Someone provided a link to a press release about the Republican party filing a lawsuit in order to make sure that all our over seas troops get the opportunity to vote this election. Unfortunately, when you look at the Republican party’s history when it comes to elections and voters, you see a fair amount of hypocrisy in the whole thing. Here are a number of reasons why this gesture is both meaningless and offensive.
Oklahoma has the absolute worst ballot access laws in the nation. This year makes 3 presidential elections where Oklahoma is the only state in the nation limited to two choices. Bills have been introduced in Oklahoma to change these laws and it has been the Republican party Senators that have blocked the bills from passing EVERY year.
Over the last 4 years, the Republican party has been engaged in a voter disenfranchisement campaign. Included in this campaign are more strict voter ID laws in various states. These laws typically harm older and poorer individuals who are less likely to have or get valid ID. They are also implementing various voter registration purges that are sweeping up massive amounts legitimate voters and canceling their registration without telling them. They have also changed early voting laws in various states in which a high percentage of Democratic voters use early voting.
They have also been actively engaged in blocking valid presidential candidates from the ballot. The three states that are the worst offenders are Oklahoma, Michigan and Pennsylvania. In Oklahoma, not only do we have the worst ballot access laws, the Republican Attorney General, Election Board, Secretary of State and State Supreme Court made up new laws and rules on the spot to prevent a valid party and a valid candidate from getting on the ballot.
In Michigan, the Republican party used a poorly worded and a poorly written law to block Gary Johnson from the ballot. This law was written to keep “sore losers” from running as another party’s candidate if they lost a different party’s primary. Gary Johnson was never meant to be on the Michigan Primary ballot but they felt the need to leave him there just for this.
In Pennsylvania, they have a law that punishes political parties who fail to provide a valid petition for ballot access. This fine can reach into the $100’s of thousands. The Republican Party spent over a month trying to invalidate the Libertarian party’s petition for ballot access. They wasted not only their time, but the Libertarian party’;s time and the court’s time and the election office’s time. They even challenged signatures they agreed were valid once it was determined that the Libertarian party had enough signatures.
This is not a party that cares about letting people vote. The only reason they are making a big deal about soldiers voting is because they see it as a way to attack Obama. They could not care less about who or even if those soldiers get to vote. They only care about winning and they are not above using every dirty trick in the book to get there. The Republican party absolutely disgusts me in this. They are hypocrites, liars and thieves.