BlackLiberalBoomer

Michigan is being called a “Swing State” in this election, teetering between traditional “blue” and shocking “red”. In this battleground state, the Michigan Republican Party tried to conduct voter suppression at the polls in November in predominantly Republican Macomb County : they obtained the public foreclosure lists and threatened to call out voters in line and make them verify their addresses. It didn’t matter to the Michigan Republican Party that a foreclosure notice is just that; a notice–the homeowner could be still living in the home and working out a solution. It didn’t matter that a homeowner who has been foreclosed upon has enough to worry about. It didn’t matter that just the idea smacked of sleazy. Nothing mattered except giving voters (hopefully Democratic voters) grief on Election Day.

However, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP), and the Barack Obama Campaign (Obama for America) are on the case, and are suing for voter suppression. After the story about the continuing tactics of the Michigan Republican Party broke in a independent Michigan progressive newspaper, the Michigan Messenger , and then went viral, the Michigan Repubs tried to deny and backtrack, even going so far as threatening to file a libel suit against Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).

The Michigan Republican Party achieved an objective, albeit not the one they had hoped: the country, the voters, Democrats, and Obama supporters are more attuned to, and vigilant about voter suppression attempts and have said “Enough”!

This year, voter suppression at the polls is: Not. Gonna. Happen.

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