Chicago moves to suppress voters. Florida doesn't.

Parody

My blank mail-in ballot for the coming election arrived recently at my Florida home, but it's way too difficult to handle. My vote is being suppressed!

First of all, they expect me to walk to a mail box to send in my ballot to be counted. Good Lord! Why aren't they sending someone around to my house to pick it up?! 

Secondly, when I looked at the instructions for filling out the ballot they were clearly meant to suppress  the minority vote. Even though the ballot and instructions were in English and Spanish. What about Gaelic, my ancestors native tongue? This is offensive. This is not equity!

The complexity of the instructions is an arrow directed at people of color. I mean, you've got to put the completed ballot into a secrecy envelope that is inserted into the mailer. As if that's not complicated enough, you've got to remember to sign and date it. Far too complex for a person of color to understand.

Just requiring me to sign it is offensive. They're going to use my signature to see if it is identical to the  signature on my voter registration signature. What right does anyone have to question my honesyt? Just think of how many people, especially people of color, will forget to do it thereby invalidating my ballot.

The demand that my mailed-in ballot must be received before 7 p.m. on voting day surely is disenfranchisement. I demand that I have the right to vote when, where and how I vote. 

It's a threat to democracy.

Not Parody

Just a month before elections, Chicago suppresses voting!

By Dennis Byrne

Chicago waited until just a month before the November general election to move and 

and reduce the number of polling places, possibly causing mass confusion and disenfranchising not  a few voters.

Instead of the 1,043 polling sites that were in place for the June 28 primary, voters will have to scramble virtually at the last minute to locate where they can cast their ballots at a vastly reduced number of 945 places. 

As the Chicago Tribune reported:

The sweeping changes are likely to cause some confusion on Election Day as voters who have cast their ballots before at the same church, school gymnasium or park district may suddenly find their assigned polling location is different.

Some might argue that "some confusion" is a vast understatement. Mass confusion is more like it. Oddly enough, voting rights groups and editorial boards have had little or no comment on the changes made by the Democratic-controlled board of elections. 

So, what if a Republican board had made the same changes just weeks before the election, affecting hundreds of voters? Screams of 'election suppression' would be heard across the land. Editorials would appear condemning the changes. Lengthy front-pagemstories would explain in depth the political consequences. Op-ed writers would echo the usual Democratic "sources" who call this a "grave threat to Democracy."

The Chicago board has installed a "marketing plan" to try to alert and familiarize voters about the massive number of voters of the changes. Steps include mailers to every voter and signs at former, now closed, polling places of where voters might find their new place. The result of those efforts, of course, will become apparent on election day. But not sure that the media would report it if mass confusion is the result.

Reality

Florida has been one of the states that is targeted for "vote suppression." Especially minority votes. 

But anyone in Florida who can't figure out  how to vote, probably is too stupid to get a driver's license or social security card. Too stupid to apply for food stamps or aid for dependent children. They're unable to navigate the forms for government subsidized housing. They're at sea about how to get their children into a school. And, of course, they're totally flummoxed by a job application form. Somehow the paperwork requirements for any of these have failed to raise cries that Republicans are trying to deny minorities drivers licenses and so forth,

Saying it's racist to prove that you are who you say you are as a condition of voting travels dangerously close to racism itself. Yes, some people find it simpler to register and vote than others--degree of education, experience and more can explain the variance. But to say that it's all about race is racist. Deceptive. Ignorant. 

Since moving to Florida three years ago, I've found registering and voting require virtually no extra energy. Get your driver's license and you're close to automatically get registered. You can do it in person, on line or by mail. Especially for those affected by Hurricane Ian, Gov. Ron DeSantis has relaxed the rules so the displaced can vote. 

But you read about none of this in most of the media.