For Immediate Release
Friday, December 01, 2000
Let Our Voice Be Heard! Let Our Votes Be Counted!
MIAMI, FL —"For the working men and women of America — the right to vote is a fundamental right, the most important act of participation in our political process." That was the unified message from labor, civil rights, community, religious and elected leaders during a solidarity rally at the Stephen Clark Government Building today.
"Counting every vote should be — must be — beyond debate," said AFSCME International President Gerald W. McEntee. "The eyes of the country and the world are on us. What do they see? Those who have always looked to our country as the model of democracy now see a political party, the Republican party, that will do anything, even ignore the votes of its citizens to gain power."
Thousands of Florida voters went to the polls on election day to exercise their constitutional right, only to discover that not only did their vote not count, but that their voices would be silenced as a result of an incomplete count. Now the Florida Legislature has announced plans to call a special session to ignore the vote count and, instead, pick their own President.
"The right to vote was a hard-fought victory for women and people of color," said U. S. Representative Carrie P. Meek (D-FL). "Every American has to have confidence that his or her vote counts and that's why we are gathered here today. We have to make sure that our votes are not ignored because some machine didn't recognize them."
One citizen who was not allowed to vote was Donnise DeSouza, an attorney and registered voter in Miami-Dade County. DeSouza arrived at the Robert Morgan Vocational School at 6:00 p.m. on election night with her 5-year-old son Devon only to be told that her name was not on the roll. She was then advised to go to Richmond Fire Station where she was once again denied the right to vote. DeSouza subsequently learned she was given inaccurate information by poll workers. "My son had been so excited about the prospect of helping me vote for the next President of the United States that he actually cried all the way home from the polling place," said DeSouza. "I was at a loss to sufficiently explain to him why we were not allowed to vote. It is my constitutional right to vote. I have been deprived of this right."
Other speakers scheduled to speak at the rally include: U.S. Representatives Bennie Thompson (D-Miss); Steny Hoyer (D-MD); Earl Hillliard (D-AL); Florida State Senator Kendrick Meek; State Representative Frederica S. Wilson, Chair of the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators; Political Satirist Al Franken; Bishop Victor T. Curry, President of the Miami-Dade County Chapter of the NAACP; Rabbi Loring J. Frank; Rose Marie Del Rosario, Asian Pacific American Community Leader; and Marleine Bastian, Haitian Community Leader.
