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It’s our civic duty to vote, right? Well that depends on who you are. The disgusting reality is that many of the power elites don’t want certain people to vote, so they go to extremes to discourage and even harass those people to prevent them from exercising their civic right.
In 2012, Florida’s highest officials disgraced their offices by engaging in this thuggish electoral thievery. Republican Gov. Rick Scott and his party’s legislative henchmen officially rammed voter suppression into law, targeting Latino, African-American, student, elderly, and other likely-Democratic voters. From purging such people from voting rolls to making them use broken down voting machines, voters in Democratic-leaning precincts faced procedural chaos and up to six-hour-waits – deterring at least 200,000 Floridians from casting their ballots.
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But now comes an added discouragement in Miami, where a ruling by a Democratic election official will literally leave voters p.o.’d. Advocates for people with disabilities had asked whether restrooms in Miami-area polling places would be accessible to voters in wheelchairs or having other physical needs. They expected to get “yes” for an answer, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, but instead they got this jaw dropping shocker: “In order to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not treated unfairly, the use of restrooms by the voters is not allowed on election day.”
Yes, in a perverted twist of logic, “fairness” to people with special needs will be assured by treating everyone unfairly. Thus, the political right to vote will be trumped by the biological need to pee – especially if they wait in line is six hours!
It seems to me that what Florida needs is a couple of good kindergarten teachers to take over their election system – and just keep it simple.
“Florida Governor Signs Election Reform Bill Reversing His Own Voter Suppression Laws,” www.thinkprogress.org, May 23, 2013.
“For Miami-Dade County, a dispute over potty breaks for voters.” www.miamiherald.com, April 10, 2014.
“New Rule Prohibits Voters In Miami-Dade County From Suing The Restroom, No Matter How Long The Line,” www.thinkprogress.org, April 10, 2014.
“Miami Dade Issues Policy Prohibiting All Voters From Using Restrooms at Polling Places,” www.soflacil.org, January 16, 2014.