The Mayor's Race: A City Divided

[FCTP]

There is not a big win for either camp this morning.  The city is divided and the winner will come down to a few hundred votes. 

 

There will be accusations and yelling in a room filled with lawyers.  The Supervisor of Elections office will once again be thrown into the mix of political warfare as they look at every ballot cast.

 

The 30+% of people who voted will wait for the final count.

 

And behind the scenes, MoveOn.org and Organizing for America will be preparing their paid people to protest should it not go their way.

 

The Tiny Union will write stories about the land slide victory if their man wins.  They will write about the stolen election if ours does.

 

We’ve seen this before and nothing ever changes.  Nothing will ever change until the rest of Duval County wakes up and realizes because they didn’t vote, they will now be led by a handful of people – like them or not.

 

And let this be known…

 

If Mike Hogan wins, we will be thankful.

 

If Alvin Brown wins, we will not “throw ourselves behind him” because Mr. Brown chose to ignore the tea party members and chose to ignore the many questions posed to him about his background.  We will not go away and we will continue to ask the questions until they are answered.   The questions are too important to be ignored.

 

And…we will not rest until North Florida has a newspaper that investigates the stories and reports the facts.  The owners of the Tiny Union should be run out of town for not writing about the MoveOn.org and Organizing for America operatives AND for not doing a story on the questions posed to Mr. Brown.  They ignored these stories and for some reason, chose to denigrate Mike Hogan.

 

This is happening all over America and will continue to happen until new leadership takes hold in Washington.  The political machine from DC ran this race and no one can say it wasn't so.  We know it and they know we know it.  We have the proof even if the Tiny Union will not print it.

 

As the recount begins today, keep praying that David will beat Goliath. 

 

God bless Jacksonville and God bless America.

 

[JL Gawlik]

Roma,

I have seen statements on many different blogs and comments to articles or blogs saying it is time America gets a third party. A third party will just dilute the conservative vote more. Our founding fathers warned Americans of creating two parties that will just manipulate the votes like we have now, that candidates should run as individuals not parties.

 

I have read on certain blogs that there will be a move to push America into a third party and i was actually warned by a Canadian not to do this as they have had socialism in their country and they just created a six party. The person told me that this has greatly diluted the vote and has allowed socialists more control. I will start saving posts and comments, i have not done so yet on that subject even though i have saved boO~CoOs of articles and statements on different subjects.

 

Also i have been taking note of news coming out on FALSE Tea Parties popping up to fool the people like what has happened in NY with that one candidate who is clearly a progressive claiming his party to be the TEA PARTY: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/nyregion/jack-davis-makes-tea-par...

 

We need to have clear and open communication, my fear with a independent, unless they have huge support, or the Republican candidate bows out, that will dilute the vote in favor of the Socialist Democrat Progressives. Look at what happened in our own back yard a PROGRESSIVE lied to the people and claimed to be a conservative. This is going to be repeated ALL across the nation in 2012 and beyond. The progressives are not going to go down easily and things are going to get really ugly, that is WHY standing up for TRUTH and HONOR is so important. I will see if i can find communication on creating a third party. That is another reason the Tea Party movement is NOT wanting to create a party, the progressives have made such a mess of the original two party system, quiet frankly i would love to go back to NO party affiliation and run on content of one's character, principles and values, what our founding fathers envisioned for obvious reasons.

[FCTP]

Michael:  We certainly did not blow you off intentionally.  We would never have done that and it was probably missed by someone.  We apologize.  There are no credentials to do poll watching.  Just a love for your country.  We are sorry this happened.

[michael gable]

To Valerie, in the last previous election to this one, I volunteered to be a poll watcher through this org and was never replied to as to any training time and location.  They more or less blew me off.  There may be qualifications (lawyer?) I don't have but it was not stated.  This time, I didn't volunteer for that reason.  Sorry.

[JL Gawlik]

I finally read all the replies, great thoughts and ideas. Keep in mind like several stated, we do NOT resort to their tactics. They are trying to stir them up in the opposition because UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDE WE FALL. That is just one of the things that i have taken away from watching Glenn Beck.

In 2006 and 2007 when the Progressives won control of Congress, my husband i felt something was wrong. Our gut feeling told us things were going on that we could not put our finger on, you could feel it in the air, something was changing and it was not right.

Progressives are not about PROGRESS they are all for SUPPRESSION and REGRESSION the communist party in the mid 1900's when the American people rejected them, went underground and renamed themselves and basically infiltrated both parties, they have completely destroyed the old Democratic party. Now they are pushing for a third party to divide the American people further.

From watching Glenn Beck, i have learned about progressives and how to out them. They prefer to name call or demagogue things or people instead of standing up for principles, values and the truth. They can not stand on substance, they are constantly are disingenuous with the facts, they constantly manipulate facts and the truth or they will try to divert questions by accusations and name calling.

That is WHY it is so important to stand up to these people by using the TRUTH. TRUTH and HONOR will win over. Even though sometimes it seems so hopeless that is the only way to win over lies and deception, is by the TRUTH and HONOR. We need to shine a light on the lies and then people will see the TRUTH. I know it may sound corny but look back in the past in history when people stood up for the TRUTH. They always win. Funny thing, IF they told people their true intent is to apply socialism/marxism to our country, WHO in their right mind would vote and support them? So they go to Saul Alinsky's Book of Radicals. "You can lie, cheat and steal, because the end justifies the means..." I used to think GB was a nut, until i did what he told his audience to do, look it up yourself, do your own research and then i realized WHY we had those strange gut feelings back in 2006. Trust  your instincts, and always stand up for the TRUTH with HONOR, and communication. Just my thoughts, forgive my rant... where there is light, there is always hope.

[amanda choate]

My brother is a crash investigator for the NTSB. Several years ago a plane crashed on final to Buffalo. The plane developed ice on the wings, something for which the aircraft was noted. The airline, Colgan, was a notorious operator. The flight crew inexperienced and untalented.  So when I asked him what caused the crash, he let me know that the only thing that was unknown in this crash was where and when it was going to happen. It was foretold.

In some ways that is how I feel about this election for mayor. Many forces outside this local election seemed to be in play. Hogan had failed to excite his base. Brown did have a an excited base. Governor Scott is living through days of very low approval ratings and shares his party's affiliation with Hogan. Local Republicans rejected Hogan's conservative postions. Democrats saw an opportunity and took advantage.

Many factors contributed to this, we need to address them in order to successful as we were in 2010.

[JL Gawlik]

If a person even comments to me, IF Brown wins that they are very unhappy, i will ask them, did you vote in the past Mayoral election? If they answer no, i will tell them, then you help create this problem.

To see such local mass voter apathy is so disheartening. We have a half million registered voters in Duval county but yet, less than half, around 190,000 bother to vote in a election that affects them more locally than the federal election they vote in. It is supposed to be the opposite, progressives have clearly perverted the process. I pray David will beat Goliath, also. God bless ALL. 

[Kate Svagdis]

good comment Joan-you're right if you don't vote you lose your voice and rights

[Joan Secrest]

I was a poll watcher yesterday and can tell you that the majority of voters I saw were very familiar with their right to vote and had been voting for many years.  Not only did they vote, but they did it as families.  Grandparents, their children, and their grandchildren came together to participate in casting their votes.  I was amazed at the elderly who came to vote when it was obviously painful for them to do so, they managed to make it to the polls, and they knew exactly who they wanted to vote for.  I may not have liked the way they voted, but they voted.   Media and outside interests aside, Mike Hogan may lose the election for one reason and one reason only.  The majority of people who wanted him elected, couldn't find the time to vote.  People who claim their vote doesn't count are right.  If they didn't vote, it didn't count!!!

[Kate Svagdis]

the slimey tenacles of obama, soros and his unions chicago thugs make me sick.

If it was an actual election by the actual people who live here, pay taxes and care about life in JAX, Hogan would have easily won.

what scum go to work to distort an election.

[Steven M Totten]

From the website: www.fairus.org

Non-Citizen Voting in Federal Elections

In 1996, Congress enacted the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, making it a federal crime for non-citizens to vote in any federal election (or state election, unless authorized by state law). As a penalty, ineligible non-citizens who knowingly vote may be deported. Additionally, a non-citizen who falsely claims to be a United States citizen is in violation of this law.

However, there are many documented reports of non-citizen voting,^1 2 and there is no evidence of prosecution of the aliens for their action.  With nearly 19 million foreign-born residents who are not U.S. citizens in the country in the 2000 Census and an estimated 9-11 million illegal residents (many of them not also counted in the Census), the potential is enormous for non-citizens to affect the outcome of elections.

Charges were made in at least three federal elections in California ^3 4 and twice in Florida⁵ that voting by ineligible aliens may have determined the outcome of the election.  For instance: 

• In Florida, election observers say a “sizable number” of Florida votes in the 2000 election may have been cast by ineligible felons, illegal immigrants, and non-citizens. ⁶
• In California, former Republican Rep. Robert K. Dornan was defeated by Democrat Loretta Sanchez by 984 votes in the 1996 election. State officials found that at least 300 votes were cast illegally by non-citizens.⁷

Investigation of the allegations established that aliens had illegally voted in those elections, but not in sufficient numbers to have changed the result.  Authorities appear not to have prosecuted any of the aliens who voted illegally.

It appears that in at least most of these cases, aliens who voted illegally may have done so unknowingly.  This is a result of the enactment of The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) ? known as the Motor-Voter law ? which made the process of registering to vote nearly automatic for people applying for a state driver’s license or ID card, and called for distributing registration applications in state welfare offices.⁸  Under this law, the information supplied by the applicant for a license doubles as information for voter registration unless the applicant indicates that he/she does not want to be registered to vote.⁹  With driver’s licenses made available by several states to aliens (both legal and illegal), it seems likely that voter rolls now contain large numbers of non-citizens ? enough in close elections to change the outcome if those aliens illegally vote.¹⁰  An effort in Congress in 1998 to preclude the registration of non-citizens was narrowly defeated.¹¹

It is possible that some illegal aliens applying for driver’s licenses deliberately, rather than accidentally, may seek voter registration, in order to help establish identity for the purposes of illegal employment.  The employer sanctions law adopted in 1986 to deter employment of illegal aliens allows a voter registration card to be used as one of the documents that establishes the employee’s identity.  That document, plus a Social Security card, is all that is necessary to establish work eligibility.

Compounding the potential for non-citizen voting to corrupt our election process are two other offshoots from the 1993 NVRA.  Absentee voting has become ubiquitous, so there is no opportunity for the elections officials to challenge the voter in person as a possible illegal voter or to monitor the voting to assure that the voter is voting independently.  And, those who would challenge the eligibility of voters are constrained by protections against intimidation of voters.  

The solution to the potential for aliens illegally voting and thereby corrupting elections is obvious.  Anyone applying for voter registration who is foreign born should be asked to provide evidence of U.S. citizenship, and that information should be verified with the citizenship records of the Department of Homeland Security. 

 

---

[1]  “Fraud Roundup,” United Press International, January 26, 2001.

[2] “Putnam Opposed Voting Reform Act,” Lakeland, Florida Ledger, December 17, 2001.  Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) is quoted:  “Now we find that one of the guys that flew into the buildings in New York had voted in Florida,” (referring to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers).  “Think about it,” he said. “You are told you are entitled to public assistance and then almost in the same breath asked if you want to register to vote.  Now, if you think that registering to vote is tied to getting assistance or to getting your driver’s license, you are going to say, ‘Yes.’”

[3] Samuel Francis, “Voters—the Democrats Seek Them Everywhere,” Washington Times, February 17, 1995.  “Fraudulent voting by illegal aliens or legal immigrants not yet citizens has been documented in a number of elections in the past — in Florida in 1989, in Los Angeles in 1988, and in some nine California counties in 1982, to mention only a few — and Republican Michael Huffington claims alien voting helped him lose last year’s California Senate race to Diane Feinstein.”

[4]  “Ineligible Voters May Have Cast a Number of Florida Ballots,” Washington Times, November 29, 2000. 

[5] Ibid. 

[6]  Ibid.

[7]  Ibid.  

[8] “Illegal Voters,” Honolulu Advertiser, September 9, 2000. Election officials found 543 Oahu residents who were not U.S. citizens had registered to vote. The officials speculated a number of factors may have resulted in the voter irregularities, including language barriers and the ease of voter registration. 

[9] John Fund's Political Diary, Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2000. “Voter fraud has become a bigger problem since the 1993 federal Motor Voter law required states to allow people to register to vote when they get a driver’s licenses; 47 states don't require any proof of U.S. residence for enrollment.”  

[10] On September 26, 1996, California’s Secretary of State ordered county voter registrars not to permit non-citizens to vote in the November 1996 elections, after it was revealed that 727 non-citizens in Los Angeles county had filled out the voter registration form attached to the driver’s license application under the new “motor voter” law. 

[11] Rep. Steve Horn (R-CA-38), observing a rapid increase in non-citizen voting, introduced the Voter Eligibility Verification Act that would have given voter registrars the ability to eliminate non-citizen voting. Although the bill received a majority of the votes cast, the Rules under which it was brought to the House floor required a two-thirds majority and so it failed to pass. (H.R. 1428, 105th Congress) (Voter Eligibility Verification Pilot Program Act of 1998, H.R. 3485, 105th Congress)  

Updated 11/03