I received the following disturbing e-mail last week.
“THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO KNOW…
For those of us who normally vote ‘Straight Democratic’, please pay close attention!!!!!
I was informed this weekend by a group of Obama volunteers that when voting for the presidential candidate this November,
you have to make sure you punch Barack’s name first, then proceed to punch ‘Straight Democratic’ or else the vote for the president won’t count.
I’m not sure if any of you are aware of this, but we know they won’t tell us this at the poles. Please try & inform others.”
Now I don’t know where the person who sent this is from. It would be truly sad if he was from Georgia. Because the information is false. I am very disturbed about the number of false e-mails that’s being distributed. And even worse, they’re asking people to forward to everyone in their address book. Folks, there are thousands of new voters going to the polls who need correct and true information. I immediately sent this note to my Board of Elections official in Richmond County, Ga.. Here is her response.
“Georgia no longer votes straight party, but when it did – back years ago – voters did have to “punch” for President and then “punch” the straight party choice to vote for all other races on the ballot. This was back in the punch card days. I believe straight party voting was last used in Georgia in 1992.
As far as the “vote not counting” scenario, the way it used to work in Georgia when we did use straight party voting was that when a voter voted, they would cast one vote for President, and a separate vote for straight party. One had no effect on the other. In other words, you could vote for a Democrat for President and then hit straight party Republican to give all other offices on the ballot a Republican vote.
There are lots of emails being circulated that are obviously designed to confuse and cast suspicion on the process. I have never seen anything like it, actually. I tell anyone who will listen that if a citizen/voter is desirous of information pertaining to voter registration or elections, they should contact their local election official or Secretary of State of their own state, and not rely on campaigns, etc. who may have a hidden agenda”.
I want to encourage people to NOT send out false information to people in your address book. EVEN if you received the original e-mail from a friend or colleague. Encourage them instead to call their local Board of Elections if they have questions. And remember to vote early.
Project Logic Ga 
My views are expressed right here:
http://withintheblackcommunity.blogspot.com/2008/10/reaching-black-straight-democratic.html
My frustation with people is that they look at elections as some type of sporting contest where they must do everything to insure that “their side” wins.
I challenge people to take a step back and consider the big picture of what they have done for the past 40 years. After so many elections in which the average Black voters asked the question “Why should a Black person vote for a Republican” the answer that was returned (which was usually from the same person’s own head) was not enough to convince him. This is all well and good.
Take a step back and consider the results. Today there are more Democrats representing more places where Black people live. This is as the community has demanded.
Unfortunately many of the same problems that we sought out to fix are still running rampant.
I struggle to logically understand how a person who has purged out his “enemies” and who still has problems would continue to centerally focus on fighting his enemies who have moved away, expecting that one day after defeating them……his internal problems are going to be solved.
Why is there no desire to purge the people who are currently failing him just as he purged the previous group that failed him? The answer – a complicit electorate who hates their enemies more than they love the idea of actually solving their problem.
There is a saying that the definition of insanity is ‘to continue to do the same things over and over again…and expect different results.’
HBA1, thanks for providing the answer and intel on this voting issue; once again you have gotten to the bottom of an issue or crisis. That’s the reason I listen to your radio station from the other side of the state; there are bigger mics in your future.
Constructive Feedback, you hit the hammer on the head. The establishments in both mayor parties did not want moderate McCain or relatively moderate Obama. It was Hillary’s turn and to me she would have made a fine president. Any GOP nominee would have to answer for Bush/Chaney policies that have gone away from core conservative principals. One of my first post on this blog was called “Recognize.” In that post I said basically the same thing you said—that this is not a sporting event, this is real. Zealots cheer for their party so much that they might want a tragic loss of life in the war or from Katrina to help their election chances. That’s sick.
John McCain is the key to America’s political improvement. As president or in the Senate, he should push for campaign finance reform so fundraising is not the mother’s milk of politics. Corporation America trumps the voters during election because they hold the money bags. I can’t remember which ones but when I was a congressional staffer in the 90s, Congressmen Jamie Whitten, William Natcher and the great G.V. Sonny Montgomery did not take campaign donations. These old southern gentleman would just let the voters decide if they should return based on performance (and the delivery of huge servings of pork).
I am on a mission to do research on why the Black community remains as we are in many areas. The popular sentiment is that “racism is still with us”. If you notice when people say this they pain the picture that as long as there is one ounce of racism in existence….the Black man can’t prosper. This is a fake bogey for the masses to chance behind.
The more logical question is “Can a racist perform his antics against a Black person and go unpunished?”. The answer is no. Does it happen? YES. But how is the actions of the racist any different than the actions of a Black thug who attacks us and walks away without being prosecuted due to “Stop Snitching”?
My bottom line is that one political faction is growing in an unchecked manner right before our eyes. I accept the fact that this is the POPULAR choice of Black America. I am not, however, going to allow the propagandists from within continue to allow our people to throw their support behind this machine and yet the fundamental reasons why Black people started our organized political advocacy go unaddressed while this machine is at the helm of our community:
* Good schools
* Safe Streets
* Jobs Within Our Community
* Healthy Lifestyles
Oddly enough – the next battle will be fought internally by those who are no longer scared of being called names and yet who point out to the masses that they are off course. They care more about their ideology and their party than they do about the attainment of what we originally sought after as a people.
I am a grown man and no names used against me can stop me or make me cower in fear. We are shaping the next 50 years in our community right now. I cannot have so much of our responsibility outsourced onto those who reside on the outside of our community.