GOP TARGETS CLEVELAND'S BLACK VOTERS
ACORN Urges Election Board to dismiss challenges in voter suppression. Could create widespread confusion on Nov 2nd
Analysis shows challenge disproportionate Impact on black voters

A continuing voter suppression campaign by the Ohio state Republican Party targeting African American voters in Cleveland is designed to cause widespread chaos and intimidation on November 2nd, concludes ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which today urged the Board of Elections to dismiss the Republican challenge of 17,000 voters in the Cleveland area.

ACORN also released a new analysis of the GOP challenge list demonstrating that approximately 45 percent of those targeted live in communities that are more than 50 percent Black in a city in which African Americans constitute only 27 percent of the voting age population.

Several of the newly registered voters included in the Republican challenge expressed shock that they were targeted. ACORN, conducting a massive voter mobilization campaign in Ohio, has contacted many of the voters challenged by the Republicans. The community-based organization has registered an unprecedented 185,000 new Ohio voters, with nearly 50,000 of them in Cleveland.

Public exposure of the Republican tactic forced the party to announce that it will withdraw some of the challenges in other parts of the state, attributing the initial action to “a computer glitch.” ACORN insists if the Cleveland area challenges are allowed to stand voters will confront chaos on November 2.

“On the one hand the Republicans are blatantly trying to block eligible voters from exercising their right to vote,” notes ACORN Ohio leader Louis Brown III. “On the other hand, if the bogus challenges don’t work, their goal is to chill and suppress voter turnout and create chaos on election day. This is a racially-motivated hit to silence the African American community.”

Ohio, one of the most important swing states, has been the scene of ongoing Republican attacks on ACORN and other organizations committed to mobilizing new voters. Under the guise of fighting voter fraud, the Ohio state Republican Party has also hired nearly 3,600 poll monitors to challenge voters and voting practices in urban neighborhoods throughout Ohio. In Cleveland, it is reported that nearly 1,400 Republicans will be posted in minority precincts.

ACORN has registered more than a million voters nationwide. Overwhelmingly from minority and low income communities, they represent the ranks of the “unlikely voters” who will play a decisive role in Ohio and other “battle ground” states.

For a copy of an analysis of the Republican challenge or to interview members of ACORN's Ohio mobilization team or eligible voters targeted on the Republican list contact Jack Pannell at 202-833-9771 x116.

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