- Oct 17, 2011
- 32,828
- 36,129
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Atheist
- Marital Status
- Legal Union (Other)
Republican Party leaders have rejected a plea to let Orthodox Jews and others with religious obligations on Saturdays vote absentee in the GOP's May 8 nominating convention, where the party will choose its candidates for governor and two other statewide offices.
Four rabbis wrote to state GOP Chairman Rich Anderson and members of the party’s governing board this month, asking that anyone with religious objections to the date be allowed to cast an absentee ballot. That option already is available to active-duty military personnel.
But the state GOP’s governing body — which was bitterly divided for months over whether to hold a primary or convention, and is torn over how to tally convention ballots — rejected the rabbis’ request at a meeting Thursday night.
“My God, this is why people say we are not inclusive!” Thomas Turner, chairman of the Virginia’s Young Republicans and one of the committee’s few Black members, shouted during the debate. “I’ve been fighting for inclusivity for the last decade in this party. ... This is shameful. Let my brothers and sisters in the Jewish community vote. We talk about voter integrity and we’re trying to suppress the vote.”
Four rabbis wrote to state GOP Chairman Rich Anderson and members of the party’s governing board this month, asking that anyone with religious objections to the date be allowed to cast an absentee ballot. That option already is available to active-duty military personnel.
But the state GOP’s governing body — which was bitterly divided for months over whether to hold a primary or convention, and is torn over how to tally convention ballots — rejected the rabbis’ request at a meeting Thursday night.
“My God, this is why people say we are not inclusive!” Thomas Turner, chairman of the Virginia’s Young Republicans and one of the committee’s few Black members, shouted during the debate. “I’ve been fighting for inclusivity for the last decade in this party. ... This is shameful. Let my brothers and sisters in the Jewish community vote. We talk about voter integrity and we’re trying to suppress the vote.”