Granderson: The ‘election police’ don’t need to be right to be effective
Published: Sunday, November 2, 2013 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, November 1, 2013 at 8:42 p.m.
In the first half of this year, I wrote a column that concluded that the “election police” have been effective at keeping minorities, the poor and the “wrong” people eligible.
This column would have been a perfect example of the type of criticism I normally like to write.
It would have concluded, “Even when it comes to the election police, their effectiveness is not in question.”
I didn’t do it. I’m sorry.
A few months later, my colleague Andy Boynton of The Charlotte Observer made the same point.
And he was correct. The election police have done their job. Not perfectly, but adequately enough to keep minorities, the poor and the “wrong” people eligible.
I was wrong about the election police. Andy was right.
A couple of days ago, our Charlotte newspapers picked up the story, with some pointed commentary.
The Charlotte Observer: The Election Police Have Been Effective
In a nutshell, my column in December was right in describing exactly how the election police are doing their job.
The Charlotte Observer: Our Election Police Have Been Effective
Their job is to ensure that the voices of the “real people” — working-class whites, blacks and Latinos — aren’t being drowned out by the more privileged groups.
The Observer’s writers added:
The election police have been a great success in keeping minority and low-income voices in a constant state of alarm.
The Observer’s columnist, Andy Boynton, was right.
Boynton is black, African-American, from Baltimore. He’s an elected judge who was elected to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board, which includes some of the most challenging neighborhoods in the city.
Boynton is the kind of person who should rightly be at the top of any list of Charlotte Democrats and Republicans, regardless of ethnicity or political party. He’s one of the most ethical people our city has ever elected.
Boynton is a wonderful
