NOT TO MIMIC LYNNE CHENEY TOO MUCH, BUT IS JANET HUCKABEE a “good woman”?
This just over the wire from someone who observed Huckabee’s behavior yesterday. I have confirmed that this individual was in a position to observe the Arkansas first lady as she did her ‘civic duty,’ but I need to keep the individual’s identity concealed to protect her/him from the wrath of the Arkansas First Lady’s office.
Steve,
Her rudeness, combined with her position of prominence, infuriated many of the minority voters who voted that day.
Intimidation may or may not have been her intent, but intimidation definitely has been the EFFECT in the neighborhood and throughout Little Rock. Complaints from voters who haven’t even voted yet have been rolling in. I mean, imagine a minority voter who might be concerned about voting and initimidation to begin with, and then to go in the precinct to find the Republican Governor’s wife working as a poll worker and telling you incorrect information about the law, and in a rude manner.
Her conduct is inexcusable, and unbecoming a first lady certainly.
The writer has a point….me thinks.
One clarification I just got from an expert on Arkansas voting law — and an error made by some of those reporting on Huckabee at the polls:
Steve,
There’s one factual problem that both the AP and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette articles misreport: Ms. Huckabee is required by law to ASK for IDs — no one has a problem with that. However, the voter is not required to SHOW their ID in order to vote — this is the part Huckabee didn’t seem to understand.
She was generally rude to people who didn’t show ID and in more than one instance she told voters they “had to” have ID. On another occasion, she asked an old lady with a cane to go back to her car to get her ID — an outrageous request that was quickly nixed by the other election officials at the site.
Tensions are running high everywhere, but I can’t really abide by folks who are hostile to voters who show up at the polls. Janet Huckabee once ran for the Arkansas Secretary of State.
Luckily, she lost.
— Steve Clemons
