Letter to the Editor: The Vote Pirates

Aye matey! Its vote like a Pirate day on July 31, 2012. This is the day that Georgians will go to the polls to impose a 1 percent sales tax on themselves called T-SPLOST. The problem is your vote will not count for much if you live in a small county.

The Georgia Constitution is remarkable in that it allows for “Home Rule” or county self-determination. It has been that way since Georgia started chartering counties. This Regional vote scheme of T-SPLOST completely dismantles “Home Rule” and disenfranchises thousands of voters. Many believe it violates the Georgia Constitution.

T-SPLOST lumps counties into Georgia's 12 Regions set up in the early 1970s during the Carter administration to deliver social services. These regions are not re drawn and proportionally balanced by population, as we do all congressional districts, state house districts, senate districts, and county commission districts. This means the votes from rural counties don't count for much. Your vote will be overridden by the large counties in your Region.

For example, in Region 3 if Gwinnett, Fulton, Cobb, and Dekalb counties vote 67 percent YES for the T-SPLOST, it can't be reversed by all the other counties voting NO. If you live in the other counties you really don't get a vote and there is no county opt-out clause. One hundred percent of the legislature supported a county opt-out clause, but the sponsors of the Bill successfully blocked an up/down vote.

There is plenty of loot in Piracy.  Vote NO T-SPLOST.

Bill Evelyn
Director
State of Georgia Tea Party, LLC