Los Angeles Times has an article today regarding Trump's call for poll watchers in a non so subtle dog whistle against Latinos reminiscing on similar tactics that happened in Santa Ana, CA in 1988.
The phone calls to Donald Tanney’s office began shortly after polls opened on that election day nearly three decades ago.
Tanney, then Orange County’s registrar of voters, was told that when residents — mostly Latino — arrived at 20 Santa Ana polling locations on Nov. 8, 1988, they were greeted by uniformed guards holding signs with a message in Spanish and English: "Non-Citizens Can't Vote."
The guards, dressed in navy blue attire, had been hired by the campaign of Curt Pringle, a Republican state Assembly candidate from Garden Grove, and the Orange County Republican Party. Their mission? Monitor the polling places to ensure no fraudulent ballots were cast, insisted Pringle and officials from the county GOP.
This was blatant xenophobic voter intimidation, which the CA GIP was sued and settled.
Now that Trump as pretty much consolidated the extreme right wing media around his top campaign by hiring Breitbart head loon, These type of actions won't seem out of the ordinary but the SOP.
examples?
At a rally in Pennsylvania last week, Trump used strong racial overtones to allege to his mostly white audience that “certain areas” of the state — such as Philadelphia, where almost half the residents are black — will commit voter fraud to support Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
OH… but good ole Drumpf says he is just worried for fair and clean elections. As we say in Chile "A papá mono con plátanos plásticos" ( roughly is the same meaning as "don't spit on me and tell me it's raining")
The incident at the Santa Ana polls came six years after the Republican National Committee began operating under a consent decree, which was handed down by the Supreme Court and prevents the party from engaging in some voter-fraud prevention efforts without court approval. Yet that does not apply to campaigns, which routinely dispatch volunteers to observe activity at polling places.
But what happened in Santa Ana was far from routine. At a news conference after the incident, Jose Diaz Vargas, a 53-year-old Santa Ana police officer, said he was on his way to vote when he heard that uniformed guards were patrolling the polling areas. He went home but later changed his mind in anger and went back to vote.
Pringle (R) beat his democrat rival and became member of the CA State Assembly.
Some Republicans in the state said the uniformed guards of 1988 came at a time when Californians began to see a demographic shift.
Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant and expert on Latino voting trends, said the incident was an “encapsulation of an action that was taken that demonstrated how some people in the party viewed a changing electorate.”
Sound familiar? have you hear this before? Do those Trump rallies seem like the kind of people who would think this way? This demographic changes that happened in the 80s in California is what we are seeing in other states like Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado.
And to have context of the mood of the state in those days, 6 years later we had proposition 187, a ballot measure with the exclusive mandate to exclude tax-payer funded services to undocumented workers. The measure won but was invalidated by the courts.
Prior to Prop. 187, Republicans received one-third or more of the Latino vote in California,according to a study by Latino Decisions, a polling firm. The vote peaked in 1984, with 45% of California Latinos backing Ronald Reagan and dropped to 22% supporting Mitt Romney in 2012.
Do you venture to guess how % of the Latino Vote Drumpo will get?
So,
#DilesQueVoten
#DQV
#GOTV
my translation
This is the Latino might. The might of those of us who had the strength to come and realize a dream. Of those who were born here but still carry in our hearts our roots; From Mexico to Argentina, From The Patagonia to Tijuana. We are a Family of 54 Million Latinos Living in the United States, our voice is stronger every day, and we have the power to influence in the decisions of this country. We have earned that right, but it is also our duty.
In the last 18 years the strength of our vote has been growing. In 2012, 1 in every 10 votes was Latino; double the votes than in 1994. In 2106 that could be 3 of every 10, but that is going to depend on US. Our vote can decide who will be the next United States President, don't let them fool you, voting does make a difference. We Latinos are American and we have the right to choose. To vote, is to raise your voice so that our families and all the Latino community get more job opportunities, education, and healthcare.
You cant stay silent, in your hands is the future of or great Latino family. Register to vote, convince your friends, and invite your realtives "to make a difference".
VOTE, It's your right
It's your duty
This is the Latino Power
"The time is Now"