For all the talk about expected lawsuits and organized attempts to block certification of the vote next month, voter suppression is a long-established tactic the GOP has employed. With each election they apply lessons from past elections to be more ruthless in preventing people, more specifically people they aren’t sure are certain Republican voters from casting ballots. Or even registering. Even Veterans sometimes! Given how the GOP once had a huge lock on the military/Veteran’s vote the annual Military Times survey, and worse Veteran’s groups openly supporting Democrats rankles. So now Veterans have become a target for GOP voter suppression. In Michigan, where the GOP has filed a lawsuit to block a Veteran’s center certified to engage in voter registration Veteran’s are fighting back.
You can read about the situation in this article from Newsweek. To this ole jarhead it’s an ugly tale, and again proves that the military and veteran’s are and have been mostly nothing more than a photo op/prop for Republicans. They’ve talked the talk but too often have failed to walk the walk when it comes to the troops. Rich (and powerful) defense contractors are what they care about. Individual troopers not so much and that realization has slowly become apparent to an increasing number of troops. So in what can’t be a good look for them the GOP (and not just in Michigan) is going after Veteran’s groups and centers that serve Veteran’s for registering voters:
The lawsuit was filed in July by the Republican National Committee and the Trump Campaign against Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, accusing her of overstepping her authority by turning several Michigan centers, including the Detroit Michigan Department of Veterans Affairs office, into voter registration agencies in 2023.
They allege that allowing voter registration at those sites is illegal, and selective. “Under Michigan law, the authority to make such designations is held solely by the Legislature,” the filing said, per NBC reporting.
The Vet Voice Foundation which is an arm of VoteVets (a progressive Veteran’s group that’s active politically including ads) is supporting Gov. Whitmer. They asked to be a Party to the GOP’s lawsuit but were denied so they’ve filed a joint Amicus Brief in the case and are now speaking publicly:
A press release announcing the filing released by Priorities USA on September 30, said that the suit is “meritless.”
“The individuals providing [voter registration] services are strictly prohibited from partisan activities and from conditioning other services or benefits on either registering or not registering to vote,” it read. “By aiming to eliminate voter registration at VA and SBA offices, this case threatens to remove a critical avenue for voter registration for Vet Voice Foundation’s members, as well as other Michiganders who wish to register to vote.”
At the beginning of the linked article the group says what the the GOP is doing is “frankly insulting.” This Veteran agrees. I hope this blows up into a bigger deal in the media than it has to date. For damned sure I hope anyone reading this will spread the word to Veteran’s they know. And non-Veteran’s too, especially when the blather about the GOP’s “supporting the troops” bullshit gets slung about. Every citizen is entitled to cast their vote. Some pay an extra price to be able to do so AND to make sure others can. It should be easy to vote, but for the GOP the only people who should be able to vote, or at least do so easily are conservatives. That’s not just wrong, it’s UN-American.
Note to the magat party (formerly known as the republican party): if you don’t want to lose a large and vital voting block like our Veterans, you probably should not support a moron who treats Veterans like they’re cannon fodder, nothing more, and worthless cannon fodder at that. Adding your contempt for Veterans will cost you idiots votes down-ballot. And to that I say GOOD.
What a bunch of stupid mother-f*ckers. The sooner our nation is rid of all magats, the better.
Sorry marine…the 99 % that have never served don’t give a rat’s ass about veterans until a war breaks out. If they did, this nazi party would be running and hiding FOR THEIR VERY LIVES, as they were in 1941-1945. And if by some phucking miracle Kamala wins…you will have a large group of cowards who won’t admit they voted for this pedophile nazi traitor.
Brad Pitt,(Aldo the Apache), always asked the captured germans…what cha gonna do with your uniform after the war? They usually said burn it.
He said: “We don’t like that. If it were up to me you’d wear that goddamn uniform the rest of your life. But…I guess that ain’t practical and I suppose sooner or later you’d have to take it off. So I’m gonna give you something you can’t take off.” He’d then pull out a large bowie knife and carve a swastika into their forehead which made a nice large raised scar. Once a child killing nazi always a nazi. Innocent blood shouldn’t be washed away easily. These pampered half educated citizens are now asking for fascism while pissing on every solider’s grave that died for freedom. It’s beyond disgusting and it makes my blood boil. I wonder how much a bowie knife costs? Ha.
Like my Mom used to say, “Don’t cut off your nose, to spite your face!”