Rachel Maddow Busts Kansas GOP For Inventing Excuse To Close Majority-Hispanic Polling Site

Rachel Maddow tore into Kansas election officials on Wednesday for creating a phony reason to shut down the only polling place in majority-Hispanic Dodge City.

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While officials have said that the voting site had to be moved out of the city because of construction, the Maddow team went to Kansas this week and discovered that the polling place was fully accessible.

“We got there this week, it was totally no big deal to drive up and park anywhere in the civic center parking lot, to go walk right up to the civic center doors,” Maddow said.

Not only that, but the civic center that GOP election officials claimed was unsuitable for voters has plenty of other events scheduled between now and Election Day.

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Maddow said:

We keep hearing, we keep seeing national reporting on this, that there’s construction at that site that has made the old site inaccessible, so the county’s hands are really tied, they definitely couldn’t use it, had to be some new polling place, right? That’s been the reason given for why Dodge City can’t vote this year in Dodge City where they’ve always voted. You want to see that site? Want to see that site as of this week, as of two days ago? Here it is. Does it look inaccessible to you? Is it completely blocked off by construction? … We got there this week, it was totally no big deal to drive up and park anywhere in the civic center parking lot, to go walk right up to the civic center doors. … There is some construction happening across the street, you can see it in the distance there, but they’re not blocking access to the civic center at all. There’s tons of events happening right here at the civic center between now and the election day, and even events that are already planned for the civic center for after election day. … There’s a teacher appreciation dinner scheduled for two days after the election and a big ho, ho holiday expo scheduled for two weeks from now, all still on as scheduled. Not only is it fine at the civic center right now, but even after election day, it’s still going to be fine for the ho, ho holiday expo.

The man running elections in Kansas is in a tight race for governor

It becomes less puzzling to understand the motivation behind this polling site decision when you take a quick look at the gubernatorial race in the state.

According to the latest polling, GOP nominee for governor Kris Kobach is running neck-and-neck with his Democratic opponent Laura Kelly. As the Kansas secretary of state, Kobach also happens to be in charge of overseeing the state’s elections.

In a razor-thin contest, there is no better way to peel off a few votes from your Democratic opponent than by shutting down the only polling place in a majority Hispanic city.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.