(Unless you are African American and Want to Vote)
What is going on with Republicans this weekend? Are they finally losing all their marbles over the fact that they are going to lose in November? We have Paul Ryan yesterday saying his foreign policy cred is all about voting for war, Todd Akin from Missouri discussing "legitimate" rape, and now this guy from Ohio admitting that the powers that be don't want black people to vote, period, and are doing everything they can to stop it.
I hope this is a trend . . . It can only be good for Obama & the Dems. :)
A member of the Ohio Board of Elections, Doug Preisse, who just voted to ban weekend voting for everyone, now says he did it to stop the "African-American-Voter-Turnout-Machine." Hmm, I didn't know Ohio had one of those, thanks for demanding that they quote you, LOL.
You cannot make this stuff up!
From the Columbus Dispatch
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!”
Well, he may wish he hadn't been quoted because the internet exploded with people calling for the ACLU and the Defense Department to stop holding back and do something about Ohio voter suppression.
By tonight, Preisse was backtracking somewhat and probably wishing he hadn't sent that email to the newspaper. But these guys just aren't too smart, so he told BuzzFeed several times that the African-American voters are a "political operation." He makes it sound as if Ohio has declared war on black voters, and we all have a right to be ticked off and fighting mad about such talk. :(
Interview with BuzzFeed
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Franklin County GOP Chairman Doug Preisse, a close ally of Governor John Kasich, said his comment — which provoked Democratic outrage — was simply straight talk.
Democrats "are trying to say that I had somehow consciously constrained hours for that purpose," Preisse said. "No, I am saying the opposite, that I am asking the question, and I am indeed questioning how far this process of democratic, small ‘d’, democratic voting process should be contorted to favor a political operation. I don’t think we should go overboard in doing that."
. . . Preisse scoffed at the criticism, telling BuzzFeed of a disputed voting plan put forth by Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, "I believe it should be easy to vote, and I believe that under this plan it is.
"I believe that Republicans and Democrats of good will can have a difference of opinion, an honest difference of opinion here, but I also believe that there is no question that the forces of Obama and the other side of the aisle would love to just throw the barn doors open and have 24-hour voting and just go too far in the other direction," Preisse said. "It seems to me we can have a reasonable discussion about this."
Of Democrats' early voting efforts, he said, "How far should the taxpayers be asked to go to accommodate that political operation? That’s where we’re having a difference of opinion."
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