An Emergency Plan for Election Day 2008By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

This election could be stolen while Blacks are planning "Night Watch" celebrations. In New York City, for example, the New York Police Department will get the first look at the ballot boxes after 9:00 p.m. on Election Day. This can be hazardous in those election precincts without Black poll watchers. Voter suppression happened during the 2008 presidential primary in New York. There were Black election districts which registered zero votes for Sen. Barack Obama on February 5, 2008. Afterwards, there was no legal challenge to voter suppression. Thus, history can repeat itself on Election Day 2008. If Blacks had enjoyed political representation, there would already be a defense plan to protect ballot boxes. This should have been the talk on Black radio this past Sunday. It is still not too late to institute a plan. Teach-ins can occur in the tri-state area during the weekend before or on Black Solidarity Day. These teach-ins would require instructors and volunteers. The volunteers should be taught methods of preventing voter fraud and voter suppression. Volunteers would be taught state and federal, election and voting rights laws and techniques in monitoring polls. Election officials will be targeting Blacks, Latinos, Asians and the poor on Election Day.This historic, presidential election will require your vigilance. Blacks need to be busy politically for the next week. We do not have the luxury of being spectators. "Night Watch" services are premature. We need to be on our posts on Election Day. The most important part of voting is the counting of the votes. You should call you election officials immediately and demand that an emergency plan be drafted to protect against voter fraud and voter suppression on Election Day. This plan should be nationwide but the tri-state area is our concern. It should include teach-ins and the deployment of poll watchers at all polling places. Black churches and Black media outlets should also be contacted forthwith. I will also contact all state and federal election officials in New York who represent Black and Latino election districts. It is not enough for them to hear from a soloist. Time is of the essence. They must hear from the choir. This is important. We must prevent history from repeating itself. 10/27/08

Election Day: A Family Affair in New YorkBy Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

Election Day 2008 will be a historic event. It will rank for Blacks with the Emancipation Proclamation and the 1963 March on Washington. Children should be the beneficiaries of this historical moment. While they may be unable to vote, children can share the moment with their parents in the voting booth. Under NY Election Law § 8-106, a child under sixteen years of age can accompany a parent or guardian into a voting booth to observe a parent cast a vote. The lack of a babysitter should not stop a parent from voting. Children are welcome and voting should be a family affair. The New York Board of Election can also provide a spare voting machine at a polling place. This voting machine can be available for children in grades eight through twelve. Those students may attend a polling place between twelve o'clock noon and three o'clock p.m. to observe the electoral process and the activities in the polling stations. Every principal should be contacted immediately upon receipt of this notice. Our children should be involved in the electoral process. This subject should be discussed in all churches this Sunday especially since preachers are preparing for "Watch Night" services. It should also be discussed on radio talk shows. We should be investors and participants in the electoral process before we rush to the sidelines as spectators.