choice Act 
which allows the States to adopt proportional voting systems. Of the 
world's 36 major, full-fledged democracies, 33 use forms of 
proportional representation for national elections. Proportional 
systems also have a history in the United States. For example, then-
governor George W. Bush signed legislation in Texas that has 
contributed to more than 50 localities moving to proportional systems 
in Texas. In May 2000, Amarillo used cumulative voting for the first 
time to elect its school board. It resulted in victories by the first 
black candidate ever to win a seat, the first Latino candidate to win 
since the 1970s, a tripling of voter turnout and widespread acceptance 
of the new rules. It is proportional representation in the Republic of 
South Africa that allows the Afrikaaner parties to have representative 
in the South African Parliament despite majority rule.
  The principle of proportional voting is simple: That like-minded 
voters should be able to win seats in proportion to their share of the 
vote without hurting the rights of others--which is to say that 20 
percent of like-minded voters in Peoria call fill one of five city 
council seats with its cumulative voting system, and 51 percent will 
elect a majority of three seats. It mechanisms range from party-based 
systems, which allow small parties to win seats, to candidate-based 
systems that would simply widen the ``bid tent'' of the major parties. 
Either way, its impact would be powerful in reinvigorating American 
politics, encouraging more cooperative policy-making and giving voters 
a greater range of choice.
  Campaign finance reform must become more than a slogan, but law if we 
are to really give voters a choice in candidates. Right now, the 
special interests select the candidates before we even get to vote, so 
our choices as voters are severely limited due to the influence of 
special interest political money. I have benefited from current laws, 
as my incumbency helped me raise enough money to have the chance to 
reach new voters and hold onto my seat in Congress even after it was 
converted into a white-majority district. But that doesn't stop me from 
wanting to establish a political playing field in which all Americans 
have a chance to play, not just those with money or rich friends.
  America is increasingly becoming a country of people of color. We 
know that southern resistance to minority gains of the Civil Rights Era 
never ended. But as America becomes a country of color we have seen 
southern resistance spread across our land. We must remain vigilant. 
Any policy that has the effect of suppressing or diluting the votes of 
people of color is not sustainable and violates the Voting Rights Act. 
We have severe problems facing us today. A black boy born in Harlem has 
less chance of reaching age 65 than a boy born in Bangladesh. Twenty-
six black men were executed last year. And too many black men have been 
relegated to the streets, underpasses, and heating grates of America's 
urban cities. It is only through the vote that we will be able to 
change the conditions in our community and to right the multitudinous 
wrongs that have been foisted upon our condition. We have the power to 
change the status quo and our opponents know that well. That is why the 
practice of minority voter suppression is alive and well. However, 
until now, we didn't realize the power that we have. The Emperor is 
naked now. And as a result, the devious acts of minority vote 
suppression have been laid bare for the world to see. We have seen them 
too. I predict that the black electorate will never be the same. Just 
like white America, we now know that our votes count and as a result we 
will demand that our votes be counted.

                          ____________________