GLITCH Makes HUNDREDS Of Delaware Voters INELIGIBLE TO VOTE | Roland Martin

Delaware Department of Elections admitted that state officials put hundreds of Voters who had registered in the past year through an automatic voter registration system into the wrong political party the era impacted about 750 registered voters and has caused a surge of criticism particularly in Wilmington Delaware Jo us now Alicia Clark the founder of Delaware Faith and Action Network and Dr marleene Saunders the chair of the connection and social action committee glad to have both of you here so um Alicia what the heck happened so we're still trying to figure it out Roland but what we know is that we're in the um beginning of the early election process and our primary is September the 10th Delaware has a closed primary so you have to be affiliated with a party in order to vote there are a number of individuals who have who have attempted to vote and have been turned away because their party affiliation was um not was Mark as unaffiliated so it's causing um a great deal of concern on our part we're a relatively small state and um we know that turnout for primaries is often low anyway um so 750 people being um unaffiliated and their um parties not um being correctly um noted on their registration cards is a is a major problem here we've been in contact with the ACLU we've been in Conta with the Department of Elections and um and there's not a sense of urgency in terms of really addressing this that meets our satisfaction um so we're sort of you know putting a an action plan in place to try and connect with as many people as we can to troubleshoot but there there absolutely must be more accountability and action taken from the Department of collections to fix this problem what how it started rolling um is last year the DMV implemented this new voting program which is a great idea for people to be able to register um at the DMV when they're there for their license and other um matters but it's a complicated process and if you don't um identify um when you're registering um or take the next step to identify your party affiliation it puts you on the roles as unaffiliated which then eliminates you from being able to vote in the um in the primary the other thing that we're finding out and I'll let Dr Sandra speak a little bit Bo to this because I'm Upstate she's down state the other thing we're finding out is in some instances people were registered Democrats but they're showing up on the roles as unaffiliated and in and in some instances people were registered Democrats and they're showing up on the roles as Republican so there's a lot of you know there's a lot of inconsistencies here in terms of what's happening and the Department of Elections has not been proactive uh marlina that particular Point uh again was some people don't realize look I'm from Texas and you can pick which primary you want to vote in but when you're when you've closed primaries uh this is a big deal and these votes can that can make the difference between somebody winning or losing in their primary uh that you know that is uh that is uh uh absolutely correct and and before I make another comment I would be remiss if I just didn't uh clarify my title as chair of the uh connection and social action committee that's part of alpha Capa Alpha sorority Incorporated uh of which I am a member and uh I belong to the uh chapter uh in Georgetown Delaware so I just I I just need to say that so good we got you yeah yeah yeah and I think the the the reason that this issue uh is so important is that while on the one hand uh this uh uh automatic res uh uh voter registration you know is a good idea when glitches Ur and negate uh a person's uh uh uh status in terms of of voting it does uh uh uh diminish uh the uh capacity uh to vote particularly uh in an area like Wilmington Delaware which is the area where Alicia has been concentrating where uh the population is uh 53 53% you know African you know African-American so you know we're trying to uh advocate for people uh uh to vote and people are embracing that but if glitches prevent you from voting then uh you know the opportunity uh to put uh certain people in office uh is is contaminated uh and look you've got so when when were the primaries uh in Delaware the ear voting uh started in August 26 uh it ends on Sunday uh the actual primary uh is on Tuesday wow so so they they still have it they so so 750 some people and y'all know is that number is it more Alicia well we don't know we don't know that's the number they're giving us and what we have said is if you've been able to identify 750 then those individuals should be contacted directly um so that they can come into the DMV or go to the Department of Elections and have this matter resolved the way the Department of Elections has handled the matter is here's a number call us if you have an issue um and that doesn't work because some people show up to the polls um they're they're they're told here's the thing Roland some people have shown up to the polls and they were told oh um you're not reg you're not affiliated with the party so you cannot vote in the primary come back in November and we have verified these these stories now the other interesting matter here in Delaware um we have two candidates running for mayor of Wilmington one is Miss Velda Jones Potter um who is a former State Treasurer and City Treasurer here who's running and our governor our current governor is running for mayor of Wilmington now the Department of Elections is under his purview in terms of where this responsibility lies to address this issue we held a forum with him last night I moderated Delaware faith in action and this issue was brought up during that Forum um at the time that we brought it up he said that he would have his chief of staff look into it um uh uh but he could not touch it because of his um running for office at the time he was the lieutenant governor he was our us Congressman he is now our governor and he's running for mayor in the city now well listen uh we have see a lot of these things happen all around the country it's really to keep us the breast uh what happens hopefully this get gets fixed and folks will be able to cast their vote as best that they can thank you and thank you for the time yeah and if I can if I can say one thing go ahead what we are advocating for people who encounter uh problems do not leave the polling site do not leave uh until your problem is resolved or you get an explanation as to why you're not able to vote on Tuesday so again we're telling people if you encounter a problem in Delaware voting either during the early voting period which ends on Sunday or on Tuesday uh a primary day do not leave the polling site ask an poll worker uh to to to give you on the spot Assistance or ask for an explanation as to why you are not able to able to able to able to vote all right and they just and they just put up the number for people to call the ACLU because we're tracking the the issues here in Delaware all right then we appreciate it thanks a lot when you talk about Blackness and what happens in Black Culture we're about covering these things that matter to us uh speaking to our issues and concerns this is a genuine people powered movement with a lot of stuff that we're not getting you get it and you spread the word we wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us we cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it this is about uh covering us invest in Black own me your dollars matter we don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff so please support us in what we do folks we want to hit 2,000 people $50 this month weighs $100,000 we're behind $100,000 so we want to hit that your money makes this possible check your money orders go to PBX 57196 Washington dc2000 37-196 the cash app is dollar sign RM unfiltered PayPal is R Martin unfiltered venmo is RM unfiltered zel is Rolland at Rolland s martin.com [Music]