Shawn Fleetwood and Mollie Hemingway: Voter Suppression Is Very Real. It's Just That It's the Democrats Are Making Sure Republican Strongholds Don't Have Enough Ballots for All the Republican Voters.

I don't see Jake Tapper of Stacy Abrams talking much about this.

Voter Suppression Is Real And It's Not What You Were Told

Pennsylvania residents have filed a lawsuit against Luzerne County after being denied their constitutional right to vote in the 2022 midterms.

Shawn Fleetwood and Mollie Hemingway

On the morning of Election Day last November, William French went to his local polling place in Freeland, Pennsylvania, to cast his vote. But the qualified and registered voter wasn't allowed to. The disabled U.S. Army veteran was told that the precinct had run out of paper for ballots and he had to come back later in the afternoon.

So that's what he did, returning at 3:30 p.m. But the precinct still didn't have ballots. Election workers told him to return yet again. But by nightfall, it was too difficult. French has endured 17 surgeries on his destroyed leg and uses a cane to walk. But the sidewalks are a mess, and he was worried about the risk of falling and further injury.

That same morning, Melynda Reese and her husband went to their polling location in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania. But only Reese's husband was allowed to vote, and for the same reason: The precinct had run out of paper. They came back at 4:00 p.m. and were told there would be a lengthy wait.

Reese is a corrections officer and her husband's primary caregiver. He had recently suffered two cardiac arrests and a stroke. He required regular medication and attention and couldn't be left alone. Long waits were also too much to bear. The couple returned at 6:30 p.m., and saw a line that stretched so long that they knew they couldn't wait. Around 9:15 p.m., an election official called Reese and told her that ballots were finally available and she could vote. But her husband had just taken his sleeping pills and she couldn't leave him unattended.

French and Reese are just two of the thousands of voters affected by poor election administration in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The two just sued Luzerne County, its Board of Elections and Registration, and its Bureau of Elections in federal court for violations of their constitutional right to vote.

"Voters in Luzerne County through no fault of their own, were disenfranchised and denied the fundamental right to vote. William French and Melynda Reese are two of those voters. They bring suit to vindicate the denial of their sacred right to vote, to make sure voters are not disenfranchised in the future, and to bring integrity back to elections in Luzerne County," said Wally Zimolong, lawyer for French and Reese.

Luzerne County was coal country and once a Democrat stronghold, before Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, when the county voted Republican. The county's election administration in 2022 was, according to the lawsuit, a "catastrophic failure." More than 40 precincts had an insufficient number of ballots, many running out early in the morning on Election Day. The county implausibly blamed high voter interest, but Pennsylvania law requires counties to have enough ballots for every registered voter.

Ergo, you shouldn't run out of ballots, because you're supposed to anticipate 100% of voters voting.

Election workers were sent scrambling to office supply stores for paper, and were left untrained for the disastrous day. A court had to intervene to allow a few more hours of voting. Judge Lesa Gelb wrote in her order, "Voters in Luzerne County through no fault of their own, were disenfranchised and denied the fundamental right to vote." Left-wing groups pressured the county election board to certify the election results, even though the first vote to certify failed to pass. The county election board bowed to the pressure.

You may, if you are so inclined, consider reading the whole thing.

I agree, "Read the Whole Thing" is bossy.

posted by Ace at 03:15 PM

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