Fannie Lou Hamer must be smiling from heaven

Just flash back forty plus years. African-Americans were risking their lives to make sure that the Fifteenth Amendment applied to them --in reality, i.e., to get equal voting rights, regardless of color. Think of the struggles of Fannie Lou Hamer with her struggle for basic representation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, of Martin Luther King and the Selma Marches, of John Lewis.

And now, see: not only is a candidate of African (and European) descent on the verge of reaching the White House, but African-American voting power is forecasted to have an instrumental role in a tipping point effect in .....the South, toward strengthening Democratic Congressional power.

Salon.com has posted an article, pointing to how African-American voters could tip about a dozen Congressional seats in the Democratic direction. And most of these races are in the South.
Alex Koppelman, "Black voters may lead Democratic wave
An Obama-propelled increase in African-American turnout, already apparent in early voting, may put more Democrats in Congress."
From the lead of the article:

Forget soccer moms. Forget hockey moms. When it comes to this year's down-ballot races — Senate and House seats, state legislatures and beyond — the Democratic Party's most loyal voting bloc could determine the outcome. Assuming that early trends hold, a Democratic wave bigger than the one that swept Congress out of Republican hands in 2006 could be coming, and if it does, it will probably be powered by African-American voters.

The question is how much the African American vote will increase this year, and how that increase will be distributed. A fair number of vulnerable Republican candidates are in disproportionately black states and districts, and a substantial jump in black turnout — especially in the South — could mean that the Democrats could pick up a significant number of seats in those areas. Data from early voting suggests that this surge could already be happening, and that even some of the Republicans who were considered relatively safe despite being in competitive battles are seriously threatened.

By Salon's count, the black vote could swing as many as 17 House seats currently held by Republicans who are running in competitive elections. It could also play a role in three campaigns for Republican Senate seats and in one gubernatorial battle. With that in mind, the potential rise in African-American turnout could be devastating to Republican hopes.

"In the general election, I think you're looking at anywhere between a dozen to potentially 20 battleground House districts where the African-American vote is going to be key," Doug Thornell, the national press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, says. "If our candidates can turn out a significant number of African-American voters in those districts, I think we're going to be in very good shape."

Thornell's count, which includes both Republican and Democratic districts, represents perhaps as much as a third of all the races the DCCC considers competitive.

Project Vote Decries GOP plans to disenfranchise African-American voters

From Market Watch: "Project Vote Denounces GOP Plans to Foreclose on the Voting Rights of Low-Income Michigan Residents"

It is terrible to lose one's home to foreclosure. It is additionally terrible to be disenfranchised of one's right to vote by virtue of having one's home foreclosed.

The Macomb County, Michigan Republican Party (or "GOP") revealed that it planned to disenfranchise African-American voters that have lost their homes to foreclosure.

James Carabelli, chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Michigan, has announced plans to assign "election challengers" to polling places to question the eligibility of home foreclosure victims based on residency. "We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," Carabelli told the [Michigan] Messenger . . . .

As the Messenger reports, Macomb County is in the top three-percent of counties in the U.S. hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis -- and African-Americans, as the primary victims of sub-prime lending practices, make up the majority of these cases. African-Americans also tend to vote democratic, which is why it's not surprising that the GOP would target these voters for suppression.

* * *
This is clearly a racist maneuver, and so, it is a violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Also, we have full adult suffrage; it is not the 1820s any more. You don't need to own property in order to vote. Democracy-minded voters should denounce the Republicans' plans. Lastly, the government should not permit private, non-governmental groups to assume powers of deciding whom should receive the franchise (the power to vote).

It is fortunate that the chicanery has been uncovered earlier. We must be vigilant against these disenfranchisement maneuvers continuously, through the end of the election. We must mobilize to make sure that people are not prevented from voting as they were in 2000 and 2004.
The September 11, 2008 Market Watch article on the GOP anti-franchise plans and Project Vote's protest.

UPDATE:
By the end of September 11, the Michigan GOP withdrew the maneuver disenfranchise voters that had lost homes to foreclosure, but planned other vote-thwarting maneuvers, as this post from "Michigan Messenger" indicates: "Republicans recant plans to foreclose voters but admit other strategies"