Funny how only the actions of the black activists who won school board seats got investigated by the GBI, and only they were charged with anything, despite a number of irregularities among the losers. If that doesn't seem right to you, this may be of interest: U.S. Justice Department – Eric Holder: Identify prosecutorial misconduct/voter suppression in Quitman 10 +2 case
Many voters in Brooks County are older African-Americans who are senior citizens in their 60's, 70's and 80's that witnessed first-hand the politics of Jim Crow in the last century, but had to deal with GBI agents coming to their doorsteps of their small rural town with guns strapped to their side asking questions. Some were voting for the first time or the first time in years in 2010, but there has been an ongoing effort by Republicans to present more obstacles and/or threats to eligible voters so they would be discouraged not to vote.
I think the Quitman 10+2's real crime was very simple: winning. Even worse, they used an innovative strategy (absentee ballots) for an end-run around their opponents. If that school board election in Brooks County had been a football game, the Q10+2 would be hailed as heroes by the local and state press for winning the game. Why is winning an election by legal means not accorded the same treatment?
-jsq
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John, I think that’s the big question … was the election won by legal means? We’ll see what kind of evidence comes out at trial(s) but are insinuating that being in possession of absentee ballots an “innovative strategy”? The law is the law no matter what color the citizen is. I’ve heard lots of talk about GBI agents asking lots of questions with guns strapped to their hips. Lots of GBI agents wear guns, no sin in that. If they were intimidating, I have no idea. The trial will, or should, be about the evidence … did the defendents illegally use absentee ballots to stuff the ballot box? All of this other discussion seems like a smokescreen.
“I have no idea,” says “Chris Beckham”. Where is this trial? It’s been more than a year. And where are the indictments and arrests for the irregularities by the other parties? Yes, using enough absentee ballots to win an election is an innovative strategy. And it seems winning was their real crime. They, unlike their whispering nameless critics, use their real names.
-jsq
“We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either justice or right.” –Magna Carta, 1215