NAACP Drops Lawsuit Threat
State GOP To Take Detroit Poll Battle To Court
POSTED: Tuesday, November 2, 2004
UPDATED: 8:15 pm EST November 2,
2004
The NAACP has announced it will not file a lawsuit over voter intimidation complaints on Tuesday.
The decision of the organization comes about one hour after Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP branch, and a coalition consisting of the local and national NAACP and other civil rights groups announced a lawsuit at a press conference.
"We're filing a lawsuit in federal court and we're filling it against the Michigan Republican State Committee, the Michigan Republican Party, the State of Michigan, Ms. Terry Lynn Land, Michigan Secretary of State, the City of Detroit Elections Commission and Jackie L. Currie, Detroit city clerk," said Anthony.
Anthony had requested for an extension of the voting hours in Detroit and for election officials to prohibit Republican challengers from being present at city polling locations.
Pollster Steve Mitchell, of Mitchell Research and Communications Inc., said the Republican Party anticipated a possible lawsuit from the NAACP and had already prepared legal briefs to file in response.
The Michigan Republican Party filed suit against City of Detroit election officials in Circuit Court in Wayne County Tuesday.
Party officials claim that election officials have been preventing Republican challengers from lawfully observing the election process, while allowing the presence of other groups like MoveOn.org.
"There has been a concerted effort to circumvent election laws today," said Executive Director Greg McNeilly. "MoveOn.org, the grassroots wing of the Democrat Party, has continued to keep an illegal presence in polling places, practicing electioneering and intimidating voters."
Mitchell told Local 4 that the potential court battles were not surprising in an election that's so close and with such a high turnout at the polls.
Copyright 2005 by
ClickOnDetroit.com.
All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed.