Smokin' Mirrors: American Blackout

It is easy to lose hope in the political system these days. Political leaders with enough impeachable offences under their belt to have them locked away for life are instead becoming entrenched in long-term positions. They are becoming untouchable. Worse, not only are they not listening to the population, they are also systematically whittling away the voting rights of thousands. But step off the mainstream media highway, and begin strolling down the dirt tracks of independent news, you can’t help but stumble across one of the most inspirational politicians of our time: Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia).

McKinney has been outspoken in her opposition to the war in Iraq, the government’s inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 Commission, and excessive military spending, among many other issues in her ten years on Capitol Hill. But her most notable contribution has to be her tireless advocacy of voter’s rights, since the debacle of the election in Florida in 2000 and the subsequent further demise of the voting system in the last six years, notably in the Ohio count in 2004. McKinney co-sponsored the H.J.Res.28 bill, which “proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States affirming that the right to vote cannot and shall not be abridged.”

“We have a major problem facing our elections process,” states McKinney on her official website. “As witnessed in recent years in multiple elections and in various states, all electronic voting vendors have failed to implement error free and trustworthy elections. Since the 2002 implementation of electronic voting in Georgia, machine failures and error-ridden counts have been documented, but left uncorrected. Electronic poll-books (statewide voter registration databases) have a high potential to disfranchise voters of specific classes and/or races.”

In 2002, McKinney experienced, first hand, the power of the Republican voting juggernaught, when she lost what most people assumed to be a secure seat. McKinney claimed that judge Denise Majette, who won the election with 58% of the votes to McKinney’s 42%, did so because of Georgia’s rules for an open primary. Protesting the result in court, McKinney said that thousands of Republicans, who knew they had no chance of winning the election, participated in the Democratic Primary to vote against her.

McKinney’s electoral battle has become the centre of new film, American Blackout, directed by GNN’s Ian Inaba. Say the film makers: “American Blackout chronicles the recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement from Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004 while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Mckinney not only took an active role investigating these election debacles, but has found herself in the middle of her own after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”

American Blackout: timely reminder of your
voting rights

The film was released at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won a special jury award, to rave reviews. Said one viewer (“Sadonovan-1” on the IMBd movie website): “Going into this, I knew about the Florida voter fraud in the 2000 election, I had a slight understanding of who Cynthia McKinney was, and I knew less about the Ohio voter fraud in the 2004 election. Wow, I was really missing out on some serious issues that were taking place in this country -- issues that get to the absolute root of who and what we are as a quote-unquote democratic country. Our elections are being rigged as badly as any un-democratic country out there.”

In August, McKinney lost the Democratic Primary to Hank Johnson, who won 59 percent of the votes. Many suspect that her outspoken tactics (her campaign slogan was “backbone in politics”) have led to this recent defeat, as the Democrats look towards November. I suspect that, similar to her 2002-2004 hiatus from Congress, McKinney will continue to speak out for those who are swiftly being pushed to the sidelines in the US today. One thing is for certain. She will be back.

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