Rigging The Mid-Terms: Hobble Mail-In Voting

 

The indicted 2020 election fraudster Malignant Fascist continues to ramp up his election-stealing game now that the illegitimate Republican Supreme Court said he could do just about anything in the Executive Branch.  Yesterday, to make voting harder, more open to tampering, and vulnerable to charges of fraud, he fired the last of the Election Assistsnce Commission members:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday terminated the last three members of the Election Assistance Commission, the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide, the White House ‌confirmed.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission were forced out of the commission on Thursday in different ways. ‌The one Republican appointee resigned and the other two Democratic appointees were fired via an email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, according to one person familiar ​with the decision and two other people briefed on the terminations.

The fourth commissioner departed the commission in April.

The terminations follow the recent Supreme Court decision that granted the president more power to fire members of independent agencies, and a push by Trump for more federal intervention in voting processes, traditionally the purview of the states, as midterm elections approach in November.

"On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to ‌inform you that your position as Commissioner of ⁠the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service," the termination email, seen by Reuters, said.  [snip]

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a "national clearinghouse of information on election administration," accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail voter registration form developed by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission's website.

The terminations follow advocacy from Trump and top administration officials to change vote-by-mail requirements ahead of the midterm elections, and investigations into the 2020 presidential election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden... (our emphasis)

The specific harm that the MF intends to do is to affect the Federal vote-by-mail structure, since he's been rebuffed by courts who have rightfully been ruling that States, not the President, run elections in accordance with the Constitution.  This action would seem to be an attempt to cripple the administrative side of the issue, making it more difficult for States to take advantage of the national mail voter registration form and of testing that can provide legitimacy to voting systems. 

This is why there has to be a Democratic tsunami in November, one so massive and nationwide that any attempts to claim fraud and to deny the will of the voters won't be tolerated.  For a massively unpopular President, it would trigger paralyzing mass resistance, at the very least, because it would mean the most important function of a democratic society -- free and fair elections -- had been overthrown.

(Image:  let's remember who the fraudster is / via New York Magazine)

DeSantis Ally Appointed To Key Election Job

 

Defeated and humiliated Florida Gov. Ron "Bootsie" DeSantis, having flamed out early in the Republican presidential sweepstakes against the Malignant Loser, is focusing on rigging the next election in Florida. He's appointed a loyalist to the critical job of elections supervisor in Democratic bastion Orange County. From the Associated Press:

"Gov. Ron DeSantis has a new job for the man who has led Walt Disney World’s government since his allies took it over — elections supervisor in Orange County, long one of Florida’s most reliable sources of Democratic votes.

Glen Gilzean was appointed Monday by the Republican governor to oversee voting in Florida’s fifth-largest county, where more than 1.4 million residents live among the largest theme park resorts in the U.S. Just last May, Gilzean was chosen to be administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Committee after DeSantis’ allies took over the Disney World governing district.

Gilzean previously served as a DeSantis appointee on the Florida Commission on Ethics and was president and CEO of Central Florida Urban League.

The county’s longtime elections supervisor Bill Cowles retired in January, about a year before his term was up. Cowles, a Democrat, was first elected in 1996 to the job, which oversees elections in Orlando and surrounding communities. 

Orange County and statewide Dem officials pushed back: 

In a joint statement, a group of federal and state Democratic lawmakers in the Orlando area, including U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, said Gilzean’s appointment was just the latest example of DeSantis naming unqualified loyalists to elected positions 'so he can control every part of our state and local governments and warp our democracy to his will.'

'Glen Gilzean is a Ron DeSantis loyalist who’s top priority seems to be making Ron DeSantis happy, not protecting the integrity of our elections,' the Democratic lawmakers said. 'This move signals the Governor’s focus on silencing the voices of Central Florida voters as one of the most northern progressive hubs in our state. We cannot let this happen.'”  (our emphasis)

Gilzean was part of DeSantis' "Don't Say Gay" farce when he was appointed to the Disney World operation, wanting to use that issue to propel himself to the White House on Christofascist right-wing cultural issues. That fizzled when he took that bigoted message nationally. It appears now that DeSantis wants to create a "MAGA fortress Florida" where his reactionary, theocratic policies would be forced on everyone there.