Everyone's Vote Must Count (Even Hyman's)
The rational counter to “The Point,” “The Counterpoint”
critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's
corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all
Sinclair-owned television stations across the country. by Iowa's Ted Remington
On a hot summer night in 1964 outside of Philadelphia, Mississippi,
three young men died defending Americans’ right to vote. They weren’t
soldiers. They were three civil rights workers, two white and one
black, who were helping register African Americans to vote. They were
brutally gunned down by members of the KKK.
In his latest commentary, Mark Hyman discusses voter
disenfranchisement. Choosing to focus solely on the disenfranchisement
of overseas members of the military, he claims cryptically that many
charges of voter disenfranchisement in recent elections are “urban
legends.” (Has anyone suggested alligators living in city sewers are
chomping up butterfly ballots?)
Hyman is right on two important counts: yes, there have been problems
with absentee ballots from service members overseas being counted in
time, and yes, there needs to be something done about it (although
electronic balloting, Hyman’s suggested solution, without a paper trail
is a recipe for disaster).
But Hyman leaves out a few important facts. For one, government studies
have shown that the problems in collecting military ballots come
largely from one source: the Pentagon itself, which has been lax in
instituting changes in mail delivery that would help solve the problem.
Because Hyman doesn’t want to blame the military brass for problems of
enlistee disenfranchisement, he doesn’t mention this.
Furthermore, as shameful as it is that not all members of the military
have had their votes counted, it’s not the sole or even primary problem
when taking on the issue of voter disenfranchisement. Despite his
assertion that other charges of disenfranchisement are urban legends
(we’re guessing he’s referring to claims of the disenfranchisement of
African Americans—call it a hunch), there’s evidence aplenty that voter
disenfranchisement is widespread in the civilian world as well.
And one doesn’t need to take the word of politically motivated pundits
or interest groups. The government itself has conducted studies on
disenfranchisement in the 2000 election, and found unequivocal evidence
that it happened, and that it happened primarily to the working poor
and minorities. A congressional investigation found that across the
nation, districts with lower household incomes and/or high minority
populations had disproportionately high numbers of uncounted ballots
compared to wealthier, whiter districts.
The U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights found that in Florida, a wildly disproportionate number of
discounted ballots were cast by African Americans. Moreover, there was
substantial evidence that the Florida state government illegally struck
the names of thousands of black voters from the rolls. This is
particularly chilling; military disenfranchisement seems to be the
product of simple mismanagement of the Pentagon itself, while the
events in Florida (given that the governor and secretary of state in
Florida had, to say the very least, a vested interest in the outcome of
the vote) suggest the possibility of purposeful voter suppression.
For democracy to work, we need to know free and open elections, the
lynchpin of that democracy, are carried out properly. Every vote needs
to count, from the National Guard member serving in Iraq to the retired
nurse living in Broward County, Florida. There’s no room in a democracy
for claims that it’s more important to count some people’s votes than
it is to count those of others.
This is a particularly important value to reassert now. Only last week,
a former KKK member was charged with murdering of those three young
civil rights workers on that dark Mississippi road more than 40 years
ago. As surely as the soldiers who hit Omaha Beach fought and died to
protect democratic freedoms, so did Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner,
and James Chaney. We owe it to everyone who has given their lives to
protect our freedoms to make sure everyone’s vote is counted.
And that’s The Counterpoint.
FromIowa Rapid Response: You can help fight media conglomerate
Sinclair Broadcasting right here in Iowa by contacting the
following Iowa Sinclair Affiliates. Let them know you want fair
and balanced news and commentary.
Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque: KGAN Channel 2
e-mail address: kgan@kgan.com
Ph. 800-642-6140 toll free or 319-395-9060
Ames, Des Moines: KDSM Fox 17
e-mail address: comments@kdsm17.com
Ph: 515-287-1717 or FAX: 515-287-0064
If
you live in these broadcast areas, watch Mark Hyman's “The Point” tonight at the end
of the 10:00 news. Then visit http://www.sinclairaction.com/
Resources:
Click here for a list of KGAN Advertisers
If you live in the central Iowa broadcast area, watch your nightly KDSM newscast for advertisers, then click here to post.
For a complete list of Iowa newspapers, click here .
For a list of Sinclair owned and/or operated stations click here.
If you’re looking for some ideas for responding to “The Point,” visit “The Counterpoint”
Click here to sign up for action alerts from RapidResponse – Iowa.
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