Monday, October 22, 2012
Progress Still Possible GOP out to suppress the Ohio vote — as in 2004.
Posted by Bob Geary @rjgeary on Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 1:33 PM
Last week I wrote in the Indy about early voting as an antidote to Republican efforts to obstruct the voting process.
I mentioned the Republican Party's post-1965 history of "ballot security" campaigns to discourage minority voters, as in Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004. if space permitted, I'd have gone back to my first experience with voter suppression, which was Tony Imperiale and his armed Italian-American Republicans "guarding' the polls in Newark, New Jersey in the 1970s.
I did mention the billboards in minority communities warning residents about the penalties for voter fraud.
So over the weekend we've had these stories.
* In The New Republic, the Republicans are at it again in Ohio trying to keep blacks from voting.
* Meanwhile, Clear Channel used billboards in minority neighborhoods of Cleveland, Columbus and other Ohio cities to warn about the penalties for voter fraud.
Clear Channel is the communications behemoth known for, among other things, backing the War on Iraq to the hilt and blacklisting the Dixie Chicks when their lead singer spoke out in opposition to it.
Then there are the scattered, but numerous cases of phone calls to voters, especially senior citizens, with misleading information about voting hours and/or requirements, plus the efforts in states (e.g., Pennsylvania) where photo ID requirements were blocked to "inform" voters that a photo ID may be needed anyway.
Voting is our right, one that should be simple to exercise. Instead, more than one in three adults eligible to vote in the United States will not do so.
Voter suppression is just one reason for that sad statistic. But in a two-party system in which razor-tight elections are the norm, a voter suppression campaign that trims one side's vote by even 1 percent in one state is dangerous and can turn an election around. And these campaigns are not just in one state, they're in every battleground state, including Ohio, Florida, Virginia — and yes, North Carolina.
- To create paragraphs in your comment, type <p> at the start of a paragraph and </p> at the end of each paragraph.
- To create bold text, type <b>bolded text</b> (please note the closing tag, </b>).
- To create italicized text, type <i>italicized text</i> (please note the closing tag, </i>).
- Proper web addresses will automatically become links.
Latest in Citizen
-
More on Randy Voller: Raleigh's Nina Szlosberg-Landis, 1st vice chair, resigns in protest
(Bonus feature: The comments section.) A leader in the party's environmental and women's ranks no longer wants to be associated with Voller.
- Jun 10, 2013
-
Who's the moron? Sen. Thom Goolsby on the protests he calls "Moron Mondays"
Want to know how a typical NC Republican state senator thinks? (Irony alert re: "thinks.")
- Jun 10, 2013
-
Scenes from Moral Monday at the General Assembly: June 3 should be the biggest yet
As the marchers say: "Show me what democracy looks like / This is what democracy looks like."
- May 24, 2013
- More »
More by Bob Geary
-
More on Randy Voller: Raleigh's Nina Szlosberg-Landis, 1st vice chair, resigns in protest
(Bonus feature: The comments section.) A leader in the party's environmental and women's ranks no longer wants to be associated with Voller.
- Jun 10, 2013
-
[Updated x 2: Another 'Moral Monday' next week: AP] Progressives promising Monday protests while General Assembly's in session
Public asked to join pray-ins, be arrested or support those who are. Next one: Monday, May 13.
- May 9, 2013
- More »
