Tag: voting

It’s the day after Election Day – Local edition

November 6, 2024

As I mentioned yesterday, I was closely following the local races.

BIG WIN: The proposed 30 year transit tax was vetoed by a majority of voters.

School Board: The more moderate candidates (both D & R) won in their respective races. Hopefully, this will lessen the political bickering among board members.

Unfortunately, the Commission Chair and Clerk of Superior Court were both re-elected to serve another four years. This means we’ll see the transit tax initiative reappear or the chairwoman will find other ways to force funding for her pet project of bus service to every nook and cranny of the county (even though hardly anyone rides the main routes the transit system now serves). The Clerk of Superior Court screwed things up so bad that a judge had to step in and place a 30 day moratorium on case filings in the county – not once, but twice. These folks were returned to office by the same voters who regularly complain about them. It’s not like they had no other well-qualified options from which to choose, either.

For everything else, we were drawn into all new districts this year to comply with a federal judge’s order to create a majority black Congressional district on the westside of Atlanta. Other than Lucy McBath’s race, all of our candidates ran unopposed. There was zero outreach from any candidate – D or R. Perhaps candidates felt they didn’t need to because there were no opponents in their races? Or not knowing what to do since it was an all new untested district? Who knows? Time will tell. Meh.

From a business perspective:

I expect fees and costs to do business with the county as a resident or business owner to increase. The chairwoman has stated this much in previous media interviews. After all, the county has to pay for services she’s promised to certain constituents.

On a statewide ballot referendum, the personal property exemption for businesses increased to from $6k to $20k, starting January 1st, which I think is good. I’m tempted to upgrade student sewing machines, add more cutting dies and/or invest in a small sublimination printer.

Anyhow, I’m glad the elections are over. The ads, phone calls and texts have finally stopped.

Think I’ll stream my fave sewing shows on YouTube while I piece snowball blocks this rainy afternoon.

Just sit back and enjoy the show

July 30, 2024

I live in Georgia – one of the swing states that both sides are hitting hard with political ads and other rhetoric. I can’t watch a YouTube video about quilting without some PAC solicitation ad popping up. It’s rather annoying.

Not only did I get redrawn into all new voting districts for this election cycle, but my local county commission also decided they didn’t like the map drawn by the state, so they drew their own. Of course, litigation ensued. Candidates for the spring primaries were qualified based on the commission maps, not the ones drawn by the state. This past week, the judge decided the commissioners were in the wrong and ordered a redo of the impacted races using the state drawn maps. I’m affected, but I’m not exactly sure when I’ll be voting because we’ve been told those races will be delayed until after the November elections. Huh?

Candidates in any race from local to national have to meet qualifying deadlines. Now that Biden has dropped out of the race, how does this impact things moving forward? I didn’t think blanket candidate substitutions were allowed. Each candidate must qualify individually. There was some chatter across all media outlets about this right after Biden’s announcement, but I’ve heard nothing else since. Even when a replacement candidate is officially nominated in a couple of weeks, what happens next? Something similar to what I’ll be experiencing with the local elections?

I don’t fit the desired demographics for either party, so I’m just watching to see how things play out. I will do my civic duty and vote when I’m supposed to (whenever that may be). Meanwhile, I’m trying hard to stay away all the craziness for the next several weeks.