Posted on 08/10/2002 3:11:27 PM PDT by Heart of Georgia
A campaign mailing by Clayton County Commissioner Charley Griswell encouraging residents to cast absentee votes has provoked a response from the Georgia Secretary of State's office.
A letter distributed to county voters under Griswell's signature, which is dated Aug. 2, urges residents to vote absentee in the upcoming Aug. 20 primary. Griswell is up for re-election in District 4.
"You do not need an excuse to vote absentee - it's your right," the letter states. Two absentee ballot applications, including one sample and one blank application, were enclosed with Griswell's letter.
Georgia law, however, stipulates that voters do need a legal excuse to vote absentee, according to Kara Sinkule, a spokeswoman for Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox. In response to the campaign mailing, Cox sent a letter to Griswell informing him of this law.
"In fact, as I would hope you are aware, Georgia law strictly and specifically defines who may request an absentee ballot," Cox said in the letter to Griswell.
Cox then goes on to list the valid legal reasons for a voter to cast an absentee vote, which include having a physical disability, and being required to be absent from the voter's precinct from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.
"Only electors who meet one or more of these requirements are eligible to vote absentee," Cox said. "Individuals obtaining and voting an absentee ballot, who do not meet the legal requirements, may be prosecuted as a felony violation of the Election Code."
The laws dealing with absentee voting have been strengthened to cut back on voter fraud, Sinkule said, which is why illegally casting an absentee ballot is considered a felony under Georgia law. About 90 percent of voting fraud allegations are connected with absentee votes, she said.
"In my view, the letter conveys to Clayton Countians the clear impression, by indicating that absentee voting is their 'right' and they 'do not need an excuse,' that any and all voters may vote absentee," Cox continued. "It would indeed be unfortunate if some Clayton citizens improperly cast absentee ballots, and subjected themselves to possible criminal prosecution, because they were misled and confused about the requirements of Georgia law."
Griswell, however, said he wasn't using the letter to encourage residents to vote absentee without a valid reason. Rather, saying that voters didn't need an "excuse" to vote absentee was a reference to a discontinued policy where voters had to sign an affidavit proving their absence before being allowed to cast an absentee vote, Griswell said.
The intent of the campaign letter was to encourage people who don't vote, but who would be eligible to vote absentee, to do so, Griswell said. For instance, elderly people who are homebound, or people who work in Atlanta and can't make it to the polls in time, are some of the people who might not know they are eligible to vote absentee.
"If I didn't explain 'excuse,' then I'm sorry," Griswell said. "If that misled my people, then I apologize. But I still think I have the right to send them an application for an absentee ballot, as long as they understand they've got to have a reason."
The secretary of state's office is now concentrating on getting the correct information out to Clayton County voters about the legality of voting absentee, Sinkule said. However, she added, Griswell's campaign letter could be grounds for an ethics investigation.
Jonesboro resident Doyle Gunn is one of many voters who received Griswell's campaign letter in the mail, and thought the mailing was a shady political tactic.
"I tore it up and threw it in the trash," Gunn said. "I've seen an absentee ballot application before, and I wondered why someone was sending me one. It seems like something Charley Griswell would do. That's the kind of reputation he has around here."
In addition to mentioning absentee voting, Griswell's letter discusses a political challenge Clayton County is facing.
"Never before have we been threatened by an Atlanta takeover as we are today," the letter stated. "Your investment in Clayton County is important to you and your family."
That portion of the letter, Griswell said, was referring to the expansion of Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport.
"They have come down and ripped our county every way they can," Griswell said. "They have moved our homes, our schools, our businesses, our cemeteries, our health-care centers. They have done everything they can to encroach on our county by taking over property. You're darn right I'm mad about that."
Clayton County is conservative (Newt's old district), but for some reason they just keep on electing Charley (they do elect other dems, but none like Charley)!
Yep, he's very much aware of Georgia law, but he's always been above the law in Clayton County (which is now very heavily populated by non-citizens, here legally or not).
He's mad all right, but the only thing Charley is mad about is that someone had the nerve to challenge him about this, not to mention having it written up in the local paper.
Clayton County was conservative, just like DeKalb County once was conservative. When the Fulton County ghetto reached the breaking point in the mid-80s, DeKalb County was overrun with blacks, forcing the whites farther out. The same thing has happened in Clayton County: Clayton was over 90% white as of 1980, under 75% as of 1990, and down to 35% as of the 2000 Census.
Conservative no more, unless it is somehow considered conservative to vote 65% for Al Gore.
Cobb, Douglas & Gwinnett Counties, still somewhat nice areas, are rapidly moving towards the same fate as DeKalb & Clayton. In metro Atlanta, Forsyth, Henry & Paulding counties (among some others) are the rapidly-growing, family-oriented areas, as the suburbs move farther and farther out (they have to; the "city" is moving farther out too, and has been for 20 years).
DWG
You're correct. I'm right on the Henry/Clayton border surrounded by the last of the conservative area I suppose.
However, I posted the article because I was excited about what looks like honest efforts to keep another Florida fiasco from happening in spite of dems like Charley being above the law (which he truly believes he is). And, I just thought it was pretty ironic that while we're still hearing about the so-called illegitimate election, the dems are trying to pull the same old stuff and then try and spin their way out of it.
So let's not turn this into a whites-are-getting-pushed-out-of-all-the nice-areas thread, okay?
Silly me.
I'm honest, really I am.
I can only hope this means he's really desperate! : )
He's very much like the clintons, right down to we just can't seem get rid of him. He left for a while, and just when we thought we were safe...he's back!
Just to give an example of his ego...I was out today and noticed that he doesn't have the typical little signs strewn all over the right-of-way. He has these huge billboards with a big "THANK YOU" in the corner...the kind the WINNER usually puts up AFTER the election!
Thanks for scolding the black-vs-white poster.
I don't think stats mean too much anyway...but to use them like that was disgusting.
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