Were Black elders disenfranchised by the 37th District Democrats?
Central District residents claim their vote was stolen.
According to Central District residents Kabibi Monie' and Hayward Evans who both appeared on the Morning Update Show this morning, the 37th District Democrats totally disenfranchised them and many others during the recent Endorsements Meeting held on Monday, May 18th via the Zoom video conferencing app.
The fact that the election was held on Zoom and not held by mail or perhaps IVR may very well prove that the Democrat Party nationally has not learned from the technological blunders that occurred earlier this year at the Iowa Caucus.
If you recall the Iowa Caucus which occurred on February 3rd of this year was full of counting failures and allegations of wrongdoing because the Iowa DNC decided to use an untested mobile app to transmit and tally results. The technology failed, the results were in dispute, and it ultimately cost Iowa DNC Chair Troy Price his job. In Iowa they found out the hard way that technology does not always equal better.
CBS News - Iowa Caucus app failures explained
Although technology failed in Iowa, one thing that did not occur there was the intentional suppression and systemic disenfranchisement of duly recognized members of the Democratic Party. That is what is being alleged occurred here in Seattle with the 37th District Democrats,
Map of the 37th Legislative District. The Central District and South End lay within the 37th.
Evans, who has been a member of the 37th Democrats for over 40 years claims that the Zoom app platform that the 37th District Democrats used was intentionally manipulated by the Chairman Stephen Reed and others of the 37th to not call on certain members, ignoring chats, and closing votes while knowing that all members had not voted thus intentionally disenfranchising party members.
Hayward Evans has been a member of the 37th Democrats for over 40 years. He says his vote was stolen in the most recent organization election.
Additionally, the 37th Democrats are facing heat over the family/household voting policy. The 37th Democrats allowed for families to register and pay dues over one computer. Meaning that a household of 4 could all be registered via one home computer. However, when it came to voting the requirement was that all members of the household must each use a unique computer (laptop or desktop). What this means is that if that household only has one computer, only one vote can be cast from that home that had 4 registered members thus 3 votes are now suppressed in that household.
Perhaps the larger issue here though is despite the technology failure is the fact that the Chair, Stephen Reed apparently knowingly and willingly disregarded the vote of elders in our community perhaps assuming that no one would care or that perhaps there would be no follow up. There has been no explanation or follow up or even refunds offered to those registered members who were disenfranchised. Both Monie' and Evans are calling for a second election using a process in which all member's votes are counted.
Leadership of the 37th District Democrats are more than welcome on the Morning Update Show to offer some insight. Drop us a line, Info@WhereWeConverge.com .
