Vote NO on 3

[elemess]

Today is Election Day. Get off your ass and vote. Or shut up.

For Georgia voters, I have one request:

vote NO on the license plate constitutional amendment (Constitutional Amendment #3)

If it passes, the General Assembly will be allowed to create license plates whose proceeds go to nonprofits. Sounds good, right?

There's a bill that passed the

Comments

[friendofjack]

I pondered that question and ended up voting "no," because I thought that the state legislature was likely up to no good. We already have license plates for the environment, stray animals, wildlife protection, and so on. We don't need any more.

[elemess]

Even if the amendment fails, the GA can still create new plates. The difference is, no money can go to nonstate agencies (such as the Boy Scouts). If they want to send money elsewhere, they need a constitutional amendment specifically authorizing that. We already have a couple of those.

[halfass_johnny]

I voted "no" as well. However, I have to say I HATE how these damned things are worded. I was an English major, and even after carefully reading a sentence two or three times I can't tell what it's really saying. Add to that the fact that the language is often framed in a way that is already biased, and I'm very perturbed.

PLUS I had to go back on my votes and change some of them to what they should have been in the first place. I checked each screen before going forward to make sure my votes were in the right spot, but when the overall proof screen came up some of those choices were switched. I went back and changed them to what they were supposed to be. This electronic system is rapidly destroying what little faith I had left for our democratic process.

And that's not even going into the fact that there's no paper trail. . . .

[elemess]

I couldn't stop laughing while reading the referendums. I read those things practically every day during the session and still had to look over that last one twice. I'd suggest reading the actual bill to find out what the referendum does, but that language is even more convoluted.

I had no problems with my screen. I'm just glad I have nothing to do with that stuff.

[fierce_rabbit]

Ah! I voted against that one as well.

The whole voting thing now seems like a blur. Perhaps because it so depressed me I went home and immediately started hitting the ginger brandy. *hic*

[elemess]

Ah, see, that's your mistake: You're supposed to start drinking before going to the polls.

[fierce_rabbit]

That certainly would have made the entire process less painful. 8-{

[elemess]

And it's getting more painful by the year. It's like some sort of degenerative disease. And we're off our meds. Like Michael J Fox!

[bunnyfeet]

I've been on the fence on this one. On the one hand, it certainly didn't take much thought to realize that the state could essentially be acting as a funnel for people to contribute to private causes. Regardless of whether there's a law creating some very specific plates, and whether or not you agree with the causes behind them, this seems like a bad idea

[elemess]

if this amendment passes is that the state will be able to move money OUT of the state coffers, instead of just moving it around WITHIN state coffers.

Exactly. The General Assembly is far too partisan to be trusted. If they provided for a pro-choice plate (that amendment to the bill was defeated), I'd be more inclined to trust them.

[lemon_says]

I haven't been over there yet (we're going after Monster's nap), but I could've sworn we already voted on that. Maybe I just formed an opinion on it ages ago. Huh. Anyway, no worries, I was voting no.

[lemon_says]

Besides, it's bad enough that you can get a Tech plate.

[elemess]

hee! Hey - where's my Goucher plate?

[elemess]

I might have bitched about it earlier this year. There's a seven month gap between the end of the legislative session and Election Day. Most everybody's forgotten everything that happened in the winter by now.