What happened in Georgia on Tuesday makes my blood boil, and it should infuriate anyone who cares about the right to vote.
Long lines.
Shortages of ballots.
Mysteriously missing voting machines.
This is what happens when Republican officials play politics with the right to vote, and one of our most prominent Ohioans noticed something interesting about those long lines and missing voting machines.
The circumstances of Tuesday’s election are by design, not by coincidence, and this dysfunction isn’t just exclusive to Georgia. It has happened here in Ohio (remember Ken Blackwell and 2004?) — and Ohio Republicans are trying to do it again.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose is currently pushing for “consolidation” of in-person polling locations. That’s just another way of saying he wants to close polling places, and it’s a recipe for long lines on Election Day. Ohio Republicans are also trying to make it harder to vote by mail.
All of these barriers would impact African-American voters disproportionately, and the GOP is well aware. A Republican county chair in Ohio even confessed their motives a few years back, writing: “I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine.” (Sometimes Republicans actually say the quiet part out loud.)
Republicans are trying to make it harder to vote here in Ohio — and with the most important election of our lifetimes now less than five months away, we can’t afford to let them get away with it.
In solidarity,
Gretchen Bennett
Voter Protection Director
Ohio Democratic Party
