My home state

[tahnan]

According to CNN, the (Republican) governor of Georgia is trying to get a referendum on the ballot to restore the Confederate flag to the Georgia state flag. This doesn't particularly surprise me.

He's trying to get it on the primary ballot next year and not on the November election ballot, because (according to the CNN article) Republicans don't want something that'll increase voter turnout among blacks for a presidential election. That does sort of surprise me. Or else it just saddens me.

Comments

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

Technically, I think he's going to try to word it as an approve/disapprove vote on the current flag...even though actually the subtext is an attempted return to the old Confederate flag.

The response has been interesting so far--the biggest reaction I've seen has been a call (by the anti-Confed camp) to boycott the referendum. I'm not sure what they intend to accomplish by skewing the results in the Governor's favor; but if the boycott were to take place it would specifically not increase black voter turnout. So go figure.

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

Follow-up: it's going to be a two-question referendum. Part one: do you want to keep the current flag or not? Part two: given the choice between the Confederate-style flag or the one it replaced in 1956, which do you prefer? Voters will have to answer both questions to have their vote counted at all, which will allow the results to be spun pretty much any way the Gov wants. I expect those who prefer the pre-56 flag will split their votes on question one, while those who prefer the starsnbars will vote as a bloc.

I've decided I want to vote for this Georgia flag.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I noticed that double-question thing. It is true that (according to my impressions) everyone hates the current flag, but people who hate it will be somewhat split over whether they prefer the 1956-200x version or the pre-1956 version.

Ah, politics.