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MY REMARKS UWOL ASTER
THE ELLcnot*!*
3) voters WO- mot Fully grasp tmC
IMPLICATIONS OF SPEAKER Of THE
HOUSE PELOSI" AMO HER SAN FRAN.
cisco values:
2) VOTERS WERE INEXPLICABLY
UNSWAYED 8Y RUSH LIMBAUGH’5
ATTACKS ON MICHAEL J. FOX.
THERE 5 USUALLY NO SURER WAY
TO WIN OVER UNDECIDED VOTERS
THAN TO MOCK THE KAHN CAPPED!
THE ELECTORATE WAS
TRULY UNPREDICTABLE.
THIS YEAR?
0 VOTERS DID NOT UNDERSTAND
THE. DEGREE TO WHICH JON#
KERRY HATES THE TROOPS:
6) the ELECTION WA* A DECISIVE
victory--FOR REPUBLICANS!
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BY Richard perle s criticism of
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5 VOTERS forgot That A VOTE
fOR DEMOCRATS WAS A VRT£ FOR
OSAMA
Girtz
(42.0%)
Jones
(10.3%)
DeRose
(1.2%)
Sheats
(36.1%)
Chasteen
(24 2%)
Davison
(44.9%)
Garland
(45.3%)
6 FLAGPOLE.COM • NOVEMBER 15.2006
NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS I MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
Lowry
(54.7%)
Vaughan
(11.5%)
Poll Notes
Only a Modicum of Confusion
How did it go at the local polls this time
around? One early voter reported that on Friday,
Nov. 3 when he voted at the Board of Elections,
the person in front of him in line looked over
the sample ballot he was handed and exclaimed
to the nearest poll worker, “Well, who's the
Democrat and who's the Republican?! Who do I
vote for?" The voter unfortunately hadn't realized
that Athens-Clarke County now holds non-parti
san elections for local offices.
c Dme level of confusion also continued up
through election day about ID requirements
for voters. The local Board of Elections wasn't
helped by a memo that came from the Georgia
Secretary of State's office mid-morning on elec
tion day directing them to adjust signs near
polling places that read "Vote Here" and had
the words "ID required" written inside an ar
row pointing towards the polling place. State
Elections Division Director Kathy Rogers directed
poll workers statewide
via the memo to replace
any such signs or cover
up the part reading "ID
required" with tape. It
seems that perhaps the
state Elections Division
was afraid of voter confusion based on the saga
of new photo-ID laws that are not in effect after
back-and-fortn court battles throughout this
year. Voters are asked to show one of 17 forms of
identification (but not necessarily photo identi
fication), and if they can't produce any of those,
they can still sign an oath saying they are who
they say they are, and have their vote counted.
The local Board of Elections staff bought the
arrow signs a few years ago after the 17-forms
law was passed by the legislature. ACC elections
supervisor Gail Schrader says the plan now is to
avoid trouble: “We're just going to buy new ones
with blank arrows."
Schrader also says she's mildly pleased—es
pecially given the rainy weather—with the 52.5
percent voter turnout locally, five percentage
points above an unofficial statewide figure of
47.6 percent given the day after election day.
"I'm happy because you always want more, but it
was a pretty miserable day," Schrader says.
Ben Emanuel ben@flagpole.com
Local Results
One Down, Two in Runoffs
In a general election that saw Democrats
increase their clout nationally and Republicans
solidify theirs at the state level in Georgia,
the results’of Athens' newly nonpartisan local
races were largely left in limbo. Both the race
for mayor and for Athens-Clarke County (ACC)
Commission District 9 will head to a runoff on
Dec. 5. Doug Lowry defeated James Garland for
the Commission District 1 post (being vacated
by 16-year incumbent
Charles Carter) on the
eastern end of the
county by a 55 percent
to 45 percent margin. In
the Super-District 9 race,
Kelly Girtz received 42
percent of votes cast, 450 more than runner-up
Alvin Sheats had at 36 percent. In the mayor's
race, incumbent Heidi Davison led the pack with
45 percent of the vote, but the race was not
decided because no single candidate earned 50
percent. Charlie Maddox received 30 percent of
votes in that race, Tom Chasteen 25 percent, and
Richard DeRose about one percent.
In the District 1 race, Lowry's performance in
the southern part of the district—precincts 1C
and ID—seems to have taken him over the top.
Garland carried the northern precinct (1A) that
includes Winterville, and Lowry carried precinct
IB (which is bisected by Lexington Road) by only
Some level of confusion also
continued up through election day
about ID requirements for voters.
by TOM TOMORROW
Huh? ID required to vote? Technically, no. But even your light bill counts, and you can just sign an oath if you want. Photo ID
required? Definitely not. Not right now. anyway. State election officials concerned about voter confusion? Oh. yeah
22 votes in unofficial results available at press
time. Lowry says he enjoyed the campaign, and
adds: "It was very rewarding to see that a lot of
my ideas and a lot of my positions were accepted
by a lot of people." Garland, meanwhile, admits
that his conservative and libertarian positions
are not always as well-accepted here. "For some
body like me, it's tough in Clarke County." he
says. Asked whether he'll remain active in local
politics, Garland says "people haven't heard the
last of me."
DISTRICT 9 A SURPRISE?
Oddly, Chuck Jones, a young local lawyer who
quit the District 9 campaign in late September,
still received 10 percent of votes in that race.
Votes fo' lones were counted because he never
delivered an official affidavit declaring his
withdrawal to the ACC Board of Elections. By
contrast, former mayoral candidate Andy Rusk
did officially withdraw, so any votes for him were
not counted. (Also left uncounted are any write-
in votes for Rusk or any other candidate not on
the state's list of "qualified" write-in candidates.
As for qualified write-ins, unofficial local results
available at press time showed none.)
It's possible that spme voters had Jones (the
ex-candidate) confused with a different and
better-known Chuck Jones who directs Athens'
Conventions and Visitors Bureau. That Jones re
ports that it's been a near-daily occurrence, ever
since the other Jones announced his candidacy,
for someone to ask him how the campaign was
going. He notes also that it would be illogical for
him to run for local office given the position he
currently holds. But, he says, "What's really nice
is a lot of people said they Were going to vote
for me!"
It is unknown what effect votes intended
for either Jones may have had on the outcome
of the District 9 race as a whole. Girtz, who
emerged from the polls as the front runner in
the race, says, "It's overly optimistic to ?s-
sume that I would have gotten all those if he
hadn't been on the ballot." Ed Vaughan received
12 percent of votes in the race, helping put a
runoff between Girtz and Sheats on the Dec. •
5 ballot alongside the runoff in the mayor's
race. Although some observers had correctly
predicted a runoff in the District 9 race, others
were surprised that it turned out as close as it
did. Although he's run a very light campaign this
year with minimal advertising, former District
3 Commissi rner Alvin Sheats has high name
recognition from serving two terms on the ACC
Commission—though he was unseated by George
Maxwell in 2002—and at the polls this month,
he carried precincts in east Athens, north Athens
and the Hancock Corridor where African-American
voters are more concentrated.
Sheats says confidently, "It surprised every
one but me. I knew I was going to be in a runoff.
I just didn't know how the numbers would play
out." He admits that campaign funds have beer
low, but he's satisfied with his performance de
spite that fact. “I knew I didn't have the capital
to win it straight out," he says. Sheats drew
some notoriety from consistently referring to
himself as "the lead candidate" in this fall's can
didate forums and events: he now says, "I think
that I'm still the best man for the job. I can't
claim 'the lead candidate' any more...."
As for Girtz, he admits that "name recogni
tion is a huge challenge." He adds, though, "I'm
generating name recognition from scratch, and
I've generated enough of it to get a pb /ality of
the votes, and that feels good." Heading toward
the Dec. 5 runoff, Girtz says, Til be redoubling
my efforts."
THIS MOIIM WMLB
MEM. MEM. HEM! WITH THESE
DEMOCRATIC VICTORIES, X AM
ONE STEP CLOSER TO MY UL
TIMATE GOAL!
BFNEI