http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/POLITICS01/809120380/1022/POLITICSFriday, September 12, 2008
Foreclosures won't hinder voters
Macomb GOP chief denies plan to challenge votes in November.
Jim Lynch and Gordon Trowbridge / The Detroit News
One political blog accuses him of hatching "the most evil plan in modern Republican history."
Other activists say he's trying to steal votes and disenfranchise African-American voters.
But James Carabelli, chairman of the Macomb County Republican Party, said Thursday it was all a fabrication -- that he never told a reporter the GOP plans to use poll challengers to block residents with foreclosed homes from voting in November.
The interview ignited responses from across the country, with some political observers saying the very idea of linking foreclosures with voting rights could have a chilling effect on turnout.
"Sometimes it doesn't take much to keep people away from the polls," said John Klemanski, a Macomb County native who has taught political science at Oakland University for more than 20 years.
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