Louisiana Justice Institute Joins Human Rights Groups in Expressing Concerns About Upcoming Haitian Elections

Experts will be in Haiti for the elections, Sunday, November 28.

A delegation of U.S. and Haitian human rights organizations are in Haiti as unofficial election and human rights observers to monitor the Presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday November 28. The delegation is concerned that the rapid spread of a cholera epidemic across the country could gravely affect voter participation and threatens the validity of the election process. The group will be in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas from Monday, November 22 through Wednesday, December 1.

Over the last several months, organizations represented in the delegation have been monitoring the situation on the ground. Despite overarching concerns about the increasingly desperate situation of Haiti’s homeless Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and about the exclusion of a number of political parties from the electoral process, representatives of the organizations and partners have been preparing in good faith to observe events during Haiti’s elections. There is a particular concern of insufficient preparation and response on the ground from those responsible for curbing the cholera epidemic, including international NGOs and international donor nations. With such pressing concerns unresolved, many members of Haitian civil society organizations, as well as numerous Presidential candidates, believe it nearly impossible to hold elections that would meet the most minimal standards of fairness and credibility at this time.

While in Haiti the delegation will monitor the human rights and political situation surrounding the elections, with particular attention to those most affected by the Quake, including police and U.N. response to protests, possible voter boycotts, voter access and participation levels, the cholera epidemic response; and the status of overall relief efforts. The delegation’s members will be in close contact with an array of local and national civil society organizations during their stay.

Among those who will participating in the delegation:

Melinda Miles, Director, Let Haiti Live, a project of TransAfrica: “Cholera is a game changer in the most fundamental sense. It is an immediate and critical crisis that requires all hands on deck in response. It is not for us to predict when the crisis will level off. What we can say, definitively, is that now is that the time for focus on the human needs first and not politics.”

Etant Dupain, Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye, Noise Travels, News Spreads: “Although the elections are necessary, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis there needs to be more attention to vulnerable populations. The NGOs have not responded adequately to the crisis and everyday there are more people dying, more people becoming infected due to a lack of potable water. Attention needs to be paid to the people who continue to live under tarps today. It is sad because these elections will not change anything, you see many people expressing their lack of support for the process.”

Alex Main, Policy Analyst, Center for Economic and Policy Research: "These elections were already highly problematic before the cholera epidemic began to spread. Haiti's electoral authority - the CEP - suffers from a lack of credibility; legitimate parties have been excluded from participating in the legislative elections; and very few effective measures have been taken to ensure that Haiti's over 1.3 million displaced people would have access to the polls. As a result of these problems, there was already a high probability that voter turnout would be very low and that the elections would be widely seen as illegitimate.”

Jacques Etienne Morial, Co-Director, The Louisiana Justice Institute: “As respectful, understanding and supportive as we are of the determination of Haiti to assert its independence and stand on its own feet, the growing cholera epidemic imperils the legitimate elections that Haitians so urgently need to achieve this noble goal. Moving forward under the prevailing conditions undermines public confidence in any outcome that the people of Haiti deserve and need to move their recovery forward.”

Federal Voting Rights Complaint Filed on Early and Absentee Voting for Upcoming Municipal Elections

The Louisiana Justice Institute has sent a letter of complaint to alert the U.S. Justice Department to a violation of the Voting Rights Act that will substantially curtail the opportunity of New Orleans voters to cast early and absentee ballots in the February 6, 2010, Municipal Primary Election as well as the March 6, 2010 Municipal General Election.

Mayor Ray Nagin announced on December 17, 2009, that City Hall and most other city buildings and offices quartered in those buildings would be closed from the close of business each Thursday through Monday morning.

Since City Hall will be closed on Fridays and Saturdays under Mayor Nagin’s budget implementation plan, the Orleans Parish Registrar of Voters Office, the primary early and absentee voting location, will be closed for 3 of the 7 scheduled days of early and absentee voting, resulting in a substantive change in voting procedures that requires pre-clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice under the provisions of Section V of the Voting Rights Act. The Orleans Parish Registrar of Voters Office in City Hall is the most centrally located site for early voting, and the location most familiar and accessibly by public transit for New Orleans voters.

Neither the City of New Orleans or the State of Louisiana has petitioned the U.S. Department of Justice for pre-clearance of this substantive change in voting procedures, which would have a disparate impact on minority voters.

In the last major election, the November 4, 2008, election for President of the United States, more than 17,000 voters cast early or absentee votes during the 7 days of early voting. Of the total of 17,006 early and absentee ballots cast, African American voters cast approximately 73 percent, while African Americans comprised only 62.5 percent of registered voters for that election. “This change in voting procedures is a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act,” said Tracie Washington, Managing Director of the Louisiana Justice Institute. “The Louisiana Justice Institute and other community organizations are calling on the mayor and city council to comply with the law and immediately reverse this thoughtless, pennywise and pound foolish budgetary measure to restore full access to early and absentee voting to all registered voters in New Orleans.”

Louisiana Justice Institute Wins In Court!

Last week, the Louisiana Justice Institute won our battle in the Louisiana State Supreme Court, against New Orleans City Council efforts to silence us and have LJI director Tracie Washington disbarred.

Briefly, here is the full story: In October 2008, LJI launched Project Transparency. We did this because access to information, especially about our government and its activities, is part of our common heritage as US citizens, and it is a human right. Members of the public demand access to unclassified documents their tax dollars have been used to produce.

In December 2008, LJI made a request for the emails of several city council members, their staff, and members of the Nagin administration. Our intent? To support research and provide information to the public. And our research proved what we suspected all along: roving quorums of councilmembers, divided along racial lines. The reason New Orleans local government has become ineffective and growth stymied is due in no small measure to the racial tension exhibited amongst City Council members, petty bickerings, and tribalism one would expect in viewing Survivor – not local government.

But our councilmembers and their attorneys fought Louisiana Justice Institute at every step of the way – all the way to the State Supreme Court - to keep you from having full access to these records. Their battle against LJI cost us time and resources.

Last week, the Louisiana State Supreme Court agreed with the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board's (LADB) Hearing Committee Report and Recommendations, which found absolutely no grounds to the charges against Tracie and LJI. In fact, one LADB Hearing Committee member wrote, in this case “New Orleans City Government is using its influence to attempt to crush an opponent with ethical charges when the real battle is over its own incompetence and ineptitude. With scant evidence of any harm caused by the public release of three emails that bear no resemblance to privileged documents and with no evidence of future harm posed by Tracie Washington, the LADB, by its prosecution of this matter, has become a weapon of the city government and an instrument of harm to the public.”

The New Orleans City Council, in its petition to the Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel, submitted misleading statements and outright lies to the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana, all in an effort to ‘punish’ Tracie and Louisiana Justice Institute for daring to challenge these government officials’ obsession with secrecy, closed government, and good ol’ boy politics of the 50’s and 60’s.

When LJI opened its doors on April 1, 2007, we took on the responsibility of serving as the first statewide civil rights legal advocacy law firm with a mission to foster and support social justice campaigns for poor communities and communities of color throughout the state. This work has been both challenging and exhilarating. We work with some of the most exceptional people and partners in both urban and rural communities, where the promise of our nation for true social justice reform has been ignored. Our enthusiasm for these campaigns is bolstered daily by the many calls for assistance and gratitude for our intervention, as individuals and, increasingly, community leaders understand it is only when we raise the standard of living for our most marginalized residents that this state will prosper.

We have no intention of giving up. In fact, the opposition and attacks we have faced only mean that we will fight harder.

We need your generous support now more than ever as we work to ensure our citizenry is not only fully informed, but motivated and mobilized to participate in the rebuilding and renewal of this great city. Your donation will make a real difference in sustaining and expanding Project Transparency and our other work areas, and in reinforcing the message that government belongs to the people – ALL THE PEOPLE – and we will demand accountability from those we elect.

Please make your contribution today. You can visit our website – www.louisianajusticeinstitute.org, and contribute directly online.

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