{"id":2422,"date":"2011-02-04T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-04T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/no-person-shall-be-eligible-as-a-write-in-candidate-ga-code.html"},"modified":"2011-02-04T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-04T23:00:00","slug":"no-person-shall-be-eligible-as-a-write-in-candidate-ga-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/no-person-shall-be-eligible-as-a-write-in-candidate-ga-code.html","title":{"rendered":"“No person shall be eligible as a write-in candidate…” –Ga. Code"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a>
\nCalling investigative reporters: here’s a trail of fishy behavior in the Brooks County elections.
\nGeorge Rhynes brings up an interesting point in
\n
\nQuitman Ten, Judge Porter’s decision, News Media Outlets, Is Another Investigation Needed, and can Justice Be Found in South Georgia?<\/a>
\nThe two write-in candidates in the general election
\nfor the Brooks County Board of Education
\nwere allowed to run despite a clear restriction in the Georgia code,
\nO.C.G.A. 21-2-133.
\nThis restriction is mentioned in the Ga. Secretary of State
\n
\nCandidate Training Guide:<\/a><\/p>\n

\nNo person shall be eligible as a write-in candidate in a general
\nor special election if such person was a candidate for nomination or
\nelection to the same office in the immediately preceding primary.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also in the same department’s<\/p>\n


\n
\nQualifications and Disqualifications for Holding State or County
\nElective Office in Georgia<\/a>,
\nwhich repeats this restriction for every type of elected office,
\nincluding Member, County Board of Education, on page 242, section 10.b.<\/p>\n

\nYet, as George points out:<\/p>\n

\n…the Honorable Judge Richard Porter ruled that Brooks County Board of
\nEducation members Gary Rentz and Myra Exum were in compliance with the law
\nand would remain as write-in candidates for the Nov. 2 General Election.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What the judge ruled does not appear to be what the law says.<\/p>\n

\nGeorge notes that wasn’t the only irregularity:<\/p>\n

\nThe alleged voter intimidation; unprecedented questions asked to parents;
\ntheir children working in Valdosta; and where they were asked to drive
\nin order to meet with investigators. These complaints were unreal and
\nreminded us of the 1960s; but NO news media published their concerns to
\nthe general public. There were elderly citizens in Quitman and Morven
\nthat were afraid to return to the polls and vote in the November election.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nDespite all this, Linda Troutman and Elizabeth Thomas beat their opponents
\nin the primary and again in the general election.
\nAnd then
\n
\nwere arrested shortly after they took office.<\/a>
\nVoter intimidation in the primary, write-in candidates in the general
\ndespite a clear prohibition in the Georgia Code, and the (twice) winning
\ncandidates then getting arrested on a technicality?
\nSomething smells fishy in Brooks County.<\/p>\n

\nAs George says:<\/p>\n

\nA real free press is very much needed here in South Georgia so citizens
\nwill not be left deaf; dumb; and blind to what goes on in their community.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We need to find a business model that will fund such a press.<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calling investigative reporters: here’s a trail of fishy behavior in the Brooks County elections. George Rhynes brings up an interesting point in Quitman Ten, Judge Porter’s decision, News Media Outlets, Is Another Investigation Needed, and can Justice Be Found in South Georgia? The two write-in candidates in the general election for the Brooks County Board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,15,49,20,1526],"tags":[1587,8705,8721,5099,2160,5096,8701,5100,3950,5098,2100,5097,1586,8834,5095,5101],"class_list":["post-2422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-code-enforcement","category-education","category-elections","category-law","category-quitman-10","tag-brooks-county","tag-education","tag-elections","tag-elizabeth-thomas","tag-free-press","tag-gary-rentz","tag-georgia","tag-intimidation","tag-judge","tag-linda-troutman","tag-morven","tag-myra-exum","tag-quitman","tag-quitman-10","tag-richard-porter","tag-write-in"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}