If rejecting the federal Medicaid expansion for people living in poverty was ‘awesome in evilness,’ this new scheme by Florida Republicans to deprive middle-class and poor voters their constitutionally mandated rights in the state’s largest population center is social sociopathy:
Think Progress — During the 2012 presidential election, voters reportedly waited on line for upwards of six hours. That wait alone is enough to deter would-be voters from going to the polls. But now residents in Florida’s most populous county will have another disincentive: they won’t be able to go to the bathroom.Earlier this year, the Miami-Dade County Elections Department quietly implemented a policy to close the bathrooms at all polling facilities, according to disability rights lawyer Marc Dubin. Dubin said the policy change was in “direct response” to an inquiry to the Elections Department about whether they had assessed accessibility of polling place bathrooms to those with disabilities.
These same polling places had six-hour lines in the last election, so you get the picture. A interesting evil feature here: there are laws, some part of the voting rights act, that require public polling places be accessible for the disabled. That applies to buildings and bathrooms, too. What these evil bastards have done is hijacked that reg to screw over everyone, justified on the paper-thin premise that it is fair: it’s fair because it makes bathrooms inaccessible for everyone, thus creating a level non-peeing field for handicapped and non-handicapped voters alike. Yeah. Stone cold evil clowns trying to rig elections in the favor of the super wealthy conservative rich.
When I first saw this, I tought for sure it had to be Onion-esque satire. I’m still not entirely sure. But it appears to be real. We have a petition that’s burning up the intertoobz on this sick scam here at Daily Kos.com.
I hate standing in line and can’t go for much more than one hour without peeing. This may be the perfect cause for me to donate to. (Now, if only I had money.)
We also should reconsider inflexible standing queues and maybe just give out numbers for the order people have arrived and let them mill around or leave until they are called. It would be pleasanter for the people concerned (if it didn’t get too chaotic).
Somebody must make wheelchair accessible porta-potties. Maybe local political groups could rent them and supply them.
In passing I’ll add that it’s pretty ridiculous overkill that public urination is a crime that can potentially put you on the sex offender list for the rest of your life.
Dubin made a further comment:
I see a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County’s future.
There are ADA-compliant, wheelchair-accessible portajohns, sure. I’ve seen them plenty at fairs and events. Here’s one:
image
Here’s the Miami Herald’s article on the subject. Higher-ups seem to have nixed the idea of banning bathrooms, and I don’t see any mention of any GOP’ers being involved with the issue.
Gee, I wonder why so many of the PTB in elections hate mail-in ballots? Could it be that a lot of people who would normally be ‘discouraged’ from voting actually get to vote?
You have got to admit that this is brilliant in it’s vindictiveness.
Florida – setting new heights for shitting on voters since 2001.
Well, this’ll get a lot of people very pissed off – and talk about a shit policy!
Seriously, they cannot be for real can they and, if they are, surely there will be a court case to set things right, right?
Hard to believe they’d actually do this.
(I ‘spose as a last resort if it does happen you can bring your own “pop-up-tree” or other device for sly wees. Also don’t they have pre-poll/ absentee postal voting in the States?)