When you can't win based on your platform, try intimidation.
There were reports out of Prince William late yesterday that people associated with the "anti-illegal immigrant" movement were videotaping Latino-looking voters on their way into the polls and telling the subjects of their harassment that they were taking pictures to send to immigration officials.
There are thousands of Hispanic/Latino citizens qualified to vote in Prince William County. It is shocking and criminal for anyone to intimidate them when they seek to cast their ballots.
Help Save Manassas and other affiliated organizations should immediately distance themselves from these tactics and call on the Commonwealth's Attorney to undertake a criminal investigation of the allegations.
Failure to do so will send the message that these anti-illegal immigration groups are really anti-Latino ... a charge they continue to deny vehemently.
Time to make the denials credible by forcefully decrying voter intimidation as a political strategy.
1 comment:
The State Police found no evidence of "criminal activity" in this case, but there is no dispute that there were folks standing outside a polling place video taping Hispanic voters as they entered the polls and shouting at them that they'd be deported if they were illegal.
Now this behavior may not be "criminal" but it is uncivil, and was clearly designed to be intimidating. People who are simply exercising their constitutional right to vote should not have to run a hostile gauntlet to do so.
You can read a report describing the incident and the police decision in the Manassas Journal Messenger:
http://manassasjm.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MJM/MGArticle/WPN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353559770&path=
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