Department Won't Provide Election Security After Sheriff's Posts About Harris Yard Signs

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: US News and World Report/AP

Sept. 22, 2024, at 2:19 p.m.


RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) — A local Ohio elections board says the county sheriff's department will not be used for election security following a social media post by the sheriff saying people with Kamala Harris yard signs should have their addresses recorded so that immigrants can be sent to live with them if the Democratic vice president wins the November election.

In a statement on the Portage County Democrats' Facebook page, county board of elections chair Randi Clites said members voted 3-1 Friday to remove the sheriff's department from providing security during in-person absentee voting. Clites cited public comments indicating “perceived intimidation by our sheriff against certain voters” and the need to “make sure every voter in Portage County feels safe casting their ballot for any candidate they choose.”

A Ravenna Record-Courier story on the Akron Beacon Journal site reported that a day earlier, about 150 people crowded into a room at the Kent United Church of Christ for a meeting sponsored by the NAACP of Portage County, many expressing fear about the Sept. 13 comments. “I believe walking into a voting location where a sheriff deputy can be seen may discourage voters from entering,” Clites said. The board is looking at using private security already in place at the administration building or having Ravenna police provide security, Clites said.

Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski posted a screenshot of a Fox News segment criticizing President Joe Biden and Harris over immigration. Likening people in the U.S. illegally to “human locusts,” he suggested recording addresses of people with Harris yard signs so when migrants need places to live “we’ll already have the addresses of their New families ... who supported their arrival!” Local Democrats filed complaints with the Ohio secretary of state and other agencies, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio accused Zuchowski of an unconstitutional “impermissible threat” against residents who want to display political yard signs.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/ohio/articles/2024-09-22/department-wont-provide-election-security-after-sheriffs-posts-about-harris-yard-signs

[Dave Bowman]

1. I hope that they'll get rid of him asap.

[Qutzupalotl]

2. Is anyone else worried about sovereign sheriffs?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Sheriffs_and_Peace_Officers_Association

…in charge of election security?
—————
The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) is a political organization of local police officials in the United States who contend that federal and state government authorities are subordinate to the local authority of county sheriffs and police. Self-described constitutional sheriffs assert that they are the supreme legal authority with the power and duty to defy or disregard laws they regard as unconstitutional.[2][3] As a result, they may sometimes be referred to as sovereign sheriffs.[4] The movement is related to previous nullification and interposition notions,[1] and promotes such efforts.[5] It has been described as far-right by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[6] The CSPOA has claimed a membership of 400.[3]

[SouthBayDem]

3. NPR Fresh Air had a similar segment

Sheriffs overall are nearly impossible to remove from office. They run county jails, arrest people and enforce evictions and immigration laws. They've led protests against the federal mask and vaccine mandates and are embraced by far-right militia groups, white nationalists and presidential candidate Donald Trump, who sees them as allies in his plans for mass deportation and border policing.

Jessica Pishko's new book is called "The Highest Law In The Land: How The Unchecked Power Of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy." She's been reporting on the criminal legal system for a decade, focusing on the political power of sheriffs since 2016. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Politico, Rolling Stone and The Atlantic.

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/10/g-s1-21802/constitutional-sheriffs-wield-unchecked-power-across-america-journalist-says

[Qutzupalotl]

10. Thank you. That unchecked power coupled with radical ideology is what concerns me.

My nightmare scenario involves these miscreants tampering with ballots after they secure them. The finality of it scares the hell out of me, but I need to read more about it. Thanks for the link.

[Think. Again.]

6. Yes. That will be one more of the many thinngs rightwingers will do to cause chaos and disruption.

[ailsagirl]

15. I didn't realize that voter fraud was so widespread

Last edited Wed Oct 2, 2024, 05:34 PM - Edit history (1)

I just read up on electoral fraud on Wikipedia and I am floored. I knew it existed, but didn't realize that there were so many so-called Americans who have tried (and succeeded) to subvert our basic right to vote.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_suppression_in_the_United_States
https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/voting-rights-timeline

[duhneece]

8. Yes. Ours is one.

We’re ‘Cowboys for Trump Couy Griffin country.
South-central New Mexico. A very red county in a blue state

[LeftInTX]

4. Good!

[TBF]

5. I wonder if the president could send the military to assure the right

of citizens to vote? Could they protect the polling areas to allow folks to come & go peacefully?

I'm annoyed that I have to type that as an American. But that is what the republican party has fallen to these days. And if they can get away with voter intimidation in Ohio, they'll damned sure try it in Texas next.

[Think. Again.]

7. I'm sure the Dept. of Justice will be on top of this intimidation of citizens by law enforcement...

...just kidding, garland will not be stopping this.

[Clouds Passing]

9. I think immigrants would rather have their own place to live. As the descendant of an

immigrant I would rather have my own place.

[Mblaze]

11. It's interesting

That the millions of immigrants who entered without documentation during the Trump years were not called "human locusts" by MAGA haters. In fact, the day before he left office, Trump made an executive order to stop the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants.

[Runningdawg]

12. Shh...no one tell the stable genius voting registration is public.

BTW- MAGAt chatter for the past 4 years has been all about disrupting elections, as many as possible, not focusing on large cities. Grass roots, the good old boys, will be taking care of business. Forget DC, Insurrection 2.0 will begin in small towns.

[mn9driver]

13. Over the years, I think I've seen more bad sheriffs than good ones.

There’s something about the office that seems to attract a**holes and losers.

[ZonkerHarris]

17. so true

[moniss]

14. It says a great deal when

your Elections board says your Sheriffs Department can't be trusted. Will the SD retaliate and have cars parked outside by parking lots and hassling people who pull up to park and vote? Will they demand ID's and searches of vehicles? Maybe have the canines present while they all wear their SWAT gear? If you think it wouldn't happen you need to dial the clock back to the Jim Crow southern states. That's when the GQP thinks America was "Great".

But it goes beyond that. Sheriff Ignoramus sent a clear signal about how anybody of color or with an accent will be treated by him and his department compared to the whites. If you have a Harris/Walz bumper sticker on your car what do you suppose are the increased chances you will be pulled over by these goons for a "traffic stop"?

They know people do know of these behaviors and that's why they do it. The intentional intimidation factor ahead of time.