Bill O’Reilly, that great expert on all things African American, has weighed in on an Ohio law that negatively impacts black voters using only his vast trove of personal experience on the subject.
The ‘No Spin Zone’ on The O’Reilly Factor discussed a Supreme Court ruling leaving in place the cutback in early voting and the elimination of Ohio’s “Golden Week,” in which voters can both register and cast votes on the same day.
As Think Progress reported (but O’Reilly did not):
Multiple studies have found that voters of color disproportionately rely on early voting, especially weekend days, and especially the “Golden Week” of same-day registration. Tens of thousands of people voted during “Golden Week” in 2012 alone, more than enough to sway an election in the tightly contested swing state.
“Many voters of color have inflexible work schedules that make coming to their polling place on a single Tuesday in November very difficult,” Mike Brickner, the Senior Policy Director for the ACLU of Ohio, told ThinkProgress. “Because of the historic and systemic oppression of African Americans in our voting system, many choose to take advantage of early in-person voting. In that community, mailing in your ballot is not favored choice, because it doesn’t feel as though it will really be counted.” Judge Watson agreed, saying in his ruling that “the record reflects that African Americans are distrustful of voting by mail.”
But O’Reilly mockingly suggested that Golden Week voters are merely looking for ways to commit voter fraud. And never mind the fact that voter fraud is virtually non-existent.
From the Media Matters transcript (lightly edited and with my emphases):
O’REILLY: In Ohio there’s all kinds of stuff about people wanting to vote at the last minute. They want to vote after the election. They want to vote at 3:00 A.M. And if you say, “No, you can’t do any of that,” then you are disenfranchising them.
[...]
The lower court said you can’t have Golden Week. The reason, I believe, is because you can’t check these people that fast. So somebody can come in with fraudulent documentation the day of or the week and the state can’t check it.
Neither of O’Reilly’s two white guests spoke on behalf of the African American voters who used Golden Week to vote. Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl made a point of noting that Ohio is “one of the top 10 states in the country” for voting early. Fox host Kimberly Guilfoyle said, “There was no evidence, no sufficient evidence of disenfranchisement or any kind of overt action.”
But O’Reilly took it one step further. And Guilfoyle was right there with him.
O’REILLY: There never has been [evidence of disenfranchisement]. All of the states that say […] you have to show an I.D. and people say, “Oh, no. You can’t do that. Oh, no, no, no. Then African Americans won’t” — I’m saying to myself every African American I know has an I.D. And not only that, the states that want that will send you an I.D., they’ll come to your house with the I.D. and ice cream. They’ll give you ice cream with the I.D.
GUILFOYLE: And a ride anywhere.
O’REILLY: Right, then they’ll take you to the movies after.
That’s The O’Reilly Factor version of “looking out for you.” It works real well if you’re white and especially if you’re a Republican.
Watch it below, from the September 13 The O’Reilly Factor, via Media Matters.
Can I tell some ‘government bureaucrat’ I need a voter id for a free ride in their fancy wheels and a free ice cream. Pistachio please. Can you spare a cherry on top? 😉
The way Fox talks down to its viewers they know them to be either senile or idiots.