The Unhappy Politics of Race Article from The Financial Times

    Associated Press

SUBJECT: NORTH CAROLINA -. ELECTIONS; SENATE (U.S. ); HELMS, JESSE,. GANTT,
HARVEY

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LEVEL 1 - 37 OF L27 STORIES

Copyright (c) 1990 NewsdaY, Inc-;
Newsday

November 6, 1990, Tuesday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION

SECTION: NEWSI Pg. 2
other Edition: CitY Pg. 15

LENGTH: 559 words

HEADLINE: N.C. GOP Rebuffed on Postcard Drive

BYLINE: By Stephanie Saul. WASHINGTON BUREAU. Myron S. Waldman and Marilyn
Mi1loy contributed to this storY

DATELfNE: Washington

KEYWoRD: NORTH CAROLINA; VOTING' ELECTION; 1990; HARVEY GANTT; CAMPAIGN;
JESSE HELMS; MAIL; ETHIC;

BODY:
1,he Justice Department yesterday established a hotline in an attempt to

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mitigate any intinidating effects of a postcard-nailing campaign by the North
Carolina nepublican Party in which voters in minority precincts were informed
that it is L federal crilne to give election officials false information.

In a statement issued yesterday, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said the
Justice Department had also secured a pledge from the North Carolina GOP not to
chaltenge the eligibility of voters at polling places based on erroneous
infornalion included on the cards. The cards, which were not official voting
notices, stated that voters who had changed residences within the past 30 days
could not vote.

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Democrats had accused the Republicans
intinidate minority voters from going to
close race, Democrat Harvey Gantt, who
Republican Sen. Jesse He1ms. Gantt would
the South since Reconstruction.

of using the program as an attempt to
the po11s in today's election. In a
is black, is trying to unseat incumbent
be the first black U.S. senator from

John Dunne, who heads the department's civil rights division, spent yesterday
on the telephone with North Carolina GOP officials, who ultimately agreed to
stop rnailing the postcards.

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The Republicans had rnailed about 150,000 of the cards in a so-called trballot
securityrt program.

Earlier in the day, a federal jud.ge in New Jersey ruled there was no evidence
that the Republican National Committee hlas involved in the postcard mailings.

But U.S. District Court Judge Dickinson Debevoise said the party had failed
to inform its staff and state campaigns about a L982 consent decree that bars
voter intirnidation. The decree was issued after the party reportedly hired arrned
guards to watch over various polling places in New Jersey.

The Democratic National Committee had sought an order holding the Republicans
in violation of the L982 consent decree.

With the race in North Carolina neck and neck, Helms' campaign advertising
has adopted racial overtones. One Helms ad shows the hands of a white person
tearing up a rejection letter. ttYou needed that j9b,tt the voice-over says. rrAnd

you weie tne Oest qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a
racial quota. Is that reaIly fair?rl

Ihe postcard heightened the racially divisive tenor of the campaign. Labeled
ttVoter Registration Bulletinrtr a portion of the cards told voters it was a
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(c) 1990 NewsdaY, November 6, 1990

federal crime rtto knowingly give false information about your name, residence or
period of residence to an election official." Following a political ra1ly
|esterday, Gantt, a former mayor of Charlotte, said, ttI think the Republican-earty ought to be ashamed of itself . They're. insulting the intelligence of the
voteis of tne state. I don't believe it's goinq to work.rt

In yesterdayrs editions, the Raleigh News and Observer published interviews
with two interracial couples who live in predominantly black areas. In both
cases, the black spouses received the Republican cards while the white spouses
did not.

In North Carolina, voting lists identify voters by race.

The Justice Department also announced yesterday it was sending federal
observers to polling places in seven counties in five states today. Thirty-six
observers were to be sent to Edgecombe County, N.C. Observers are also being
sent to Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and South Carolina-

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