Boone County candidate endorses property requirement for voting

Every time I think living in Campbell County means I live in America's most unlivable county, I lean back, read The Last Word, and remind myself that it could be Boone County.

Jesse Brewer is the Republican candidate for a commissioner seat in Boone County. The Democrats - in all their wisdom - refused to field a candidate even though it's an open seat, because they were afraid contesting it would increase Republican turnout for other offices. Seriously, that's their reasoning.

Brewer wrote an op-ed for the Northern Kentucky Tribune complaining about how rough life is for big landowners such as himself. I have to give him credit, because the Northern Kentucky Tribune runs a lot of nutty right-wing stuff, so I guess it's the right place for such an article. The Tribune makes the Cincinnati Enquirer look like a far-left rag in comparison.

Brewer complains because he has to pay taxes on property he owns in Kenton and Campbell counties. Well, yeah. Of course he has to pay taxes on it. He says this can be remedied by allowing people to vote in cities and counties where they don't live - as long as they own property there. He says that not allowing landowners to vote in every county where they own property is "taxation without representation."

No it isn't. Being left off the census is, which happened to me in 2000. But letting a big landowner vote only once just like everyone else isn't.

Brewer wants to give a literal meaning to "Vote early and vote often."

Of course, Brewer's proposal is unconstitutional. I shouldn't even need to be saying this in 2018.

Brewer groans, "Wouldn't it be fair to let people who have a vested equitable interest (real estate) in the community - taxpayers - have a right to vote on the local elected officials who can levy taxes and fees on them?" As if people who don't own real estate aren't paying taxes too? Renters indirectly pay property taxes. That is covered in the rent they pay. On average, they pay more in other taxes than landowners do. There is no legal theory that would allow anyone to cast more votes just because they own real property. In fact, it's a violation of federal statute to vote where you don't live.

As the United States expanded the right to vote, one of the first barriers to voting to be abolished was the property requirement. Boone County is about to get a commissioner who wants to set America back by 200 years!