The saddest thing is that it's not remotely unamerican, it's just reflective of the part of American history we like to ignore - that in which systematic violence and domestic terrorism was used to keep a huge section of the population from voting for literally hundreds of years, including decades after we fought a civil war over it and gave them the legal right. Clever semi-legal tactics to keep blacks from voting is as American as apple pie, it's just we would all like to pretend we're in an age where that wouldn't be possible anymore. Of course it is, we just don't outright say it.
The fact that it's becoming so overtly condoned is the scary part.