Handel’s Online Petition Opposing Obama Justice Department Gets Over 6,000 Signatures in 48 Hours

We posted this elsewhere on one of our "political" blogs, but it is SO important I wanted to do it again on "my" blog. This has far-reaching implications and we all need to get involved, voice our opposition, and work to keep this issue in the forefront. I've included the original press release at the end of the e-Update from Karen Handel's campaign (Georgia Governor):

E-Update: June 5th, 2009

When President Obama’s Justice Department told Georgia over the weekend that it could no longer verify the citizenship of voters going to the polls, Karen Handel sprang into action. She exposed the Obama plan and revealed that it would allow groups like ACORN to actively find and register illegal aliens to vote in Georgia elections.

Karen took to the airwaves and the Internet to rally opposition to the Obama plan. She appeared on Fox and Friends, the Regular Guys and Herman Cain radio programs, as well as radio and TV news stations across Georgia.

She even started an online petition with the goal of getting 10,000 signatures of Americans who opposed this terrible plan and want to have their voices heard in Washington.

In the first 48 hours, more than 6,000 signed that petition, and Karen is well on her way to the 10,000 signature goal. If you have not signed the petition, please do so now, and be sure to forward this email along to your neighbors, friends and family members. If this progress continues, our voices will be heard.

Please help us tell the Obama Administration that only U.S. citizens should be voting in Georgia by signing the petition today.

Leading conservative activists, columnists and publications have joined Karen's fight for the integrity of our elections. Below are just a few of the stories that have run nationally this week:

The Democrats Are Already Winning the 2010 Elections — Which Is What Happens When the Justice Department Is Really Politicized
National Review, June 3, 2009
Justice Dept. shifts on voting, deportation
The Washington Times, June 4, 2009
Justice Dept. Rejects Ga. Prevote Citizenship Checks
The Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2009

Please join Karen Handel's fight for the integrity of our elections by signing the petition today.

JMac - Here are a blog on the subject and the original press release on the issue:

Obama continues to erode election integrity
Over and over I hear people saying that things are going to get so bad that by the time the 2010 and / or 2012 elections roll around the voters will put Republicans back in control. If not in control, then at least there will be sufficient Republican numbers elected to mitigate Obama's actions...

Obama Justice Department Decision Will Allow Non-Citizens to Register to Vote in Georgia
Decision Bars Georgia From Continuing Voter Verification Process

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel issued the following statement following the U.S. Department of Justice’s denial of preclearance of Georgia’s voter verification process:

“The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to deny preclearance of Georgia’s already implemented citizenship verification process shows a shocking disregard for the integrity of our elections. With this decision, DOJ has now barred Georgia from continuing the citizenship verification program that DOJ lawyers helped to craft. DOJ’s decision also nullifies the orders of two federal courts directing Georgia to implement the procedure for the 2008 general election. The decision comes seven months after Georgia requested an expedited review of the preclearance submission....

Skewed Polls

Happened to see what I thought was a link to presidential poll results while wandering around on the Internet. It turned out to be a poll on how you'd vote by Polling Point. I had a minute or two, was curious, so I took the poll.

They gave a lot of scenario: If this Democrat were pitted against this Republican who would you vote for? Are you conservative, moderate, liberal? Democrat or Republican? Lots of questions related to politics plus some demographic questions.

All fine and dandy, pretty clear cut questions until it got to one where they asked which Democrat you would vote for if that were your only choices.

Now keep in mind that in every other question involving voting for candidates there was the option of "not sure" or "would not vote."

In the question regarding which Democrat would you vote for they listed all the potential candidates and then additional option "Not Sure".

So, I was forced to say "not sure" or pick one of the Democrats if I wanted to continue with the poll.

It won't come as a surprise to anyone who reads my columns regularly that I vote Republican. My answer would have been, if given the choice, "would not vote."

That question was completely out of whack with all the rest of the questions. Any answer would make it appear that as a voting Republican I would vote for a Democratic candidate.

How many people opted for "not sure" and how many just decided to pick what they considered the one they felt would do the least damage? Accurate results? Nah. No way.

There was a place for comment at the end, so, of course Ms. Opinionated Me left a comment. The group that put that poll out there are professional pollsters. They knew exactly what they were doing. I wasn't telling them anything they didn't already know. I'll know when I hear some media type hyping the fact that some number of Republicans would vote for Richardson or Biden or Obama that they tricked them into the answer. So will you.

I'm heading over to http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html. I'm going to do their Candidate Calculator to see which candidate they think lines up most closely with my views.

It should be fun, but... who's the one that decides what the candidates will actually do or how they feel about the subjects I'm going to see on the calculator? After I run through the drill, I may pop back over here and write another blog. Or I might save it for another day... it's a Saturday night and there's a presidential candidate debate in one hour... oh boy, four whole hours of listening to candidates try to steer clear of making a gaff. What better way to spend a Saturday night?

Teeny, tiny turnout...

I know it was a special election at a strange time. I know it's the Christmas holidays. I know the length of the campaign was super truncated.

But only 3,608 people voted.

There are 21 precincts in District 72. If I'm reading the numbers correctly, there are 32,344 registered voters who could have voted today. The percentage who chose to vote is in the 11 - 12 percent range.

The lone Democrat in the race, Kevin Madden, garnered close to 16% of the vote.
Steve Brown's total was just under 25%.
Heidi Becker Vaisvil took slightly over 6% in her first foray into politics.
Matt Ramsey, all along the favorite to win, took the election without a run off with 53.35 percent of the vote.

I talked to people off and on over the past few weeks trying to get a feel for who was likely to vote. I was amazed at how many people simply didn't know there was an election.

There were signs all over the place, unusual at this time of year. Some had noted the signs but they didn't register, or they thought it must be for an election at some distant point.

I was surprised at how many people said they didn't read the local newspapers.

I know we had it on the Fayette Front Page, but it was down in the Political section so I'm not sure how many people pay attention to that section. Politics has a tendency to turn a lot of people off completely. Can't say that I blame them. There are times when I wish I didn't know as much as I do!

Every election I lament how few come out to vote. I think our focus is backwards. When there's a presidential election the turnout is overwhelming. When there is a state-wide election the turn out is fairly decent if not great (depends on which races are in play).

Get down to the local election and turnout decreases. Sometimes it falls into the pathetic range.

I've harped on this one before. The low turnout in this highly involved and educated county doesn't make a lot of sense.

Almost every bit of information we get about national and state elections is filtered through the media. Some of us take the time to go to political events where we might meet the candidates. But the vast majority of voters watch the candidates on TV, check them out on the Internet, or read about them in the paper. We see what they want us to see, what their opponents want us to see and what the media wants us to see.

Not so with local candidates. They sit next to you at church. Their children go to school with your children. You can drive five minutes to see them at a local event. You can find them in the local phone book. It's easy to find someone who knows the candidate. It's easy to find the candidate and ask them questions.

Local elected officials make decisions that affect us directly every day. Their decisions have a tremendous impact on our daily lives and our future.

It's important to vote in ALL elections.

In this particular election, all of District 72 is within Fayette County. It encompasses a large portion of the county. The person who represents us from this District can make a big difference in the future of our county.

I happen to think that Matt Ramsey will do a great job. I also think he'll be with us as a Representative until the point he decides to move on or step up to another elected position. He's responsive, knows the ropes and genuinely seems to be a good guy.

But I sure wish more people cared enough to take ten minutes from their day to vote.