Bill Pascrell: “the great poet Langston Hughes asked, ``What happens to a dream deferred?'' Well, in the case of the dream of fair and…”

“the great poet Langston Hughes asked, ``What happens to a dream deferred?'' Well, in the case of the dream of fair and equal treatment at the polls, the dream deferred is a dream denied. Last year's presidential election was a civics lesson for all of us. Unfortunately, not only did we learn that every vote counts, we learned that not every vote is counted. For example, in Atlanta's Fulton County which uses punch card voting machines similar to those that gained notoriety in Florida, one of every 16 ballots for President was invalidated. In Harris County, Texas, which includes the city of Houston, 14,000 votes were not counted because the voter's selections simply did not register. In many Chicago precincts that have high African American populations, one in every six ballots was thrown out. By not addressing this blatant inequality, we are letting down the thousands of Americans that take the time to vote each year and those votes are not counted because the voting machines in these districts are old, broken and inaccurate. Our goal should be simply to fix the system, to help in every way we can. Yes, justice is difficult, Mr. Chairman, but as Sir James Mansfield said, ``Let justice be done though the heavens fall.'' And Ferdinand I, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, said, ``Let justice be done though the world may perish.'' That should be our primary motivation, to bring justice to the system.”