From Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/26-6
Former Republican leaders speak out against early voting laws
Common Dreams staff
Published on Monday, November 26, 2012 by Common Dreams
Two former Florida GOP leaders and current party strategists are blowing the whistle on early voting law HB 1355, which—they admit—was designed by Republicans to limit Democratic turnout, specifically targetting minorities.
Former GOP Chairman Jim Greer and former Governor Charlie Crist told the Palm Beach Post that concerns regarding voter fraud were advanced “for one reason and one reason only,” to deter Democratic voters.
According to the report, Greer cited a number of meetings, beginning in 2009, during which party staffers and consultants pushed for reductions in early voting days and hours. “We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us,” Greer was reportedly told by party consultants.
“The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” he added. “They never came in to see me and tell me we had a (voter) fraud issue,” Greer said. “It’s all a marketing ploy.”
Former Governor Crist also admitted to being approached by party leaders during his 2007-2011 gubernatorial term about changing early voting in an effort to suppress Democrat turnout.
The election law, HB 1355, which was successfully passed by Republican super-majorities in 2011, cut Florida’s in-person early voting days from 14 to eight and eliminated early voting on the Sunday before Election Day and, according to The Post, “made it harder for voters who had changed counties since the last election to cast ballots, a move that affected minorities proportionately more than whites.”
Continue reading at: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/26-6
