# Democracy is dead in Georgia **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 9, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697 "2018-10-09T15:19:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/141 "2018-10-10T23:14:38Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Which makes you continuing to say the opposite of what I actually said, even after I repeatedly clarified it, all the more baffling. You mean quoting your post specifically and repeating your exact words is “the opposite of what you actually said”? Please, by all means, explain how that works. You’ll notice that I’m being extremely careful to only quote your own exact words of praise for Dunn. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2018, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/142 "2018-10-10T23:38:26Z")
> [@Not\_Carlson](#): > > I found an example of the type of [registration verification "postcard"](https://www.gregpalast.com/wp-content/uploads/postcard.jpg)that was sent out. > I wouldn’t say it looks like junk mail (at least, not what I’m used to in a totally different part of the world, so, I dunno). > > It does say “BOARD OF REGISTRARS” and “IMPORTANT INFORMATION” in big, bold letters, so there’s that, I guess. > It also \*doesn’t \*say “VOTER REGISTRATION VERIFICATION!” in big, bold letters, so there’s also that. > > I think people’s opinions on whether this constituted fair notification will depend on where their political interests lie. I get 3-4 letters per week from Cox Communications that are labeled “IMPORTANT CUSTOMER INFORMATION!” but they’re all just mass-mail marketing bullshit. I learned after the first 2 not to ever open another one. A tear-away envelope thing like that marked VOTER REGISTRATION VERIFICATION might have a 50% of getting opened by me because I really care about voting. For the general population, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/143 "2018-10-10T23:47:44Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > IAN **Steophan** and am not sure what jurisdiction he’s talking about, but if his location “Nottingham” refers to the UK, [here’s what the UK says about it](https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocracy/localdemocracyandelections/faqsaboutvotingandregister.aspx#ques17): Yes, and here’s a [cite](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18179075)for it being compulsory to register. It’s an older article, but it describes the transition to the current individual registration system. I’ve never actually heard of anyone being punished for not registering, it sounds like you’d have to actively refuse more than once, rather than just forget or whatever. It’s a simple system of returning a form the local government send to you, or filling the same form out online. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/144 "2018-10-10T23:50:56Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You mean quoting your post specifically and repeating your exact words is “the opposite of what you actually said”? Please, by all means, explain how that works. You’ll notice that I’m being extremely careful to only quote your own exact words of praise for Dunn. I said, repeatedly and clearly, that his shooting at the fleeing car should be considered attempted murder. For some reason you are lying about that, and saying that I consider it to be self defence, despite me repeatedly telling you otherwise. It doesn’t seem a difficult thing to comprehend, and I’m frankly at a loss as to why you can’t grasp it. I mean, it couldn’t possibly be that you understand just fine but are lying about what I say? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/145 "2018-10-10T23:56:33Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > I would be very surprised if they were afraid of “black” people. Georgia has a high percentage of so called “black” people. The south in general is less segregated than the small amounts of northern and western “blacks”. > > This website being, based on a weekly column out of Chicago, is over-represented by “white” dominated states, especially the upper Midwest, West, and Northeast. > > This is a home to people not familiar with how “blacks” and “whites” exist together in the South. This explains the cartoonish theories on race and race relations that pass around here that usually feature defenses of race-based political policy and wholesale denial of agency to so-called “non-whites”. You think people from Chicago are unfamiliar with how blacks and whites exist together? Chicago!? You post some dumb ass shit, but this is like another level of dumb as fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/146 "2018-10-11T00:08:16Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > This is a home to people not familiar with how “blacks” and “whites” exist together in the South. > [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > You think people from Chicago are unfamiliar with how blacks and whites exist together? Chicago!? > > You post some dumb ass shit, but this is like another level of dumb as fuck. I reserve judgment on the dumb-as-fuckedness of either you or **WillFarnaby** , but I notice that you’ve left out three words that completely change the meaning of what he said. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/147 "2018-10-11T00:14:35Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > I said, repeatedly and clearly, that his shooting at the fleeing car should be considered attempted murder. For some reason you are lying about that, and saying that I consider it to be self defence, despite me repeatedly telling you otherwise. > > It doesn’t seem a difficult thing to comprehend, and I’m frankly at a loss as to why you can’t grasp it. I mean, it couldn’t possibly be that you understand just fine but are lying about what I say? What does this have to do with my posts? I quoted you, very specifically and clearly. I haven’t posted anything about you except your specific words of praise for Dunn. You praised Dunn, a convicted murderer who shot at fleeing children, as “the sort of people normal people want around them”. It’s a fact that you said this about convicted murderer who shot at fleeing children Michael Dunn. I pointed this out because it seemed hilarious after you feigned such of fence and horror at someone suggesting executing the treasonous. You’re not even trying to deny it. You’re just trying to distract or something. But you can’t pretend you didn’t post this – it’s here on this board for all to see. Face it – you said that convicted murderer who shot at fleeing children Michael Dunn is “the sort of people normal people want around them”. I’m quoting your exact words – the words you posted about Dunn. Is it that hard to face your own reality that you must continue with these distractions? All you need to say is “Oops, that was incredibly dumb of me to post – I don’t believe that about Dunn and I wish I had never posted it”. Do that and I’ll never again mention your hilarious praise for this convicted murderer who shot at fleeing children. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/148 "2018-10-11T00:20:21Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I reserve judgment on the dumb-as-fuckedness of either you or **WillFarnaby** , but I notice that you’ve left out three words that completely change the meaning of what he said. I didn’t leave shit out. I quoted the whole post. You, on the other hand, left out like 80% of his post that makes the meaning of his post clear and the same with or without those three words. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/149 "2018-10-11T00:23:34Z")
Here’s the hilarious praise from **Steophan** for convicted murderer Michael Dunn, who shot at fleeing children, in case anyone missed it earlier: > [@Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/12451): > > People like Zimmerman, who was trying to prevent further burglaries in his neighbourhood, or Dunn, who wanted the selfish scumbags to stop their antisocial noise pollution, are the sort of people normal people want around them. Feel free to read the entire post, in fact, just to make sure I’m not missing any context. In the very next sentence, he says Dunn, that convicted murderer who shot at fleeing children, was “trying to improve their lives and those of the people around them”. Seriously, he really used those words to describe a convicted murderer who shot at fleeing children. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/150 "2018-10-11T00:43:35Z")
The difference with the English example is that everyone knows what the rules are. That the GOP is rescinding registrations by surprise and keeping it secret only reveals their Boss Hogg intentions. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/151 "2018-10-11T01:01:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > In the very next sentence, he says Dunn, that convicted murderer who shot at fleeing children, was “trying to improve their lives and those of the people around them”. Seriously, he really used those words to describe a convicted murderer who shot at fleeing children. Actually, I think the next sentence deserves to be quoted in full (bolding mine): > [@Steophan](#): > > People like Zimmerman, who was trying to prevent further burglaries in his neighbourhood, or Dunn, who wanted the selfish scumbags to stop their antisocial noise pollution, are the sort of people normal people want around them. And yet, when they get attacked for trying to improve their lives and those of the people around them (at least, those who aren’t antisocial scum), **you say they’re criminals and unreasonable people** Steophan, do you repudiate the above sentence? If not, then as far as any reasonable person could tell iiandyiiii is entirely in the right here. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/152 "2018-10-11T01:18:05Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > IAN **Steophan** and am not sure what jurisdiction he’s talking about, but if his location “Nottingham” refers to the UK, [here’s what the UK says about it](https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocracy/localdemocracyandelections/faqsaboutvotingandregister.aspx#ques17): [Here is the Wikipedia article on compulsory voting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_voting#Current_use_by_countries). The United Kingdom is noticeably absent from the lists therein. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/153 "2018-10-11T01:33:49Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Yes, and here’s a [cite](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18179075)for it being compulsory to register. It’s an older article, but it describes the transition to the current individual registration system. I’ve never actually heard of anyone being punished for not registering, it sounds like you’d have to actively refuse more than once, rather than just forget or whatever. > > It’s a simple system of returning a form the local government send to you, or filling the same form out online. Do you not understand the difference between _registering to vote_ and _actually voting_. Look, I’ve had thankfully little interaction with you on this board, but, seriously, **Lance Turbo** has you pegged. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/154 "2018-10-11T01:35:26Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > [Here is the Wikipedia article on compulsory voting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_voting#Current_use_by_countries). The United Kingdom is noticeably absent from the lists therein. Yabbut compulsory **registration** to vote is different from compulsory **voting**. The former is requiring eligible voters to identify themselves as such, the latter is requiring them actually to cast votes in elections. ETA: **Monty** , I may be missing something here, but ISTM that registration to vote rather than voting is what **Steophan** has been talking about since post #137. Was that a digression from a discussion of voting itself? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/155 "2018-10-11T01:43:35Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Yabbut compulsory **registration** to vote is different from compulsory **voting**. The former is requiring eligible voters to identify themselves as such, the latter is requiring them actually to cast votes in elections. > > ETA: **Monty** , I may be missing something here, but ISTM that registration to vote rather than voting is what **Steophan** has been talking about since post #137. Was that a digression from a discussion of voting itself? :smack: Thanks. I dumbfucked on my reading comprehension. Sorry, **Steophan**. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/156 "2018-10-11T03:35:18Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When the local telephone company was sold to a different company, the first bills they sent out had big, bold, lettering IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION type crap. I got one of their mailings at work and threw it away with the other junk mail. > > They redesigned their envelopes and resent the monthly bills. They forgave late fees since 20% of their customers did as I did and tossed their first mailing away, unopened. > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I get 3-4 letters per week from Cox Communications that are labeled “IMPORTANT CUSTOMER INFORMATION!” but they’re all just mass-mail marketing bullshit. I learned after the first 2 not to ever open another one. > > A tear-away envelope thing like that marked VOTER REGISTRATION VERIFICATION might have a 50% of getting opened by me because I really care about voting. > > For the general population, not so much. I agree, they’re certainly not going out of their way to make the significance of this notification abvious. I think it’s quite reasonable to suspect that the notifications were designed to be overlooked. If they had done the bare minimum of printing “VOTER REGISTRATION VERIFICATION” on the front, I would be just a little less suspicious of the sincerity of their actions. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/157 "2018-10-11T04:50:23Z")
Couldn’t the Georgia electoral office (or whatever it’s called) issue some Community Service ads on the telly/radio/local FB sites in the weeks before to inform the folk to expect an IMPORTANT REGISTRATION LETTER in the mail? Honestly, with something so fundamentally important as the right to fucking VOTE in an election, any election, a stupid semi-junkmail letter arriving without forewarning reeks of something nasty and piscatorial. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/158 "2018-10-11T07:33:25Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Oh, and [Bob.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._%22Bob%22_Dobbs#/media/File:Bobdobbs.png) I see your “Bob” and raise you a [BOB](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TwinPeaksBob.jpg). “Catch you with my voter suppression bag.” “You may think I’ve gone insane, but I promise I will suppress voters again!” ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/159 "2018-10-11T10:32:27Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The fantasy philosophies in your head may well be bankrupt – you’d certainly know that better than I would. > > But if you’d like to find out how real-world liberals and progressives and Democrats think, there are a bunch of us here who would probably be willing to answer your questions, even as hostile as you usually are. There have been plenty of answers from “real-world liberals and progressives”, as oxymoronic as that phrase is, that have informed by knowledge of their beliefs. If your feelings are hurt because I call a spade a spade, perhaps that is evidence of inner guilt. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697/160 "2018-10-11T10:36:24Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The fantasy philosophies in your head may well be bankrupt – you’d certainly know that better than I would. > > But if you’d like to find out how real-world liberals and progressives and Democrats think, there are a bunch of us here who would probably be willing to answer your questions, even as hostile as you usually are. > [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > You think people from Chicago are unfamiliar with how blacks and whites exist together? Chicago!? > > You post some dumb ass shit, but this is like another level of dumb as fuck. Read for comprehension. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democracy-is-dead-in-georgia/822697.md?page=9)