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Monday, July 13, 2020

From far away the smell is clear, and it is on the web, not in a pasture. It's the odor of voter suppression intent. REPUBLICAN voter suppression intent! Let's be honest, instead.

Strib carries what seems a local and not a national-feed op-ed, but not identified clearly as one or the other: "Editorial counterpoint: Mail-in voting would undermine election integrity - The risk for ballot harvesting is high and we can't let that happen. - By Justin Clark - July 10, 2020 — 5:30pm"

First, the turth. The two-party stranglehold on the nation together with money running politics has already undermined election integrity so that nothing else really matters. The meter needle is already pinned to "crooked and disappointing" and cannot budge further.

That said, the perp is not some neutral savant. The item footer: "Justin Clark is senior adviser and senior counsel to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc."

Without reading a word between the two captions, one already knows it's a hymn to screwing voters out of their rights to vote, if likely to vote against REPUBLICANS. These pathological folks fear the electorate and want to CHEAT. Voter suppression is nothing but CHEATING and should be quelled.

That said, local content appears the case, from text in the item:

Ballot harvesting, which allows anybody to collect voters’ ballots to turn into a polling location, is especially susceptible to fraud and sets a dangerous precedent. It allows anyone, including political operatives and campaign staff, to show up and take possession of a voters’ completed ballot for delivery.

The assertion by Minnesota’s DFL secretary of state Steve Simon that requiring voters to request an absentee ballot “just forces voters to take one more step,” and requiring this extra step “costs the state more money,” rings hollow when weighed against the importance of protecting the integrity of our elections.

Protecting each and every citizen’s vote must come ahead of any desire to loosen election security protocols.

[...] It sets a dangerous precedent if we allow for tangential excuses to alter the very foundation of our election process.

Finally, the board attempts to suppress the vote in its own right, painting the idea of in-person voting as daunting, and an unacceptable danger.

“There is something satisfying about trooping to a precinct place with your neighbors, popping your ballot into the machine and getting that little iconic ‘I Voted’ sticker as a testament to your good citizen status,” the Editorial Board quips. “But many Minnesotans may want or need to make a different calculation this time, opting to keep themselves and others safe,” alluding to the idea that if you do choose to vote in person, you are not only risking your own life, but you are also being selfish toward others.

It’s an irresponsible tone, and message, to send to voters during a time of uncertainty. The integrity of our elections shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but unfortunately, Democrats have turned it into one.

What a sleazeball. Sophistry is one of the gentlest words coming to mind over this garbage. All this same crap had to have been trotted out in the same wording when poll taxes were stricken and when at the turn of the Twentieth Century women were given the vote.

The biggest steaming pile? "There is something satisfying about trooping to a precinct place with your neighbors, popping your ballot into the machine and getting that little iconic ‘I Voted’ sticker."

Get real. It's a waste of time not needed to be wasted and we know REPUBLICANS will tout anything that suppresses voting likely going to the Dems, such as distant polling places, slow processing with long lines, hope for foul weather, etc. with lengthening the time it takes to hold the nose and pick a lesser evil being REPUBLICAN DOGMA.

Picking a lesser-evil by mail is less hassle when the "choice" is to choose a lesser evil from the two-party menu of two evils. This election, like the 2016 two-party stinker, is going to be for certain a lesser-evil top of the ballot thing, (Biden being a lesser evil than the Clintons - but still ...). To whine "election integrity" as a reason to burden citizen voting more than is necessary is not only absurd, but flat-out hateful.

If wanting "election integrity" let's have three or four parties. Over my lifetime lesser evil has been the serving from Democratic Party and Republican Party, and "integrity" too frequently has been absent from either party's offering. And it's gotten worse over time.

Presuming this Justin Clark is a Minnesotan, I'd like to make the SOB vote from North Dakota. In retaliation for his being so transparently a right wing idiot, and not even special that way.