POLITICS AND ELECTIONS: THE SAME OLD POLITICAL GAME FOR GEORGIA

POLITICS AND ELECTIONS: THE SAME OLD POLITICAL GAME

Already, two groups have come out (in the second week of July) against Karen Handel in her bid to become the next Governor of Georgia. Call it “the good ol’boy game” against women candidates, or the usual backstabbing methods of a woman candidate’s opponents, it is still just the same old political game as played in Georgia every election year. So, first let’s look deep into the two groups who are already attacking Karen Handel, as of July 8, 2010:
A. Defenders of Democracy: Founded around 2004, this “influential” group’s only outrage against Karen Handel (which actually goes back to Cathryn Cox) has been related to the electronic voting equipment used in Georgia. Their claim is that the use of electronic equipment delegitimizes the right that elections be transparent and accountable to the people. But their reasoning is faulty. The ability to oversee the vote tallies at the end of the voting day, including absentee electronic ballots, are just as open to the public as written ballots were beforehand. Having been a vote proctor using the paper method and now having seen how the electronic method is utilized, there is only one way to make the “Defenders of Democracy” satisfied that votes are tallied correctly: That is by having someone look over each citizen’s shoulder as they cast a vote and then immediately ensuring that the electronic counter has tallied the vote correctly by printing out an immediate vote tally after each vote is cast. As usual, those who think they live in a democracy (our form of government is a Republic, so that we can avoid anarchy as is eventually found in a democracy) believe they always have the best answer for the American citizen. Instead, they appear to want absolute control over a citizen’s right to vote in privacy. I propose that any “grievance” that they have against any candidate, including Karen Handel, is for their own purposes and not necessarily for the republican form of government which we have in Georgia.
Now, I am neither for or against electronic voting equipment. I see benefits in using the current system and I see benefits in using the older paper ballots. But, based on what I read on the website for Defenders of Democracy (http://207.210.65.64/drupal/node/18), their emphasis is not necessarily on what is best for Georgia but what is best on maintaining control and power in Georgia.
B. VoterGA: Founded by Garland Favorito, this group and Mr. Favorito have the same basic problems with the electronic voting process and the same basic solutions as the socialist-style manifesto of Defenders of Democracy, as referred to previously. Mr. Favorito’s arguments against Ms. Handel’s performance regarding her efforts to ensure a fair and verifiable electronic voting system are based on statements from such groups as the Free Congress Foundation (http://www.politicalamazon.com/fcf.html#pasztor) a far-right organization (beginning to see a trend here?), misquoting the reports of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Testing) as related to their role in evaluating the electronic ballot method (http://www.nist.gov/itl/vote/) , along with two other incidents in Lowndes and Douglas County which involved operator error and were reconciled, even though Mr. Favorito would have one believe that conspiracies abound in these cases. Mr. Favorito filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State’s office regarding the eligibility of the electronic voting process as a method that could be declared unconstitutional, per Mr. Favorito.
The Georgia State Supreme Court determined in September, 2009 that all allegations of potential fraud, claims of violations of the state and federal Constitutions, and violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States were without grounds and were dismissed as unfounded, with arguments of support from the Supreme Court of Georgia (http://www.voterga.org/more/index.cfm?Fuseaction=more_15725 and click on Georgia Supreme Court ruling under the Lawsuit tab). The next step, if Mr. Favorito truly believes in what he is adamantly arguing against, is to file this case with SCOTUS. However, this has not happened since last September. The reason can be found when one investigates who Garland Favorito has donated campaign contributions to since 1998, as regards to candidates for Georgia offices. One example to start from would be http://www.city-data.com/elec2/98/elec-NORCROSS-GA-98.html . Further investigations will show that Mr. Favorito has donated funds to the “Good OL’ Boy” network of Georgia politicians. You know; the same group of elected professional politicians who have failed Georgian citizens in helping the state develop mechanisms that would lower our taxes, trim down on our state government’s overbudget spending habits, and reduce our property taxes, just for starters.