The biological need to pee just trumped the political right
to vote in the Sunshine State.
No one can deny
that voting is a civic duty, right?
Well that
depends on who you are. The reality is that many powerful people don’t want
certain folks to vote. They go to extremes to discourage those folks from
voting and even harass them to keep away from the polls.
In 2012,
Florida’s highest officials disgraced their offices by engaging in this
thuggish electoral thievery. Republican Gov. Rick Scott and his party’s
legislative henchmen officially rammed voter suppression into law, targeting
Latino, African-American, student, elderly, and other voters likely to favor
candidates running on the Democratic Party’s ticket.
Florida
officials are making such people use broken-down voting machines and purging
them from voter rolls. Many folks in Democratic-leaning precincts faced
procedural chaos and up to six-hour waits. That rigmarole deterred at least 200,000 Floridians from
casting their ballots.
But now this
discouragement has hit a new low.
Instead they
got this jaw-dropping response: “In order to
ensure that individuals with disabilities are not treated unfairly, the use of
restrooms by the voters is not allowed on election day.”
Yes, in a
perverted twist of logic, “fairness” to people with special needs will be
assured by treating everyone unfairly. Thus, the biological need to pee will
trump the political right to vote. This is no small matter, given that some
Floridian voters waited in line six hours or more during the 2012 elections.
It seems to me
that what Florida needs is a couple of good kindergarten teachers to take over
the state’s election system. At least they appreciate the importance of potty
breaks.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown. OtherWords.org