Black Caucus walks out, evacuees get to vote absentee

Displaced citizens of Orleans parish may now get the chance to vote in other parishes for the April 22 elections, much to the pleasure of members of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus.
By a vote of 38 to 0, Senate Bill 22, authored by Sen. Derrick Shepherd, D-New Orleans, was finally concurred in the Senate Thursday after having passed through the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 71 to 29.
The bill will allow New Orleans evacuees the option to vote in 10 satellite locations throughout the state. A similar proposal, House Bill 14, authored by Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, D-New Orleans, failed passage in the House on Monday igniting members of the Black Caucus to walk out of the capitol in protest.
“It’s amazing to me how bitter they’ve (opposers) become because we walked out,” said Rep. Donald Cravins Jr., D-Opelousas. “Of course we’re going to walk out when you don’t allow black people to vote.”
Major opposition against the bill came from Rep. Emile “Peppi” Bruneau, R-New Orleans, who stated a voting satellite program would “mess up the elections of New Orleans” by making it easier for voters to taint the election with fraudulent ballot casting.
But New Orleans’ senator Diana E. Bajoie, a Democrat, argued Thursday the bill was a good piece of legislature that would prevent fraud since voters would have to show up in person to cast their votes. Bruneau also said evacuees already have the opportunity to request early absentee ballots by mail if they want to participate in the spring election, but defenders of the bill retaliated that many of the New Orleans’ evacuees lost their homes after the storms and have no mailing addresses to request absentee ballots.
“It’s clear what’s being done,” Cravins said. “They want to see the make up of New Orleans’ political elections changed.”
Rep. Monica H. Walker, D-Marksville, said the bill’s importance should have been apparent to lawmakers given the facts that plagued the upcoming elections for the devastated city. According to Walker, New Orleans normally opened 443 precincts on election days, but this year the city would only be able to provide 84 precincts due to the damages caused by Hurricane Katrina.
“Their walking out didn’t really resolve the issue,” said Southern University Political Science Professor William Arp. “It more or less was a display of their unity on the issue.”
“What it might have done was encourage the governor to give them all her support, which she should have done in the beginning,” Arp said.
The caucus’ “walk out” did attract the attention of Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who posted a statement on her Web site the following morning.
“Protecting a person’s right to vote is as basic as apple pie,” Blanco said. “It’s a right that I will fight to protect – and our legislative leaders should do no less.”
Cravins said he’s glad he got the opportunity to serve during this time in history. He also said they (the caucus) may have lost Monday, “but I think in walking out, we won.”