NAACP Protest Targets Miami-Dade’s Election Office

More than 700 people from around the nation rallied Monday outside Miami-Dade County’s election department to protest what the NAACP has charged was widespread denial of voting rights to minorities on election day.

“We have come to the melting pot of America, the place of palm trees and dishonesty,” said Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. “We are standing before the building they chose not to count the vote in to say: ‘We will not be counted out.’ ”

Mfume was referring to the Nov. 22 decision by the Miami-Dade County canvassing board to stop its manual recount of ballots after a rowdy demonstration by Republican observers who were upset when the tallying operation moved to a smaller room.

The spirited “Count Every Vote” rally was one of several being sponsored by the NAACP this week in cities across the country. Mfume said the gatherings were designed to kick off a voter registration and education drive--and to announce a series of lawsuits charging several Florida counties with violations of the federal Voting Rights Act. Mfume said the suits would be filed next week.

After receiving what it called “a flood of complaints” about voting irregularities in Florida, the NAACP on Nov. 8 asked for a U.S. Justice Department investigation.

The civil rights organization has compiled a 296-page report on allegations of voter fraud and intimidation.

From more than 500 people, chiefly in Florida, the NAACP recorded accounts of widespread irregularities--including black voters being turned away from polling stations that closed early.

“I am not a conspiracy theorist,” Mfume said. “But isn’t it ironic that, now that the election [apparently] . . . is over, that in the black districts, a high percentage of votes were not counted? It’s a crime.”

Among those participating in the rally here were 97 people from California who spent 2 1/2 days traveling cross-country by bus while watching films from the civil rights era.

“This isn’t about [Al] Gore or [George W.] Bush anymore,” said Gaynel Phillips, who runs a party decorating business in Yuba City, Calif. “We just want it to be fair.”

African American anger about what many see as a systemic effort to disenfranchise minorities could spark a revival of 1960s-style protest, said 36-year-old Najee Ali of Project Islamic HOPE in Los Angeles.

“It may be too late to affect this presidential race,” he said, “but we’ve got our eyes on a larger goal now. We have learned so much about the court system, about partisanship. For us younger people, this could be our movement.”

The Rev. Victor Curry, a Miami pastor, charged that a win by Bush in a state where his brother is governor was tantamount to “a coup--and if you allow a coup to take place, America will lose its moral authority around the world.”

Rallies sponsored by the Democratic Party were scheduled for today in more than 45 cities, including Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and San Diego.