Black Voters Say They Feel Disenfranchised by Democrats
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DETROIT — The absence of Senator Obama’s name from today’s Michigan Democratic primary ballot has angered a large swath of black voters here, exacerbating a racial political divide and threatening party unity heading into the November general election.
Many black voters are unhappy about the state’s new voter ID law and a 2006 voter-approved referendum barring affirmative action in public sector hiring.
Their frustrations have heightened by not being able to vote, on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, for the first black candidate in serious contention for a major party presidential nomination
At issue is a decision by Mr. Obama and a former North Carolina senator, John Edwards, to withdraw their names from the Michigan ballot in October. That came after the Democratic National Party imposed sanctions on the state party for scheduling its primary ahead of the date the national party approved — February 5 “Super Tuesday.”
At the time, the withdrawals were seen as a ploy to isolate Senator Clinton, who had a large lead in national polls, and make it seem as though she was taking advantage of the standoff. But the perception among rank-and-file Democrats is that the state party leadership lost a showdown with the Democratic National Committee. The national party stripped Michigan of its convention delegates, disenfranchising a large part of its political base in the process. And it threatens to weaken the party in a key state for the general election.
“Could I say it brings us closer together? I can’t,” Rep. John Conyers Jr., who has represented much of Detroit for more than 40 years, said.
The state party has urged supporters to vote today anyway, casting ballots for “uncommitted” if their candidate’s name doesn’t appear. The uncommitted delegates would be allotted to candidates during meetings March 29 in the state’s 15 congressional districts, in hopes that the delegates ultimately will be seated, Mark Brewer, the chair of the state Democratic Party, said.
But some black leaders are pushing an “uncommitted” vote as a sign of protest.
“What started out as an effort to say we don’t want to vote for Hillary, we want to vote for somebody else, now has turned into a protest that we don’t get a chance to express who we want to vote for,” Edna Bell, a former Wayne County commissioner and Obama supporter who is one of the leaders of the effort, said.”
