Ohio Republicans passed a voting law that, like Jim Crow laws, created two separate classes of voters. Where Jim Crow laws created two classes of voters based off of the color of a person's skin, the Ohio Republican's Jim Crow-Style Laws created two classes of voters based off of a person's occupation.
Last month, President Obama filed a lawsuit against the Ohio state law that eliminates in-person early voting for some voters while allowing in-person early voting for others based solely off of the person's occupation. In short, the Ohio restrictive voting law creates two classes of voters: Military voters versus Non-Military voters.
Ohio Republican's restrictive voting law, ends early voting for the non-military class while keeping the early voting for the military class.
Mitt Romney's lawyer, Katie Biber, said creating two separate classes of Ohio voters does not violate the 14th Amendment. Jim Crow laws also created separate classes of voters.
Romney's Lawyer: "It is not a violation of the Equal Protection Clause to give military voters special flexibility in early voting. The Ohio legislature had every right to make this policy."
Just like, giving white people special flexibility in voting rights during Jim Crow laws was a violation of the 14th Amendment, giving military personnel
stationed in Ohio special voting rights is also a violation as the 14th Amendment
forbids any State from giving one group of U.S. citizens special treatment.
14th Amendment: Equal Protection Clause
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The Ohio voting law blatantly
does 'abridges' the 'equal protection' regarding voting rights of people
based solely off of what a person's occupation is.
The 14th Amendment does not say that a State can create laws and give people special treatment because of what their occupation is. In fact, the Constitution prohibits any State from passing laws that create laws that favor one class of people over another class of people.
Basically, the Constitution does not grant special laws to people based off of the color of their skin or what someone's occupation is.
The Constitution demands all people have the exact same legal rights no matter what someone's occupation is.
Hence the phrase in the Constitution: "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States."
Yesterday, Mitt Romney said he is totally miffed at the Ohio State Law that restricts early voting for both military and non-military Americans
ROMNEY: ".... [T]he brave men and women of our military make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote. I stand with the fifteen military groups that are defending the rights of military voters, and if I’m entrusted to be the commander-in-chief, I’ll work to protect the voting rights of our military, not undermine them."
Notice,
Romney language fights for the creation of two classes of voters as his his comment is clear; Romney does not give a damn about the restrictions the Ohio law has put on non-military members.
Nice huh?
Between the comments of Romney's lawyer and Mitt Romney, it is clear, Mitt Romney agrees with creating two separate classes of voters based off of "occupation" status.
Actually, Romney is fighting hard to keep in place Ohio's two class voter status as he condemns President Obama for filing a lawsuit to stop the efforts of Ohio Republican's creation of a two class voter structure:
ROMNEY: President Obama’s lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage.
Yeah Mitt, because America can not wait to get back to those Jim Crow-style laws (snark).
Actually, I find Romney's fight to create and enable Jim Crow-style laws to be disgusting and underscores that Mitt Romney is unfit to become United States President.
What's next, will Mitt Romney fight for laws that allow Corporations to vote but not humans?