I found this video via James Wolcott by way of Al Giordano. What this video shows is college students no longer taking the thuggish Tom Delay brand of Republican redistricting abuse of power:
Texas Republicans have worked overtime to make it harder for key Democratic voting groups to vote and be represented fairly. The redistricting games they’ve played are infamous. And for the Prairie View A&M University precincts, they put the early-polling place more than seven miles from the school.
So what did the students in this video do? They shut down the highway as they marched seven miles to cast their votes on the first day of early voting.
And to get a better look at what the yellow sign reads they are holding up, watch this video and you'll see:
It's 2008
WE WILL VOTE
March to the Polls
That, folks, is the kind of energy and motivation and hope Obama has inspired. Pretty stunning,no?
Update [2008-2-23 14:51:37 by John Campanelli]: In the comments, AbsurdEyes links to an article from the Houston Chronicle covering this story. Here is some of the background to the story:
Last week, under pressure from federal authorities, Waller County officials added three temporary polling places for early voting, ditching plans to open only one voting site in advance of the March 4 primary.
The Justice Department questioned the county's original decision to cut early-voting sites from a half dozen throughout the county to one in Hempstead. Officials said the county could not afford equipment or staff to operate the additional sites.
Following an emergency meeting last week, the county submitted a revamped proposal to the Justice Department that included one more day of early voting on Thursday at the three new polling sites. Federal officials have 60 days to review and approve the plan, but have not raised any objections.
There is a comments section for the article which has attracted over 200 comments. Most of them are quite supportive of the students' action, but the first one is truly ugly and racist:
Why do blacks ALWAYS complain about EVERYTHING? I am so tired of their constant whining. Watch for some massive chimp-outs nationwide when Obama doesn't win.
Some negative comments are not as blatantly racist, but they do suggest either that the students are lazy or corrupt:
2tone wrote:
When my daughter went to the real A&M in College station, she did not vote in College Station, she voted at home. Do these students claim PVAMU as their residence? If so, they can vote in Waller county, if they register. If not, they need to vote at their homes. OR maybe they want to vote twice!
Others try to say that these students have no right to vote in Waller County because they are not permanent residents and don't pay taxes and suggest they are hooligans who do damage to the county and cost the taxpayers more money:
ratherbefishing wrote:
The reason Waller county does not want college students running their county governments is very simple and has absolutely nothing to do with race. These students DO NOT PAY PROPERTY TAX IN WALLER COUNTY. But there are enough of them to increase property tax rates sufficiently to drive people out of the county. These students are not permanent residents of the county and will be gone as soon as they finish school. On the other hand they can leave the county with problems that cannot be corrected because a bunch of kids who think they are smarter than everyone else can dominate an election.
IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE!!!! It is about taxes, homes, farms, businesses. These kids can vote in their home town elections. They have no right to vote in Waller county.
Of course it has to do with race. Besides, while the students may not pay taxes, the college and their professors sure do. And the students themselves infuse the county with revues from food and clothing purchases. Hell, even back in their home districts, many of these students don't pay taxes because they are STUDENTS, who usually are exempt from taxes.