Sherrod Brown: “what is this bill really all about? Last month the Los Angeles Times ran a story: ``National GOP Officials Outline Poll…”

“what is this bill really all about? Last month the Los Angeles Times ran a story: ``National GOP Officials Outline Poll Watcher Plan.'' Behind closed doors at last month's Republican National Committee meeting, Republicans cooked up a plan to put ``poll watchers'' and ``challengers'' at key precincts on Election Day. Mr. Speaker, are they putting them in Beverly Hills? No, they are targeting, quote, ``districts with substantial racial or ethnic populations.'' The L.A. Times reported: ``For many in Orange County, the proposed poll watchers would be reminiscent of the uniformed security guards that the GOP placed outside voting sites in Assemblyman Curt Pringle's district in 1988. Republicans ended up paying $400,000 to settle a civil lawsuit brought by several Latinos outraged by the incident.'' Mr. Speaker, every American should be outraged. Whether they are white, black, brown, Hispanic, Asian Americans, African Americans, this bill is an outrage. The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.”