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March 30, 2006
eSlate
It looks like the Election Commission selected the eSlate machine I mentioned in an earlier post. A quick Google search proves that I'm not the first person to find it confusing.
Posted by Paul Witt at 05:09 PM
Term limits
As has been extensively reported by every news outlet and blogger in the state, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled yesterday that counties may amend their charters to add term limits for their county legislative bodies and that these limits do not violate the state's constitution. Here's the ruling in PDF format.
The case was from Shelby County (Memphis for you out-of-staters) but yesterday afternoon the county Law Director Mike Moyers stated that the ruling also applied to our county. The Election Commission is taking steps to remove 12 commissioners from the ballot. That makes the county elections look like this:
Dist. 1-A - open
Dist. 2-A - Mark Harmon (D)
Dist. 2-B - open
Dist. 3-A - Michael Daugherty (D)
Dist. 3-A - Tony Norman (R)
Dist. 4-A - Mike A. Alford (R)
Dist. 4-B - open
Dist. 5-C - open
Dist. 6-A - Chuck James (R)
Dist. 6-A - Scott Russell (R)
Dist. 7-A - James A. McMillan (R)
Dist. 7-A - R. Larry Smith (R)
Dist. 8-A - Phil Ballard (R)
Dist. 8-B - Kay Frazier (R)
Dist. 8-B - Gary Sellers (R)
Dist. 9-A - open
So what next? Will someone sue to stay in office? Will someone (Herb Moncier) sue to try to get this to apply to the Sheriff? Does it apply to the Sheriff at all since the ruling specifically focuses on term limits for county legislatures? I doubt we'll get an answer to the latter during this election cycle.
More later as news unfolds.
Posted by Paul Witt at 09:56 AM
March 28, 2006
Voting machines
The Knoxville News Sentinel is reporting that the Knox County Election Administrator, Greg Mackay, is close to making a recommendation to the TN Election Commission on a new voting machine for Knox County.
Mr. Mackay spoke to Democracy for Knoxville at our March 7 meeting about this issue. The state Election Commission has certified five voting systems to choose from with his personal preference being the eSlate machine. Mr. Mackay said that the goal is to replace all of Knox County's election equipment with a uniform system before the Aug. 3 elections, to take advantage of $1M in Federal grant money allocated under the HAVA Act.
He was very clear that he would not recommend a system from Diebold and said that the eSlate machine offered the most flexibility as far as ease of use by a typical voter and a disabled voter. I tried the eSlate machine myself in the local Election Commission office. I thought it was pretty unintuitive, and I'm a geek that can usually figure out how to use anything. The cheapest and most accurate way to vote, paper ballots, are not being considered because they make it too easy for election workers to steal votes.
Posted by Paul Witt at 09:25 AM
March 09, 2006
State legislature watch
State senator Tommy Kilby (D-Roane Co.) has introduced a bill that would make it a Class C misdemeanor to sell a violent video game in Tennessee. This isn't just a restriction on selling M-rated games to minors, it's an outright ban. It wouldn't just ban Grand Theft Auto but pretty much every first person shooter on the market, including America's Army. This is censorship, plain and simple.
It's also what happens with you elect social conservatives no matter what party they belong to. Why exactly should adults not be able to buy whatever video games they choose?
On the other hand you have state senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) introducing the so-called "Wal-Mart Bill" into the state senate. The bill, which was also previously introduced into the TN house by a Democrat, would require that very large employers either pay into Tenncare or provide their own healthcare coverage.
In January I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with Governor Bredesen with Democracy for Tennessee. We gave him five ideas for issues that might be a good idea to get behind in 2006 and build his support among the Democrat party's more liberal members. One of those proposals was the Wal-Mart bill. His response was that he would "look into it". I guess we'll now get to see what he really thought.
Posted by Paul Witt at 04:38 PM
March 05, 2006
MU Redhawk Hockey
The Miami Redhawks are ranked 2nd going into the NCAA tournament!
Here's a recent story on their history.
Posted by Paul Witt at 06:34 PM
March 02, 2006
Yea, like that'll work
The founder of Domino's pizza wants to create an all Catholic town in Florida. Yea, that'll work. What you'll end up with is a town encircled by everything they're trying to keep out.
Sounds like a lovely town though. Good luck with that.
Posted by Paul Witt at 04:50 PM