September 23, 2024

Maybe in the future other counties will think twice before electing MAGA Sheriffs like this one. Recording addresses of people who put up Harris-Walz yard signs is just repugnant to any American. Or it should be.

When your department can't be trusted to provide election security, you should apologize or resign. Sherriff Bruce Zuchowski has done neither. This might and should have consequences in his re-election bid in November. He's now proven himself unfit for office, but like Trump, voters often elect unfit individuals to even the highest offices.

In this instance, Democracy 1 - Fascism 0.

Source: Associated Press

RAVENNA, Ohio -- A local Ohio elections board says the county sheriff's department will not be used for election security following a social media post by the sheriff saying people with Kamala Harris yard signs should have their addresses recorded so that immigrants can be sent to live with them if the Democratic vice president wins the November election.

In a statement on the Portage County Democrats' Facebook page, county board of elections chair Randi Clites said members voted 3-1 Friday to remove the sheriff's department from providing security during in-person absentee voting.

Clites cited public comments indicating “perceived intimidation by our sheriff against certain voters” and the need to “make sure every voter in Portage County feels safe casting their ballot for any candidate they choose.”

And what did Sheriff Zuchowski do that people found so offensive and un-American?

Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski posted a screenshot of a Fox News segment criticizing President Joe Biden and Harris over immigration. Likening people in the U.S. illegally to “human locusts,” he suggested recording addresses of people with Harris yard signs so when migrants need places to live “we’ll already have the addresses of their New families ... who supported their arrival!”

Local Democrats filed complaints with the Ohio secretary of state and other agencies, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio accused Zuchowski of an unconstitutional “impermissible threat” against residents who want to display political yard signs. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine called the comments “unfortunate” and “not helpful.” The secretary of state's office said the comments didn't violate election laws and it didn't plan any action.

Zuchowski, a Republican supporter of former President Donald Trump, said in a follow-up post last week that his comments “may have been a little misinterpreted??" He said, however, that while voters can choose whomever they want for president, they “have to accept responsibility for their actions.”

Portage County, you have a much better option.

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