Rutherford B. Hayes Quotes

We have seen voters denied their rights in recent elections as they have been incorrectly purged from lists, their absentee votes not counted, and voting machine integrity and security not assured.

Strong efforts have been made in Ohio to curb the authoritarianism of our Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, as he has purged people from lists in our State in particular precincts where voters are heavily minority.

By what right do you refuse to accept the vote of a citizen of the United States?

There is more to the right to vote than the right to mark a piece of paper and drop it in a box or the right to pull a lever in a voting booth .... It also includes the right to have the vote counted at full value without dilution or discount.

The evidence in hand and accessible will show beyond peradventure that in many parts of the State corrupt and violent influences were brought to bear upon the registrars of voters, thus materially affecting the character of the voting or poll lists; upon the inspectors of election, prejudicially and unfairly thereby changing the number of votes cast; and, finally, threats and violence were practiced directly upon the masses of voters in such measures and strength as to produce grave apprehensions for their personal safety and as to deter them from the exercise of their political franchises.

We find that fraud in election is an old ulcer … it is too old, it is too malignant, to warrant any generous surgery. We have got to cut it out if healthy flesh comes with it. If we do disfranchise now and then an honest elector it is really for his own benefit and the benefit of his own State and county.

Voter suppression is wrong even if it’s not racist. Any legislation that exists for the sole purpose of making it more difficult for an otherwise eligible person to vote is unethical. It’s straightforward cheating.

Here are people who murdered folks who were trying to help people get a chance to vote and you’re coming up here to recognize them as members of the Democratic Party when they won’t even say that they will support the nominee…

We have a problem with our democracy when you have election officials deliberately trying to take away the fundamental right to vote in this country in the 21st century.

I think we need to start with Philadelphia and make sure that we actually get some election reform in Philadelphia. Actually, a recent election was thrown out by a federal judge because of corruption with the voting process in Philadelphia.

When public access to voting is impaired or when public confidence in voting is diluted, democracy suffers and our freedom is less secure.

There's a lot of fuss on the Left about election irregularities, like, you know, the voting machines were tampered with, they didn't count the votes right, and so on. That's all accurate and of some importance, but of far more importance is the fact that elections just don't take place, not in any meaningful sense of the term 'election.'

Voting the names of the dead, and the nonexistent, and the too-mentally-impaired to function, cancels out the votes of citizens who are exercising their rights - that's suppression by any light.

It is now clear that major irregularities did not occur.

What we say is that democracy means that you have the right to vote without intimidation and undue burdens. But if you stand in line for six hours, technically, today there is no document, no standard, no law that says that that's wrong.

Voting is a Constitutional right. Absent any evidence of fraud, all Americans have a protected right to vote, be they rich or poor, black, Hispanic or white, people who live in a big city or in remote rural areas.

The greatest threat to the constitutional right to vote is voter fraud.

The right of suffrage can be denied by a debasement or dilution of the weight of a citizen’s vote just as effectively as by wholly prohibiting the free exercise of the franchise.

Negro suffrage is political arsenic. If it is not, why do not the free States open wide their throats and gulp down the graceful and invigorating draught?

Is there a single man among you who would vote for negro suffrage if he believed the negroes would vote the Democratic ticket? Not one, and you know it.

Elections shall be open, free and equal, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent an un-trammeled exercise of the right of suffrage.

Handcuffs. If you believe I am a common criminal for voting, then handcuff me.

The only ways to pass the Southern barriers to voting was to show a white skin

… the Republicans are all about suppressing votes.

Citizens will be disenfranchised by the law instead of served by it, and that historical progress toward a more perfect union will go backwards instead of forward.