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‘Willfully Choosing Not to Listen to Scientists’: DNC Chair Tom Perez Under Fire for Urging States to Hold Primaries Despite Coronavirus Crisis

Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the United States Department of Justice, Thomas Perez of Maryland, at his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, on April 18, 2013. Date: 12 June 2013, 03:00:12 Source: http://www.help.senate.gov/newsroom/photos/gallery/?id=92775de6-9d91-45bb-b868-e6e7de084334 Author: United States Senate

“That Tom Perez is encouraging this, and threatening states who postpone in-person voting, is criminal.”

(By: Jake Johnson, Common Dreams) Ignoring urgent pleas from medical professionals and other health experts to postpone primary elections amid the coronavirus outbreak, Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez late Tuesday encouraged states to go ahead with their scheduled contests, claiming “we can in fact have voting and protect our workers, our voters, our candidates.”

“I think it’s a false choice to suggest we either have to protect safety or protect and ensure our democracy,” Perez said in an interview with NPR late Tuesday as voters in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois went to the polls despite widespread calls for a delay. Former Vice President Joe Biden swept all three states.

Perez urged upcoming states to make vote-by-mail available to all voters, but it is unclear whether such a solution could be implemented in short order.

“What you saw in Arizona today, and in Florida, was in Arizona more people voted early than voted in the entirety of the Democratic primary in 2016,” Perez said.

In a statement earlier Tuesday, Perez critized Ohio’s widely praised decision to delay its presidential primary, asserting that it “only bred more chaos and confusion.”

Critics argued that Perez’s position runs counter to the recommendations of scientists—as well as the federal government—and could put countless lives at risk.

“Deeply disappointed that the DNC is willfully choosing not to listen to scientists during one of the most critical moments in recent history,” tweeted biologist Dr. Lucky Tran.

Pointing to a video of an elderly Illinois resident voicing alarm Tuesday about conditions at her polling site—where she said hundreds of people, including vulnerable seniors, were gathered in a room for hours at a time—The Intercept‘s Ryan Grim ripped Perez for permitting such a potentially disastrous situation.

“That Tom Perez is encouraging this, and threatening states who postpone in-person voting, is criminal,” Grim tweeted, referring to a DNC memo sent last Wednesday warning that states could face a “delegate penalty” if they push back their scheduled elections.

“It’s not out of the question that when this is over there could be demands for prosecutions of those who knowingly did this,” Grim said.

Puerto Rico is set to hold its Democratic presidential primary on March 29, followed by contests on April 4 in Alaska, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

Ahead of Tuesday’s primaries, more than 1,600 people—including at least 100 medical professionals—signed an open letter demanding that the DNC and secretaries of state to delay primary contests until at least May, a move that would allow states to implement alternatives to in-person voting if needed.

“By postponing primaries, state governments will be able to keep resources focused, and they will not need to worry about the distraction of running primaries while responding to this pandemic,” the letter reads. “This will also give time for the states to implement alternative voting mechanisms, such as vote-by-mail, at a sufficient scale if the pandemic continues to be an emergency for these states.”

“As people are understandably avoiding public places and crowds, we expect turnout to be depressed. Rescheduling the primaries would ensure that more people are allowed to exercise their right to vote without fear,” the letter continues. “For the health of our fellow citizens and our democracy, please act now to postpone the upcoming March primaries until May.”

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5 Comments

  1. Paul K March 19, 2020

    I would hope the US Attorney General would investigate both Tom Perez and Joe Biden who tweeted out a message saying if you are healthy you should to your civic duty and go out and vote (or something) that effect, with a few more sentences ALL lies each one and contradicting what the CDC is saying. Biden telling his supporters to go out and get sick! When civilians in these endless regime change wars are killed they are called “expendables”. Apparently that’s how Biden feels about his supporters. And the often elderly Poll workers! They really don’t give a hoot about us.

    Call your representatives and the US Attorney General to prosecute Tom Perez and maybe even Joe Biden.

    “It’s a big club and you ain’t in it.” – George Carlin

    Reply
  2. Paul K March 19, 2020

    Well?

    Reply
  3. Paul K March 19, 2020

    Biden and Perez should have called off the primary and rescheduled, but they didn’t because the wanted to stop Bernie Sanders was gaining in the polls again. At least Sanders tweeted a statement saying to the effect: If you don’t want to go out or have health issues it’s OK. Be safe. – But some of his supporters wish he did something stronger and go against the DNC who are stealing the primary from him anyway – primarily by rigging voting machines in many states. Which is why we need to return to paper ballots, or count all the paper receipts before reporting results – even if it takes until midnight – i.e. which makes a hack useless. Note: The UN says election results which vary 4% or more from EXIT polls are invalid, a new election is in order. Variances in this primary are in the double digits and always favor “Creepy” Joe Biden. Go figure?

    Reply
  4. Paul K March 19, 2020

    Biden and Perez should have called off the primary and rescheduled, but they didn’t because the wanted to stop Bernie Sanders who was gaining in the polls again. At least Sanders tweeted a statement saying to the effect: If you don’t want to go out or have health issues it’s OK. Be safe. But some of his supporters wish he did something stronger like go against the DNC who are stealing the primary from him anyway – primarily by rigging voting machines in many states. Which is why we need to return to paper ballots, or count all the paper receipts before reporting results – even if it takes until midnight – i.e. which makes a hack useless. Note: The UN says election results which vary 4% or more from EXIT polls are invalid, a new election is in order. Variances in this primary are in the double digits and always favor of “Creepy” Joe Biden. Go figure?

    Reply
  5. Larry Stout March 19, 2020

    When ballots are pre-arranged by the monopolistic two-party plutocracy, voting is reduced to a kind of mental masturbation.

    Reply

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