Earlier this month, Jackson announced plans to hold a "rally for the disenfranchised" Monday in Columbia to boost voter turnout the next day and to set the tone for the November elections. He said the rally would include a march through city streets.

"He will not be able to make it to South Carolina," spokeswoman Keiana Barrett said when reached on her cell phone. "We are in the process of scheduling future activities for voter registration."

She did not give specifics.

Lonnie Randolph Jr., state chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he'd heard the rally was canceled but did not know why. The NAACP was not involved in planning it, he said.

"We will be in overdrive working hard to ensure all citizens, particularly those who are disenfranchised, exercise their constitutional right to vote," he said.

That includes providing transportation to the polls, Randolph said.

The Center for Community Change, a nonpartisan advocacy group, and the People's Agenda for Economic Justice, a coalition of South Carolina-based grass-roots groups, are holding a rally today in Columbia that includes the Democratic presidential candidates. It will be carried live at 11 a.m. on WISTV, MSNBC and C-Span and will be moderated by nationally syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner.

South Carolina has more than 815,700 black residents 18 and older, according to the 2000 census. In 2002, 285,000 black residents went to the polls, a record turnout for a non-presidential election year.

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