News with a Twist/Commentary*
Georgia and Florida governors blindsided. Vow to take action.
*Note: Given the “bizarreness” of our current news environment please be forewarned – most of this story is true. Read the italicized paragraphs as they were intended. They are, “News with a Twist”.
The New York Times reported today:
“Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas issued a proclamation ordering counties to offer only one location for voters to drop off mail-in ballots in person.
“The state’s decision to reduce options for voters to drop off their ballots comes as questions of voting rights, voter suppression and the integrity of the election have emerged as major issues in the 2020 campaign.
“In announcing the change, Mr. Abbott described it as necessary for security. His spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon about why the governor considered the satellite drop-offs insecure.”
Abbott’s proclamation took two other Republican governors by complete surprise. Governors Brian Kemp of Georgia and Ron DeSantis of Florida, generally considered the two most devoted Trump “mini-me’s,” in a state of panic, called emergency meetings of their staffs to determine how they could outdo Abbott in suppressing mail-in ballots.
According to people in the room where it happened, DeSantis, in a hastily scheduled closed-door meeting, chastised his staff. “How could you let this happen? I’ve been Trump’s favorite for months. I’ve opened restaurants and bars at 100% capacity despite the obvious health risks just to make sure he continues to like me best. And now Abbot does something that Trump will love and none of you thought about doing it in Florida first.”
While DeSantis continued to struggle to come up with a plan that could top Abbott’s move in Texas, Kemp of Georgia immediately took action, issuing his own proclamation ordering that ballot drop boxes be limited to one for every other county, picked randomly, and that only voters in that county would be able to use the drop box. Any ballots from other counties placed in the boxes would immediately be removed and thrown in some unnamed river.
Our sources report that DeSantis, when appraised of Kemp’s counter to Abbot, went apoplectic, screaming, “That’s it! Here’s the deal – one drop box in Key West, that’s all. And just to be sure, let’s put a Covid-19 travel restriction on Key West. That will virtually guarantee that the only real way to send in these ballots will be by mail.”
DeSantis went on to tell his staff, “And that shouldn’t be a problem. I just got off the phone with (Postmaster General) DeJoy and he promised that 40% of the mailboxes in Florida will be ‘vandalized by Antifa’ and then removed for repair. Florida goes for Trump and he’ll still love me the best!”
Let me close with this. Although only certain Florida counties were included in the Voting Rights Act that was overturned by the Roberts Supreme Court, the entire states of Georgia and Texas, among others, were subject to the act. The act called for “jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to “pre-clear” changes to their election rules with the federal government prior to implementing them.” In other words, if the Act was still in place, Texas and many other states would have had to “pre-clear” this drop box proclamation with the federal government. (Of course, given this federal government and Attorney General, that probably would not have been a problem – but I digress).
In his majority opinion striking down this act, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, that it was no longer “grounded in current conditions” because the “country has changed” since the formula was first adopted in 1965.
“The country has changed” indeed. But which way?
Given current events, heck of a decision Mr. Chief Justice.
Around the Block 