According to numerous reports yesterday and the days
before voter intimidation was going to occur in yesterday’s Mississippi primary
because of a conservative group’s poll watching program. MSNBC, the New
York Times and even liberal election blog sites were filled with rhetoric
of how “voters are going to be reminded of the state’s violent racist
past.” Medgar Evers name came up
multiple times yesterday and typical of the rhetoric on MSNBC was the statement
that it is “unconscionable to send poll watchers” as poll watching is “about
keeping black voters from potentially voting.”
Three Observations:
1. The same thing
happened that always happen with allegations of racial intimidation by
Republican/conservative poll watchers: nothing. As
I mentioned yesterday, unlike Democrats, every Republican/conservative poll
watcher program that I know of emphasizes that poll watchers do not interact
with voters. Republicans don’t
intimidate voters.
2. The comparison
of the Republican Party and Tea Party to the horrible racist practices of the
Mississippi Democrat Party 50 years ago are outrageous. Commentators also need to keep in mind it was
Democrats who created the terrible Jim Crow laws of fifty years ago. While the Tea Party did not exist 50 years
ago, its ideological forefathers -- men like firebrand and former Republican Congressman Bob
Dornan and NRA President Charlton Heston -- were in Mississippi registering
African American voters. Dornan received
death threats from the Democrat party ally of the time, the KKK, for his
efforts.
3. Using
much different techniques, the Democrat Party still tries to intimidate
Republicans and those that oppose them.
Ironically in his effort to explain away the complete absence of
intimidation yesterday, Professor Rick Hasen on his blog mentions the
successful 2004 effort by Democrats
to intimidate Republican poll watchers.
Unlike Hasen’s characterization it was the Democrats who fought against
an Ohio law and scared away volunteer poll watchers resulting in even liberal
Supreme Court Justice Stevens siding with Republicans. Unfortunately, Stevens’ decision came in the
middle of the night before the election so that many poll watchers were not
able to be informed of the decision and stayed home for the fear of being
prosecuted as threatened by Democrats. A Washington state Democrat imitated
this effort in 2012 with official looking letterhead to intimidate Florida
Republican activists from voting.
Republican voter intimidation is a myth.
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