Justice concludes black voters need Democratic Party

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/20/justice-dept-blocks-ncs-nonpartisan-vote/?feat=article_top10_read#top10block

By Ben Conery

KINSTON, N.C. | Voters in this small city decided overwhelmingly last
year to do away with the party affiliation of candidates in local
elections, but the Obama administration recently overruled the
electorate and decided that equal rights for black voters cannot be
achieved without the Democratic Party.

The Justice Department's ruling, which affects races for City Council
and mayor, went so far as to say partisan elections are needed so that
black voters can elect their "candidates of choice" - identified by
the department as those who are Democrats and almost exclusively
black.

The department ruled that white voters in Kinston will vote for blacks
only if they are Democrats and that therefore the city cannot get rid
of party affiliations for local elections because that would violate
black voters' right to elect the candidates they want.

Several federal and local politicians would like the city to challenge
the decision in court. They say voter apathy is the largest barrier to
black voters' election of candidates they prefer and that the Justice
Department has gone too far in trying to influence election results
here.

Stephen LaRoque, a former Republican state lawmaker who led the drive
to end partisan local elections, called the Justice Department's
decision "racial as well as partisan."

"On top of that, you have an unelected bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.,
overturning a valid election," he said. "That is un-American."

The decision, made by the same Justice official who ordered the
dismissal of a voting rights case against members of the New Black
Panther Party in Philadelphia, has irritated other locals as well.
They bristle at federal interference in this city of nearly 23,000
people, two-thirds of whom are black.

In interviews in sleepy downtown Kinston - a place best known as a
road sign on the way to the Carolina beaches - residents said partisan
voting is largely unimportant because people are personally acquainted
with their elected officials and are familiar with their views.

"To begin with, 'nonpartisan elections' is a misconceived and
deceiving statement because even though no party affiliation shows up
on a ballot form, candidates still adhere to certain ideologies and
people understand that, and are going to identify with who they feel
has their best interest at heart," said William Cooke, president of
the Kinston/Lenoir County branch of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.

Mr. Cooke said his group does not take a position on this issue and
would not disclose his personal stance, but expressed skepticism about
the Justice Department's involvement.