American Blackout

American Blackout
Directed by Ian Inaba
Produced by Jean-Philippe Boucicaut
Anastasia King
Stephen Marshall
Starring Cynthia McKinney
Music by Michael Bearden
Edited by Jean-Philippe Boucicaut
Liz Canning
Ian Inaba
Distributed by Guerrilla News Network
Release dates
 September 22, 2006
Running time
 92 minutes
Language English

American Blackout (2006) is a documentary film directed by Ian Inaba. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The film chronicles the 2002 defeat, and 2004 reelection, of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney to the U.S. House of Representatives; it also discusses issues surrounding alleged voter disenfranchisement and the use of voting machines in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

The film focuses heavily on McKinney, and claims that her 2002 loss in a Democratic primary to Denise Majette (who, like McKinney, is African-American) was part of an effort to disenfranchise minority voters. McKinney claims that Republican voters in her district tipped the primary election to Majette. This itself is legal, as Georgia law opens primaries to all voters irrespective of party. After losing, McKinney filed a lawsuit claiming that open primaries are a violation of the 14th Amendment, but a court dismissed the case.

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