Hero Elections Officials in Ohio Save Voting Process From Black People
It is kind of an open secret these days that the GOP is marching ever closer towards becoming a far-right nationalist movement that self-legitimates using Biblical discourse combined with claims to a monopoly on expressions of American authenticity. So we shouldn’t really be too surprised every time a prominent Republican says something overtly racist, in an email, to a member of the press, about voting rights and who should have them and on what schedule. And yet we ARE surprised! We are kind of shocked actually! Not just this time, but every single time! We think this is probably because we are bleeding heart liberals who do not watch Fox News and are thus shielded from what America has become, although we welcome other theories. Anyway,Franklin County (Ohio) Elections Director William AnthonyRepublican Party chair and elections board member Doug Preisse (sorry, don't know how we fucked up that one!) is firm on preventing early in-person voting because it is only “fair” and “reasonable” for voting to take place on a schedule that fails to accommodate urban people, by which he means black people, which he is actually kind enough to state outright in an email to a reporter with the Columbus Dispatch:
Many [African American leaders in Ohio] probably thought this battle ended last week when Secretary of State Jon Husted, after encountering harsh criticism from sources as varied as The New York Times and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart , directed Ohio’s 88 county elections boards to keep uniform hours for early in-person voting. He ordered the boards to stay open to 7 p.m. the final two weeks before the election but nixed weekend hours.
[...]
“I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine,” said Doug Preisse, chairman of the county Republican Party and elections board member who voted against weekend hours, in an email to The Dispatch . “Let’s be fair and reasonable.”
He called claims of unfairness by Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern and others “bullshit. Quote me!”
To be fair, he sounds totally reasonable, doesn’t he? And just because they allowed early voting in 2008 doesn't mean they should allow it now--don't you remember how it " contorted the voting process"? If anything is going to "contort" the voting process this time around, it's going to be the Supreme Court , and not minority voter turnout. This is America, after all!
From later in the article: <i>Ockerman said elections officials strongly oppose bringing back voting on the Sunday or Monday before Election Day. He noted that the line to vote in Franklin County didn&rsquo;t end until Monday evening</i>
I can certainly see why they&#039;d want to close the polls. Too many people voting; can&#039;t have that!
Not in an interview, anyway.