Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Missouri GOP Director Denounces Voter Registration Efforts In Ferguson

Activists in Ferguson, Missouri, have set up voter registration tables to attempt to mitigate the city's history of low turnout and racial disparities in political representation.
08/19/2014
Republicans are lashing out at activists in Ferguson, Missouri, who are using the protests over the death of Michael Brown -- an unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot by a police officer on Aug. 9 -- as an opportunity to promote civic engagement and mitigate the city's history of low voter turnout and racial disparities in political representation.
Activists set up voter registration tables near a makeshift memorial for Brown and the QuikTrip convenience store that has become a gathering base for protesters. The efforts were organized by local clergy [ http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/jesse-jackson-talks-voter-registration-at-ferguson-mcdonald-s/article_d789a49e-4957-5ba2-ae16-e03af805f00f.html ] with the help of the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
Missouri Republican Party executive director Matt Wills called the actions "disgusting" and told Breitbart News [ http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/18/Missouri-GOP-Michael-Brown-Voting-Registration-Booths-Disgusting ] the activists are "fanning the political flames."
"Injecting race into this conversation and into this tragedy, not only is not helpful, but it doesn’t help a continued conversation of justice and peace," Willis told Breitbart News.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/19/voter-registration-ferguson_n_5691997.html [with embedded video report, and comments]