Governor Jeb Bush
PL 05 The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Dear Governor Bush,

I’m writing today to say congratulations! Reflecting on the 2000 presidential election, the odds were against you, yet you still managed to disenfranchise thousands of people of color! Personally, I didn’t think you could do it, but sure enough, you pulled through in the clutch! Here are some notable facts that demonstrate your impressive performance:

.                   •“While African Americans make up roughly 11 percent of Florida’s pool of eligible voters, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that 54 percent of the ballots rejected by Florida officials had been cast by African Americans.”¹

.                   •“…if Florida did not still maintain the Civil War-era law restricting the franchise of [‘probable’ and ‘possible’] ‘ex-felons,’ Gore would have won the state in November 2000 by as much as 85,000 votes. …44 percent of the people whose names were purged from voter rolls were African Americans.”²

Naturally, now that the 2004 presidential election is right around the corner, the Bush administration is counting on you to revoke those colored votes again! But many people are skeptical…

Jeb would never be able to get away with it a second time…
Doesn’t the Constitution say something about the right to vote?
Those Negroes will be up in arms if their voting rights are revoked two presidential elections in a row!
But, low and behold, it seems many people, myself included, have underestimated you again….³

.                   •“State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as a part of an odd ‘investigation’ that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November. The officers, from the Florida department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov. Jeb Bush, …refused to discuss details of the investigation, other than to say that absentee ballots are involved.”⁴

.                   •“…many of the elderly black voters who found themselves face to face with state police officers are members of the Orlando League of Women’s Voters, which has been very successful in mobilizing the city’s black vote.”⁵

Now I knew you were good, but damn! I was going to suggest identifying the Orlando League of Women’s Voters as a terrorist organization, but your idea is way more clever! A mysterious investigation about absentee ballots—that’s priceless!

_____
1. John Nichols, Jews for Buchanan (New York: The New York Press, 2001) 48.
2. Nichols 38, 42.
3. George W. Bush, “Speech to Arkansas Voters,” Bentonville, Arkansas, 6 Nov. 2000.
4. Bob Herbert, “Suppress the Vote?” New York Times 16 Aug. 2004, late ed.: .A15.
5. Herbert.
6. Herbert.