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The Guardian reports:
Georgia secretary of state and gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp improperly purged more than 340,000 voters from the state's registration rolls, an investigation charges.
Greg Palast, a journalist and the director of the Palast Investigative Fund, said an analysis he commissioned found 340,134 voters were removed from the rolls on the grounds that they had moved - but they actually still live at the address where they are registered.
"Their registration is cancelled. Not pending, not inactive – cancelled. If they show up to vote on 6 November, they will not be allowed to vote. That's wrong," Palast told reporters on a call on Friday. "We can prove they're still there. They should be allowed to vote."
[...] Palast and the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda filed a lawsuit against Kemp on Friday to force him to release additional records related to the state's removal of voters.
Under Georgia procedures, registered voters who have not cast ballots for three years are sent a notice asking them to confirm they still live at their address. If they don't return it, they are marked inactive. If they don't vote for two more general elections after that, they are removed from the rolls.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sjames on Tuesday October 23 2018, @11:05PM (7 children)
There is a question of the Georgia law being reasonable in the first place, the timing of the purge, and the fact that Kemp is doing this for a Governor's race where he is actually a candidate.
Thought experiment, what would you think of a sporting event where one team's head coach was the sole referee?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 24 2018, @12:35AM (4 children)
Sure, that's a legitimate beef if you happen to live in Georgia (if you don't, it's nunya). That is not, however, the tack they are tacking with the suit or TFA.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Touché) by sjames on Wednesday October 24 2018, @01:48AM (3 children)
In fact, I DO live in Ga. And purging a bunch of people who 'just happen' to be mostly of a demographic that is unlikely to support him or his party doesn't really pass the smell test.
He has a lieutenant he could have delegated this particular responsibility to.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 24 2018, @02:06AM (2 children)
Good on ya for beefing on your own state instead of someone else's then. I'd probably bitch about it if I lived in GA as well. It's none of the state's damned business if I feel like voting or not and I'm highly unlikely to answer bloody stupid letters from them about it. It's annoying enough I'll have to go change my registration when I move a couple blocks north around the first of the year.
But the exact same thing would have happened. There's been zip, zilch, nada in the way of anything saying he applied the law in any manner except as it was written. Barring evidence to the contrary, it shows him to have integrity enough to do his job as the law requires of him. That's fucking rare for any politician.
I'm not saying don't bitch. I'm saying bitch about what is real, not made-up bullshit. It lessens your credibility when you do.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday October 24 2018, @03:00AM (1 child)
There are many ways to follow the law. I'm sure you can imagine that some ways are more above board than others. If someone seems to be walking on the line, it's fair enough to look closely and ask questions..
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 24 2018, @01:36PM
Except that is not the case here. There've been no credible allegations of him improperly discharging his duties; only dislike of the law and assertions that following the law helps him.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 24 2018, @12:47AM (1 child)
A minor quibble that what you call "sole referee" is actually more like "ultimate responsibility". Much like a CEO at McDonalds doesn't personally fry all the burgers, but is the last word of responsibility for financial performance, etc.
By analogy in the state I live in (not Georgia) there is a state official who is the final chain in responsibility, but the elections are actually kept legit on the ground by thousands of official observers at the polling stations of both (any, really) political parties and that reporting flows up thru the parties. Ditto registrations, the local muni clerk in my state handles that issue at the local level unless a problem is reported, not the guy who holds absolute responsibility back at the state office building.
Its possible in Georgia they do things differently and there exists precisely one bad apple in Georgia; well, that's weird, and that implies to me its unlikely. Now a targeted coordinated politically motivated attack against an individual, that happens all the time and is quite believable.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday October 24 2018, @01:07AM
One person can stack the deck a lot in 4 years. Especially in a culture where creating fiefdoms is common.