If you guys want a chuckle & want to feel good about your own local political leadership, look for some of the you-gotta-be-kidding-me news about yesterday's 2nd attempt at electing a Mayor in the last couple of months. Absolutely unreal; here's a short summary of the Grisham novel writing itself in our midst here. (note: I live just outside of the city limits & thus can't vote in mayoral elections.)
--Regularly scheduled election a couple of months ago won by the challenger by a few votes. And then the fun started...
--Unsecured ballot boxes after hours - meaning, let's put the hotly-contested ballots in a "vault" overnight, leave the vault open when the last person leaves, and then not lock the outside door.
--Personalized delivery of ballots to felons in the jail, complete with instructions on how to fill them out properly.
--Absentee ballots miscounted, uncounted, & DQ'd for widely-varying reasons.
--Mayor wins a close one after the absentee ballots are counted. Nothing suspicious there, right?
--A court case brought by the incumbent (this is where the fun really started...)
--Jury votes 9-3 to overturn the election & to award the election to the challenger
--A local minister--close advisor of the mayor--& his son engage in fairly open witness intimidation
--The judge asks for a voice vote, and surprise, surprise, the voice vote is 8-4 (mostly b/c the minister & son are sitting there staring down the jurors that had previously been threatened)
--Judge declares a mistrial
--2nd election is scheduled
That's all just from the first go-round...
--Yesterday's vote: the challenge is significantly ahead w/ 13 of 14 precincts reporting...shockingly to nobody, the last precinct submits its ballots ~6 hours after the polls close...official seal? Security of ballots? Nah, ain't nobody got time for that! Stunningly (to nobody) this last precinct's votes bring the incumbent to within 30 votes (out of ~14,000)
--Today, the counting of the absentee ballots begins
--Turns out, a considerable # of those have to be tossed, because both signing and initialling was too complicated a set of instructions for polling officials to follow correctly.
--And the fun continues...
We're all SO excited about the next batch of lawsuits that will almost surely come. Don't you all feel better about your own local political leadership now? <heavy sigh>
H'burg's new slogan: "Hattiesburg: Making Elections in South Florida & in the Bananna Republics Look Well-Run, Open, & Honest."
Or this: "Hattiesburg: A Certified Retirement Community with Very Serious Electoral Dysfunction."
Final point: Anyone see the 30-for-30 film about the great RB Marcus Dupree? Remember the minister who misadvised & cleaned him out? Yep. Same guy that's in the local news now.
--Regularly scheduled election a couple of months ago won by the challenger by a few votes. And then the fun started...
--Unsecured ballot boxes after hours - meaning, let's put the hotly-contested ballots in a "vault" overnight, leave the vault open when the last person leaves, and then not lock the outside door.
--Personalized delivery of ballots to felons in the jail, complete with instructions on how to fill them out properly.
--Absentee ballots miscounted, uncounted, & DQ'd for widely-varying reasons.
--Mayor wins a close one after the absentee ballots are counted. Nothing suspicious there, right?
--A court case brought by the incumbent (this is where the fun really started...)
--Jury votes 9-3 to overturn the election & to award the election to the challenger
--A local minister--close advisor of the mayor--& his son engage in fairly open witness intimidation
--The judge asks for a voice vote, and surprise, surprise, the voice vote is 8-4 (mostly b/c the minister & son are sitting there staring down the jurors that had previously been threatened)
--Judge declares a mistrial
--2nd election is scheduled
That's all just from the first go-round...
--Yesterday's vote: the challenge is significantly ahead w/ 13 of 14 precincts reporting...shockingly to nobody, the last precinct submits its ballots ~6 hours after the polls close...official seal? Security of ballots? Nah, ain't nobody got time for that! Stunningly (to nobody) this last precinct's votes bring the incumbent to within 30 votes (out of ~14,000)
--Today, the counting of the absentee ballots begins
--Turns out, a considerable # of those have to be tossed, because both signing and initialling was too complicated a set of instructions for polling officials to follow correctly.
--And the fun continues...
We're all SO excited about the next batch of lawsuits that will almost surely come. Don't you all feel better about your own local political leadership now? <heavy sigh>
H'burg's new slogan: "Hattiesburg: Making Elections in South Florida & in the Bananna Republics Look Well-Run, Open, & Honest."
Or this: "Hattiesburg: A Certified Retirement Community with Very Serious Electoral Dysfunction."
Final point: Anyone see the 30-for-30 film about the great RB Marcus Dupree? Remember the minister who misadvised & cleaned him out? Yep. Same guy that's in the local news now.
