Ok, this year, the governor of New Orleans goes up for reelection. Many of the people who were displaced by Hurrican Katrina are still our of the city because they have not been able to return because theri neighborhoods are still unlivable.
New Orleans is a city mainly made up of black people, but because most black people are poor due to uncertain circumstances, they have not been able to come back home and fix up their neighborhoods so they can live. On the other side of New Orleans, you really can't even tell that a Hurrican even came through there because the houses have been fixed the streets, yards, and forests have been cleaned up. The people that live on this side of town were able to hire their own contractor (which is illegal according to FEMA) to come in and clean up the mess that the hurrican has left, but the black people on the other side of town who were waiting for FEMA have had to wait months on end for those contractors to come down.
Anyway the whole point of this is that the mayor, who is black, is up for reelection this year. The only people who are able to vote in this election are the people who are able to live in their neighborhoods at the time of election, which I already pointed out are the whites. Why can't the government let the displaced people of New Orleans vote? They say they can't get them to the polls. Didn't just a few months ago, the USA sent many thousands of satellite polls to Iraq for the Iraqi elections? Why can't they do the same? Are they trying to change the face of the city? It seems like they are and in a sneaky way.
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Ok, I am from New Orleans, and let me clear up a few things. First of all, I feel your concern about the voting and so on. The mayor, Mayor Ray Nagin, is running for his second term as mayor of New Orleans. He is running against the Lt. Gov. of Louisiana, Mitch Landrieu. Mitch is white.
The majority of the people back in New Orleans, which is a black city, are white people. Also, the only areas that the city is letting people live in without the burden of raising their houses is the white neighborhoods (please don't think that I am making this a racial matter....that part comes later in my comment).
In order to vote in this election, you have to be a New Orleans resident. If you are a displaced citizen, but you still own property in NO and you're still registered to vote in NO, then you can vote in the election. You can vote absentee (mail in vote). The problem with this is if your absentee ballot doesn't come in before the deadline to vote, your vote is not counted. This means that the only votes that are guaranteed to be counted are the ones casted at the polling places in the city. This is where the racial stuff comes in.
If the only votes guaranteed to be counted are the ones casted in NO, that means the only votes guaranteed to be counted are the white votes and the few black votes from the black people that can make it to NO (sorry hispanics, if you are a citizen, you follow this same procedure....if you're not, then you just don't vote). The rest of the black people who are forced to vote absentee have to pray that their votes are answered.
So now let me break it down for you: black mayor vs. white mayorial candidate, white people vote in NO while black people vote absentee, the only votes guaranteed to count are those casted in NO. You do the math.
At the same time, the local government, as well as LA's government, is saying that all citizens have a right to vote. In my personal opinion, I feel as though the government needs to set up satellite pollin places in Houston, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, and other cities that are holding a large number of displaced citizens (I despise being called a "refugee"; I didn't come here on a boat smuggling cocaine). Also, the state and local governments need to provide transportation for people to reach the polling places. Funny how they can provide transportation for Mardi Gras and Jazzfest (a big party in NO....and it was very fun), but they can't provide transportatoin for elections.
Anyway, I can go on forever about this election business, but for your sake and mine I will refrain from doing so, unless you want to hear more about my opinion (in that case you can just ask). Thanks for reading.