Monday, September 22, 2008

Natalie Tennant Supported By Crackpots

A crackpot fringe group calling itself the Center For Public Integrity has pledged to help elect Natalie Tennant through its Secretary of State Project.

This site repeats the most exaggerated claims possible, such as the idea that Republicans are poised to challenge hundreds of thousands of votes in Ohio in upcoming elections and even that the GOP has taken people's homes. It asserts that Republican secretaries of state suppress rightful voters. The Secretary of State Project itself appears to be a blog manned by a writer slightly influenced by e.e. cummings' crusade against capitalization. It does claim to have secured five victories for Democrats somehow, but its writing focuses almost exclusively upon Ohio.

It's true, even in our state, that the Republican Secretary of State does suppress voting. Betty Ireland suppresses voting by corpses, by people who already voted, and by others who attempt to get around the laws that keep our elections fair. Suppressing illegal votes is part of the job, as many Democratic secretaries of state in our history have failed to realize. Across the nation, Republicans have fought the attempt by Democrats to suppress the votes of servicemen deployed abroad. Are they afraid that these soldiers will once again vote Republican and keep them out of the White House?

Of course part of this groups claims are that Republicans are racist in their selection of whom to "suppress." I doubt that even they could levy that charge against the GOP nominee in West Virginia, Charles Minimah. He has pledged to keep our state's elections as clean as possible while expanding access to the disabled. West Virginia needs Charles Minimah in the secretary of state's office to maintain the reforms started by Betty Ireland.

No comments:

Post a Comment