My reader continues the dialog on mid-term early voting:
Photo supplied by correspondent.
I’m sure I come off paranoid, but consider my community: wealthy, conservative, red. “Home of Denny Hastert.” Folks have been demanded of a photo ID to vote, and turned way if they lacked one. We also made front page of the Tribune with the attached photo of a beloved citizen. Go ahead. Call me paranoid.
Given the straits of minority voters in Georgia, my reader may have justified paranoia. And then there’s this new CNN article, also concerning Georgia:
One suburban Georgia county has become a flashpoint for concerns over voter suppression for rejecting hundreds of mail-in absentee ballots weeks before Election Day.
Gwinnett County, located northeast of Atlanta, now faces two federal lawsuits and accusations from voting rights activists who say the rejections disproportionately affect minority voters, particularly Asian Americans and African Americans.
The county has rejected 595 absentee ballots, which account for more than a third of the total absentee-ballot rejections in the state, even though Gwinnett County accounts for only about 6% of absentee ballots submitted in Georgia, according to state data analyzed by CNN Friday. More than 300 of the rejected ballots belonged to African Americans and Asian Americans.
Officials tossed out the ballots due to missing birthdates, address discrepancies, signatures that do not match those on registration records and other issues, according to the data.
I’m particularly appalled at the signature matching requirement.
- It’s entirely a subjective judgment. The State already has required a match on addresses with no regard for human frailties and mistakes. Now they turn around and, using a judgment that’s entirely subjective, they want another match.Well, I’ll tell you what, if I was subject to that requirement, I WOULD FAIL. I’ve always noticed that my signature varies wildly from day to day, sometimes from hour to hour. I don’t have that perfect signature, that perfect cursive form[1]. A “handwriting expert,” which I tend to categorize along with astrologers and phrenologists, would laugh if he saw all my signatures, and write me off as MPD.
- Mistake free identification. The purpose of signatures is not an early form of biometric identification, despite many attempts to use it as such (see previous point). The purpose is to have someone explicitly agree to a statement of fact. It becomes a legally binding document, especially when witnessed, such as by a voting judge. In the event, someone may be asked if they signed a document, and be shown the signature, but this is not biometrics; it’s a statement of legal fact by a person.
I think the ACLU should be bringing suit against Gwinnett County on an emergency basis on at least the signature requirement basis, if not all of it. If a judge agrees that the signature judging requirement is illegal, then all those ballots should be returned to the valid pool. I do see the Coalition for Good Governance is bringing a lawsuit. I really should finish these articles, as I see the ACLU has brought suit.
And if the County pleads that they didn’t keep track of why they invalided ballots, then they are ALL returned to the valid pool on a permanent basis. Sometime you need to wallop folks upside the head with a law volume. It does appear that they do track that, so there will be no whacking.
And now on to the reader-supplied appalling photograph. That’s the sort of pic which I hope is a joke, but given the grim look that woman’s face as she executes Nazi-like salute, she’s either a great actor – or quite resolutely anti-American. It’s an upsetting picture of someone terrified her society is going to hell and she’s all set to jump into a different Circle Of Hell, instead.
Here’s a message for her:
Better the Devil you know than the Devil you don’t. Kiss El Diablo for me, baby.
1 Hell, I think the only reason I passed the handwriting portion of my schoolwork is my Mom went into the school and begged them to pass me! (I joke.) (She did require me to practice handwriting over summer vacation.) (I refused.) (That turned into a war.)
