Ballot Initiative gambit
by digby
ThinkProgress reports on the latest in vote suppression coming from the vote suppression innovators, Florida:
Two Florida state representatives told ThinkProgress they believe the larger than usual number of ballot initiatives were part of an intentional strategy aimed precisely at creating long lines and discouraging citizens from voting.
State Rep. Perry Thurston, the incoming House Democratic Leader, said:
Without a doubt it was intentional. The items in those amendments were not items that needed to be placed in our constitution. Such a long ballot that requires so much reading, you see so many of them were defeated. That, along with the cutting back on the days for early voting, the hours. You could just see it coming and it was gonna be turmoil. … It clearly was [the Republican majority's] intention to make it more difficult, and to discourage individuals. There is no way people should be waiting six to seven hours, but four to five hours is too long as well. It’s a sad reflection on our state when you require that kind of time to do something that’s not a privilege but a right.
Rep. Mark S. Pafford (D), agreed that the amendments were designed to slow down voting:
Basically what they did was load up the ballot so more people would have to take time either reading through or standing in lines of five to six hours in Palm Beach County— and make a decision after a long wait. I don’t think there’s any question that what occurred was designed to suppress voters in FL. … We had amendments – the ballot was full of things that, during the holidays, you don’t talk about at home. Religion and politics.
A lot of this seemed to backfire. People don't like having their voting rights manipulated and they proved it by standing in those long lines despite all the efforts to get them to turn away. But they do have lives to live and jobs to go to and it's not going to be as easy in off year elections.
It's truly a travesty that our democracy is subject to this kind of nonsense. If Democrats were smart they'd start running on the issue of electoral reform. I don't think they would pay for it at the polls. In fact, I think they would be rewarded. Americans can be thick sometimes, but I think they have been awakened to the fact that something's gone wrong here.
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