FACT CHECK: Viral Image Claims Florida Rep. Ted Yoho Said Black Americans Should Only Get ā3/5ths Of A Voteā
An image shared on Facebook more than 250 times claims Republican Florida Rep. Ted Yoho said that black Americans should only get three-fifths of a vote.
Verdict: False
There is no evidence Yoho made the comment. The claim actually comes from a satirical article published in 2014.
Fact Check:
The viral post credits Yoho with saying black Americans should only get three-fifths of a vote. The alleged comment appears to reference the 1787 Three-Fifths Compromise that counted slaves as three-fifths of a person when apportioning taxes and state representation in Congress.
āHe is an elected member of Congress and he actually said thatā¦ OUT LOUD!ā says the post. āYou stay classy Florida.ā (RELATED: Was Obama āFuriousā After Being Photographed Carrying āThe Post-American Worldā?)
There is, however, no evidence the Florida congressman actually made this statement. The Daily Caller conducted an internet search and did not find any credible results for the remark, except for instances where it was being debunked by other fact-checking websites.
The fake quote has been circulating online since at least 2014, when the website Newslo published an article quoting Yoho as saying, āAnd a black manās vote counts as 3/5 of a white manās.ā The āShow Factsā button that allows readers to see which parts are true in the article indicates that the statement has indeed been fabricated.
That satirical story appears to have drawn inspiration for its fake quote from a video showing Yoho saying at a 2012 campaign stop, āIāve had some radical ideas about voting, and itās probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a property owner to vote.ā But Yoho didnāt mention black voters during the event, according to PolitiFact.