The Manatee County Florida Board of County Commissioners
voted today to reduce voting sites from 99 to 69 ahead of the November elections. The Republican Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett proposed the elimination of the sites and the board voted with him along party lines, 6 Republicans for and 1 Democrat against. The sole Democrat on the board argued that the move would eliminate half of the available sites in his district, which, of course, has a large minority population. His complaint naturally fell on deaf, rotten ears.
The laughable reasons given for closing the polling sites were that 1) it would save the county a lot of money and that 2) early voting and mail-in ballots resulted in decreased turn-out in the 2012 elections. That is certainly not how I remember things going down in Florida in 2012. Is this how you remember things going down in Florida in 2012?
Despite strong public opposition against the move, and speeches presented by the local NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Council, the council could not be shamed. Said Lou Murray of the Democratic Black Caucus “We all know what this is about is voter repression ... period."
As Think Progress points out, Mike Bennett has been involved for some time with voter suppression.
Bennett assured the commission that if lines are longer in 2014 as a result of these changes, he would ask them to revisit the decision in 2015, before the 2016 elections. But it is unclear whether voter accessibility is a sincere priority for him. In 2011, while serving in the Florida Senate, he endorsed making it hard to vote: “I wouldn’t have any problem making it harder. I would want them to vote as badly as I want to vote. I want the people of the state of Florida to want to vote as bad as that person in Africa who’s willing to walk 200 miles…This should not be easy.” He made that comment as he supported a voter suppression bill that reduced the number of days for early voting in Florida and helped create long lines across the state.
Bolding mine.
I have little doubt that we will be seeing a dramatic uptick in stories like this as the Republicans head into the November elections. When no one likes your ideas, your antiquated views and your failed policies, the only way the rancid Republican party can survive the democratic process is to lie, cheat and steal.
Via: Think Progress