Texas tea party leader: GOP doesn’t want black people to vote

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

A tea party leader in Dallas is facing a backlash after saying the Republican Party doesn’t want African-American voters to show up at the polls.

“I’m going to be real honest with you,” Tea Party leader Ken Emanuelson said at a Dallas County Republican Party event on May 20. “The Republican Party doesn’t want black people to vote if they are going to vote 9-to-1 for Democrats.”

An audio recording of his comments were published online Tuesday by the pro-Democrat group Battleground Texas.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Emanuelson said he misspoke during the meeting. He said he shouldn’t have spoken on behalf of the Republican Party.

“What I meant, and should have said, is that it is not, in my personal opinion, in the interests of the Republican Party to spend its own time and energy working to generally increase the number of Democratic voters at the polls, and at this point in time, nine of every ten African American voters cast their votes for the Democratic Party,” he wrote.

“That said, I’ve been very clear, time and time again, that the Republican Party absolutely must expand and build bridges into all communities,” Emanuelson added. “I reiterated that same opinion at the same meeting.”

Republicans across the country have pushed for stricter voting regulations, such as voter ID laws, to protect against alleged voter fraud. A federal court last year blocked Texas from implementing its own voter ID law, ruling it would have a disproportionately negative impact on poor and minority voters.

In 2012 Election, African American Voters Surpassed White Turnout For The First Time Ever

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

Though Republican election officials in battleground states sought to dampen voter turn out of traditionally Democratic voters through by instituting identification requirements and limiting early voting hours, a new analysis of census data by the Associated Press shows that African Americans “voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time.”

The analysis finds that had “people voted last November at the same rates they did in 2004, when black turnout was below its current historic levels, Republican Mitt Romney would have won narrowly”:

The 2012 data suggest Romney was a particularly weak GOP candidate, unable to motivate white voters let alone attract significant black or Latino support. Obama’s personal appeal and the slowly improving economy helped overcome doubts and spur record levels of minority voters in a way that may not be easily replicated for Democrats soon.

Romney would have erased Obama’s nearly 5 million-vote victory margin and narrowly won the popular vote if voters had turned out as they did in 2004,according to Frey’s analysis. Then, white turnout was slightly higher and black voting lower.

More significantly, the battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida and Colorado would have tipped in favor of Romney, handing him the presidency if the outcome of other states remained the same.

African Americans outperformed their voter share, representing 13 percent of total votes cast in 2012 while making up 12 percent of the population — despite facing great obstacles to exercising the franchise.

A poll conducted by Hart Research poll immediately after the election reported that 22 percent of African-Americans waited 30 minutes or more to vote, compared to just 9 percent of white voters. A more thorough analysis from Massachusetts Institute of Technology confirmed that black and hispanic voters waited nearly twice as long to vote as whites. In Florida, home to the longest lines, at least 201,000 people may have been deterred from voting by the long waits.

Black youth was also far more likely to be asked to show ID, a study by professors at the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis found, and many did not even try to vote because they lacked the required identification.

“The 2008 election was the first year when the minority vote was important to electing a U.S. president. By 2024, their vote will be essential to victory,” William H. Frey, a demographer who analyzed the 2012 elections for the AP, said. “Democrats will be looking at a landslide going into 2028 if the new Hispanic voters continue to favor Democrats.”

FORMER FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIR SAYS REPUBLICANS ACTIVELY SUPPRESSED THE BLACK VOTE

–Alex Brown/Think Progress
In a 630-page deposition, released to the press yesterday, former Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer described a systemic effort by Republicans to suppress the black vote. Referring to a 2009 meeting with party officials, Greer said “I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting.” He also said party officials discussed how “minority outreach programs were not fit for the Republican Party.” Florida is currently embroiled in a controversy surrounding Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) voter purge program, which disproportionately affects voters of color. Fifty-eight percent of Scott’s original list of voters who were supposedly ineligible to voter were Hispanic while Hispanics make up only 13 percent of Florida’s eligible voters. Greer and the GOP cut ties in 2010, and he is currently facing felony corruption charges. (HT: Salon)

Is the GOP committing voter fraud?

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GOP aide goes on trial in Maryland for suppressing black voters

By Reuters

BALTIMORE (Reuters) – A former Republican governor’s aide accused of election fraud in Maryland defended himself in court on Friday against claims an automated phone message he authorized was intended to suppress black Democrat voters.

Paul Schurick, 55, campaign manager for former Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich, testified that the phone calls made to more than 100,000 Democratic, mostly-black voters on election night last year were intended to inspire them to vote.

The message assured listeners that Ehrlich’s Democratic opponent — incumbent Martin O’Malley who had defeated Ehrlich’s reelection bid in 2006 — and President Barack Obama, who was not up for election, were already “successful.”

“Our goals have been met,” said the message delivered in a woman’s voice starting at about 6 p.m. on November 2.

“The polls are correct and we took it back. We’re OK. Relax. Everything’s fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight.”

Prosecutors say the calls were approved as Ehrlich’s support among black voters plummeted, according to emails between Schurick and a polling expert one week before the election, but by suppressing black voters — who heavily favored O’Malley — Ehrlich could make up significant ground.

Schurick is charged with two counts of conspiracy, one count of election fraud and one count of failing to include a mandatory line indicating which candidate approved the calls.

Schurick admitted that amid a hectic election day and reports of low voter turnout, he authorized the calls. Around 4:40 p.m., Julius Henson, a political consultant hired by the Ehrlich campaign to appeal to African-American voters, read him the script over the phone.

“I accepted it,” said Schurick, who testified for about two hours on Friday. “He’s the expert. As I said to him, ‘I’m paying you $16,000 a month to come up with a strategy.’”

The calls were intended to be “counterintuitive,” Schurick said. Upon hearing that O’Malley had won, black Democratic voters who were sympathetic to Ehrlich would be motivated to vote, he said.

Defense attorneys also called several witnesses, high-ranking members of Maryland’s political institutions, to vouch for Schurick, who has held top positions in both Democratic and Republican administrations for years.

On Thursday, jurors heard testimony from Ehrlich, former Republican National Committee chairman and current MSNBC analyst Michael Steele and former Maryland Governor Marvin Mandel.

Closing arguments and jury deliberation are expected to begin Monday.