Praise for local voting efforts

By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
GIRARD -- Angela Ciccolo supports the efforts of the Youngstown Branch of the NAACP to get more minorities to vote and to break down barriers many minority voters faced in the 2004 national election and other contests.
It's imperative that people are informed of their voting rights and know how to exercise them, she said.
Those were among the items Ciccolo discussed as part of her presentation, "Maintaining Our Right to Vote." Ciccolo, deputy general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was the keynote speaker at Friday's 96th annual Freedom Fund banquet sponsored by the Youngstown Branch of the NAACP at the Mahoning Country Club.
"We need to shine the spotlight on some of the difficulties in the 2004 election," Ciccolo said.
She noted that a national complaint line the organization set up registered about 38,000 complaints nationally in 2004, 10 percent of which were from Ohio residents.
Some of the main problems many people encountered, Ciccolo said, included random identification requirements, long lines, little or no assistance at the polls, aggressive challenges to someone's identification and machine failures.
Supports branch's work
Ciccolo said she came to the Mahoning Valley to "support Mr. [Willie] Oliver's efforts in Youngstown" to get people in the black community registered to vote and to focus on various civil rights issues. Oliver is the local NAACP chapter's president.
The organization is trying to ensure minorities and others aren't obstructed, discouraged or unfairly targeted by identification challenges or other barriers, she added.
Ciccolo also said she thinks many black people face unfair challenges in the criminal justice system. She said many black defendants are represented by underpaid public defenders with too big a caseload who sometimes do inadequate preparation before trial.
Many juvenile defendants also end up waiving their right to counsel without understanding the implications of the waiver, she said.
Case gives hope
However, she said, the White case can provide hope to black defendants that, despite unfair odds, the criminal justice system can work.
In that case, heard in 1889, Shadrack White, a former slave from Ohio, was a defendant in a murder trial. Despite having an inexperienced lawyer representing him and being tried before an all-white jury, White was found innocent, she noted.
Ciccolo, of Ashburn, Va., graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and specialized in civil litigation there. She has served on numerous boards, including the Board of Governors for the D.C. Trial Lawyers Association.
The NAACP honored Ciccolo as Staff Lawyer of the Year for 2003.
The banquet is the local organization's largest annual fundraiser. The NAACP's other funding source is through its membership.