Ted Yoho Misses the Jim Crow Era

Via Right Wing Watch: Rep. Ted Yoho wants to bring back the the voting restriction of only property owners being allowed to vote.

“I’ve had some radical ideas about voting and it’s probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a property owner to vote,” he said to applause.

In 1790, only white male property owners were allowed to vote. So if you are a woman or a minority you are shit out of luck if Ted Yoho ever becomes President. Judging by the fact that Yoho is speaking to a nearly empty church, I doubt we have to worry about Yoho becoming President anytime soon.

I wonder if the tax cut loving Yoho would support Florida bringing back the poll tax. USF political science Darryl Paulson outlines the laws made by whites in the 19th century to deny blacks the right to vote.

By 1876, Reconstruction was over, and Florida politicians would adopt many provisions to eliminate black voting. The Sunshine State would "legally" eliminate black votes without violating the 19th Amendment. Between laws passed by the Legislature and the adoption of the 1885 Constitution, almost every black vote was eliminated.

Florida, like every one of the former Confederate states, adopted a white primary, grandfather clause, poll tax, literacy test, long residency requirements and other obstacles to black voters. It was a virtual fail-safe system. If one barrier failed, there would always be another to stop them from voting.

Yoho's voting policies are about discrimination. Yoho is a self-professed birther.

In audio recorded by an audience member and posted on YouTube, Yoho can be heard telling the crowd that the issue of President Obama’s birth certificate was a “distraction” from topics like the national debt, he said he was hopeful that a birther investigation could bring down the whole government: “They said if it is true, it’s illegal, he shouldn’t be there and we can get rid of everything he’s done, and I said I agree with that.”

Still doubt Yoho holds racist views? Yoho told a black constituent that he isn't sure if the Civil Rights Act is constitutional.

FLOURNOY: Do you think that any part of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 [sic], do you think any part of that is constitutional? And then if you’d discuss why. [...]

YOHO: This country grew through a lot of growing pain. We’re going through it again. As we grow as a country and prosper, we’re going to go through it again in the future. That’s why I’m so thankful for the Constitution because it allows us to do that. Is it constitutional, the Civil Rights Act? I wish I could answer that 100 percent. I know a lot of things that were passed are not constitutional, but I know it’s the law of the land.

Keep this in mind when Yoho asks why black voters aren't Republicans.

The Absentee Ballot Problem

I mentioned before how I doubted the sincerity of Republican voter reform after the GOP refused to deal absentee voter problems. The voter ID laws made by Republicans are meant to repressed poor voters. Absentee ballots can be sent in without the same level of proof needed by a voter. Absentee voters tend to lean Republican. Ion Sancho, Leon County Supervisor of Elections, pointed out the problem with pushing more people toward absentee ballots.

“The more people you force to vote by mail,” Mr. Sancho said, “the more invalid ballots you will generate.”

Rep. Joe Garcia (D) fired his chief of Staff, Jeffrey Gracia (no relation) after the latter Garcia was implicated in an absentee voter fraud scam.

Garcia dismissed Jeffrey Garcia, his chief of staff and longtime political adviser, Friday after law enforcement raided the family homes of Sopo and former campaign manager John Estes seeking computers and other electronic equipment. Jeffrey Garcia, who is not related to his boss, admitted to the congressman that he directed the campaign to submit the phantom ballot requests, Joe Garcia said.

“I don’t know why,” he added, saying the operation — which ultimately failed — wasn’t needed. “During this entire election, we were polling. ... We thought we were ahead early on and from the get-go.”

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said there is no evidence that Rep. Gracia had any knowledge of the attempted absentee voter fraud scam. I don't care if it is a Democrat or Republican involved. Absentee voter fraud is wrong. The so-called voter reform that did take place was aimed at repressing minorities. Former Gov. Charlie Crist and former RPOF chair Jim Greer admitted that Republicans did attempt to suppress minority voters.

Crist said party leaders approached him during his 2007-2011 gubernatorial term about changing early voting, in an effort to suppress Democrat turnout. Crist is now at odds with the GOP, since abandoning the party to run for U.S. Senate as an independent in 2010. He is rumored to be planning another run for governor, as a Democrat.

Crist said in a telephone interview this month that he did not recall conversations about early voting specifically targeting black voters “but it looked to me like that was what was being suggested. And I didn’t want them to go there at all.”

About inhibiting minority voters, Greer said:

“The sad thing about that is yes, there is prejudice and racism in the party but the real prevailing thought is that they don’t think minorities will ever vote Republican,” he said. “It’s not really a broad-based racist issue. It’s simply that the Republican Party gave up a long time ago ever believing that anything they did would get minorities to vote for them.”

But a GOP consultant who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution said black voters were a concern.

“I know that the cutting out of the Sunday before Election Day was one of their targets only because that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves,” he said.

Republicans aren't going to reform absentee ballots and continue to make voters that show up to the polls jump through hoops.

Rick Scott Mum on Absentee Voter Fraud Reform

Republican consultant Rick Wilson tweeted about voter fraud on Twitter. I gave Wilson a poke by asking what he wants to do about absentee voter fraud. Voters at polling stations had to provide a Florida ID. Absentee voters do not have to produce an ID in a face-to-face meeting with poll workers. Wilson did not respond to my tweet.

I asked Wilson this question because establishment Republicans have no interest in actual voting fraud reform. If you wanted to illegally vote, an absentee ballot is the easiest way to do it. Mind you, I don't think their is massive absentee voter fraud. I merely wanted to put Republicans on the spot about their sincerity about voter fraud reform.

Fortunately, the media asked Gov. Rick Scott about what he wants to to about absentee voter reform. Like the terrible politician he is, Scott suddenly had marbles in his mouth. According to Naked Politics, Scott became very "vague" about alleged absentee voter fraud. Scott's spokesman (possibly Lane Wright) only allowed a few questions on absentee voter fraud. Scott's spokesman cut the Q & A short and whisked the governor away.

Republicans have no interest in absentee voter fraud reform. The reason being is the majority of absentee voters are registered Republicans. The people disenfranchised by Scott's dubious voting reforms college students, minorities and the poor. Anyone notice to people hardest hit by the changes in the voting laws aren't likely to vote for Rick Scott.

Fair Districts in Florida

FairDistrictsFlorida.org is running a petition urging Floridians to end gerrymandering of districts.

FairDistrictsFlorida.org aims to bring fairness to redistricting and give voters a real voice in choosing their representatives.

We can amend the Florida Constitution to make the legislature follow fairness standards in redistricting.

We need over 1.2 million voters to sign petitions.

Get active! Sign the petitions! Get others to sign! Volunteer and Contribute!

Click here to join the FairDistrictsFlorida.org team!

The establishment of districts was written into the 14th amendment. Section 2 states "representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers." The 14th amendment leaves districting up to the states. Unfortunately, the political party controlling state legislatures have use redistricting for partisan gain.

Tom Delay orchestrated a redistricting coup. Texas district lines were redrawn in 2000. The district lines won't due to be redrawn again until the next census. Delay wanted to change the advantage Democrats had in House of Representatives seats. Democrats in the Texas legislature protested and fled the state.

Delay eventually was able to redistrict. The Supreme Court case League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry found District 23 violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The district had to be redrawn.

Barack Obama won Florida. The Democrats did make pick up a seat in the Florida legislature. The current districts are a joke. The best solution is to have the districts drawn by computer. Pols can't be trusted to put voter rights above partisan gain.

Meet Hans von Spakovsky

Hans von Spakovsky worked in the civil rights devision of the Justice Department. He is a Bush recess appointment. Von Spakovsky spent more time suppressing voter rights than promoting civil rights. A fellow DoJ colleague does not think highly of von Spakovsky.

"Mr. von Spakovsky was central to the administration's pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the minority vote," charged Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him.

Von Spakovsky helped craft Voter ID laws for Georgia and Arizona in 2005. He overruled career lawyers who feared that monorities would be disenfranchised. When the Election Assistance Commission's research wasn't to his liking; he attempted to change the findings.

Things get weirder. Von Spakovsky wrote about alleged voter fraud problems under an anonymous handle. As Publius, von Spakovsky advocated for voter IDs. He wrote an anonymous article about voter fraud for the Texas Review of Law and Politics. (I can't find the article.)

The email trail is where von Spakovsky's true intent is exposed.

After the commission hired both liberal and conservative consultants to work on the studies in 2005, e-mails show that von Spakovsky tried to persuade panel members that the research was flawed.

In an Aug. 18, 2005, e-mail to Chairman DeGregorio, he objected strenuously to a contract award for the ID study to researchers at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, who were teaming with a group at Rutgers University.

Von Spakovsky wrote that Daniel Tokaji, the associate director of Moritz' election program, was "an outspoken opponent of voter identification requirements" and that those "pre-existing notions" should disqualify him from federal funding for impartial research.

The criticism was ironic coming from von Spakovsky, who a few months earlier had written the anonymous article for the Texas Review of Law and Politics, in which he called voter fraud a problem of importance equal to racial discrimination at the polls. Von Spakovsky acknowledged writing the article after joining the FEC.

What we have is evidence of von Spakovsky pushing bogus voter fraud in the Justice Department and the Election Assistance Commission.

TPM Muckraker points to von Spakovsky's links with Bradley Schlozman.

Well, Von Spakovsky was Tweedledee to Schlozman's Tweedledum at the Civil Rights Division. The two worked together in overseeing the voting rights section, and in particular in ensuring that the section, which is tasked with stopping the implementation of voting laws that might impinge on the rights of minorities, did not block voter ID laws. As I reported last month, the two teamed up to make life hell for one section analyst who had had the temerity to object to Georgia's voter ID law (the one ultimately blocked by a federal judge who compared it to a Jim Crow-era poll tax).

"In reaching this conclusion, the Court observes that it has great respect for the Georgia legislature," wrote Judge Harold Murphy. "The Court, however, simply has more respect for the Constitution."

The Georgia legislature passed the Voter ID law. However, the state fall under the Voters Rights Act. The Justice Department had to approve the law. Everything comes full circle.

In other news: von Spakovsky's confirmation hearing will be held June 13th. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he isn't going to get confirmed.

Crist Vs. McCollum

It's always good to read between the lines in Florida politics. The Buzz is certainly doing that in who Chrlie Crist is giving praise to.

Gov. Charlie Crist is really, really grateful to Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson for voting with him last week to restore felons' civil rights.

That left Attorney General Bill McCollum the odd man out Monday, at least in terms of praise from the effusive governor.

Within an hour, at two separate events that had nothing to do with the restoration of felons' civil rights, Crist thanked Sink and Bronson "for their leadership on that issue."

Asked about the highlights of his first 100 days in office, he commended Sink and Bronson for working with him to bring about "justice."

Notably, both events were staffed heavily by the media, armed with recorders and cameras and notepads to record the comments.

The short answer is Crist is going to avoid publicly calling out McCollum and reward Sink and Bronson with positive media attention. Smart move.

The other moral of the story is if you are a politician going against Crist; you are going to have get better allies than Betty "Penis Pump" Sembler.

ES&S Knew About District 13 Voting Machine Problems

Election Systems & Software sent this letter to Sarasota County election officials on August 15, 2006.

"It has come to our attention after a number of inquiries...that some of your screens are exhibiting slow response times...We have determined that the delayed response time is a result of a smoothing filter that was added...In some cases, the time lapse on these consistent reads is beyond the normal time a voter would expect."

Kathy Dent said it was too close to the election to update the equipment. She contends that the problems cited by ES&S had no affect on the undervote. That is debatable.

During early voting, 4 voters complained that their votes weren't recorded. Dent sent out an email calling the situation "critical." Voter Kenneth Sanderson had to twice attempt to vote for Christine Jennings.

"I'm an ex-poll worker, so I understand all the problems that can happen," he said. "I don't hold much confidence in machines."

It appears ES&S and Dent knew about the problems and fail to go public with the information. For geekheads: this appears to be the problem from the letter.

We have determined that the delayed response time is the result of a smoothing filter that was added to iVotronic firmware versions 8.x and higher. The smoothing filter waits for a series of consistent touchscreen reads before a candidate is highlighted on the ballot. In some cases the time lapse on these consistent reads is beyond the normal time a voter would expect to have their selection highlighted. The delayed response to touch may vary from terminal to terminal and also may not occur every single time a terminal is used.

All this time we heard Dent and ES&S swear up and down about the machines. Now we find out about this. Utterly fucking disgraceful.

Florida Felons Will Get Faster Review Process

Good for Attorney General Bill McCollum. I still have problems with the way Florida handles the voting rights of felons. That said, McCollum's ideas are a step in the right direction.

These backlogs are unacceptable. The key of getting rid of them and moving the clemency process at a faster pace is providing the Parole Commission with sufficient staff to get their investigations and reports completed on all the applicants right away, and for the Clemency Board to hold more frequent hearings until the backlog is worked off. The Chairman of the Parole Commission has advised me ten additional temporary personal the Parole Commission could do its investigations and complete the reports to eliminate the backlogs within a year. At that point the Chairman and the Clemency Board staff believe that, with rare exceptions, no other applicant would have wait more than a year for restoration for restoration with or without a hearing.

To eliminate the backlog of civil rights restoration applications, to strengthen the list under the Clemency Board rules of those felons convicted of extremely serious crimes who are required to have a hearing, to prevent the revolving door effect of granting civil rights only then to revoke them because of a new conviction for career criminals, and to provide the Parole Commission with the resources to do its principal task of shepherding the successful re-entry of criminal offenders into our society after their sentences are completed, as well as support the Clemency Board, I propose the following:

1) Each member of the Cabinet commit two personnel or FTE slots to the Parole
Commission for one year to assist in working off the backlog, and at least two
other personnel and/or FTE slots be loaned for a year to the Parole Commission
for this purpose by the Department of Corrections, the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement, and/or the Department of Juvenile Justice. This would provide the
necessary temporary personnel without the need for legislative or budgetary
action;

2) Schedule meetings of the Clemency Board monthly, or more frequently if
necessary, until the backlog is worked off;