Yesterday, Ohio Statehouse Republicans passed an amendment to penalize any Ohio county that mails absentee ballots to their residents by cutting their local government funding by 10 percent. In defense of the amendment which leverages funds for police and public schools to enforce voter suppression laws, a GOP spokesman made the following comparison:
“House GOP spokesman Mike Dittoe said in an email that the proposal was similar to the federal government requiring states to raise their minimum drinking age to 21 or lose 10 percent of their federal highway funding.”
FitzGerald Campaign Press Secretary Lauren Hitt released the following statement in response to the GOP spokesman’s comparison:
“That comparison says it all. The GOP view voting as a privilege, and not as the constitutional right of every American. And, in their eyes, it’s a privilege that must be restricted from those who reject their ideas and that includes seniors, African Americans, and those Ohioans working two or three jobs to support a family.”