ALTIMORE - The NAACP plans to sue Florida and several of its counties over alleged voting irregularities in the state's presidential election, the organization's president said yesterday.
Kweisi Mfume said the nation's largest civil rights organization will seek unspecified relief in the lawsuits. The goal is to identify any irregularities and prevent them from happening again.
The NAACP also is asking local chapters to hold hearings into possible voting irregularities in other states.
Mfume said he already has presented the Justice Department with complaints of voting irregularities, but the NAACP has received only one telephone call in response, simply thanking him for the referral.
''This is a strange stance from this Justice Department, which continues to get colder as it nears the end of its term,'' Mfume said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson also called for a Justice Department investigation. He told a crowd of New York Democrats that thousands of Florida's minority voters had been disenfranchised.
''What you will see is a pattern of targeted racial profiling,'' Jackson said. ''In a democracy, you can afford to lose an election, but you cannot afford to lose your franchise.''
The NAACP plans to organize demonstrations nationwide protesting the Election Day treatment of minority voters, Mfume said.
Two days after the election, Mfume called for sweeping federal involvement in Florida's presidential race after suggesting there were efforts to dilute the minority vote.
The allegations include four ballot boxes in heavily black precincts not being picked up.
