Voting Rights?

As the election looms, more reports regarding attempts to disenfranchise voters have been appearing. Florida authorities were attempting to remove several thousand African-American names from the voter rolls using the guise of convicted felon lists. New voting machines have been put in place that do not allow for auditing the information, and the issue is compounded by the fact that the manufacturers may have a conflict of interest. To top that, some voting machines in California had not passed Federal requirements when they were put into use for local elections. It's a mess.

Voters Outreach of America has been accused of trashing the registrations of Democrats that it registered. The New York Times is reporting here that Republicans are gearing up to place election challengers in minority district ostensibly to prevent fraud. However, this could severely increase the time needed to vote and dissuade people from voting.

The quirky couterintuitive aspect of all this is that, by some polls, the president has almost doubled his support among African-Americans since the 2000 election. The increase in his support has been attributed to conservative social issues, most notably: gay marriage. So, even while this administration has worked to gain the support of the African-American community, other Republicans are attempting to disenfranchise them. Very weird.

What the hell happened to Democracy? I mean, besides the fact the I was naive enough to believe America ever was one.