Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Republican Aceto Gets His Patsy on the Watauga BOE; "ASU Can Drop Dead"

Completely ignoring a Wake County Superior Court judge's ruling in 2014 that the behavior of the Republican duo on the Watauga County Board of Elections amounted to an unconstitutional infringement of voting rights, the newly constituted BOE last night again affirmed its partisan bona fides: On a cold day in hell will they ever approve an Early Voting site on the campus of Appalachian State University.

Nancy Owen
First off in that meeting, Republican Bill Aceto got his replacement for the gone-boy Luke Eggers ... Nancy Owen of Beech Mountain. Very quickly, the citizens attending the meeting found out why she was the Republican pick to replace Eggers: She'll vote the partisan line.

In the discussion of Early Voting for the 2016 primary election, Nancy Owen expressed the opinion that "convenience and accessibility" in voting was a non-issue for her. She also joined Aceto in refusing to allow citizen comment on Early Voting prior to their vote. She's got the partisan genes for the job, all right.

Democratic Board member Stella Anderson pointed out that, statistically, the Board should be looking at a comparable election for Early Voting stats, which would be the presidential primary of 2012. What the stats show:

1. The ASU Early Voting site had by far the most voters per hour of any Early Voting site in the county. (In 2014, when Early Voting was restored in the ASU Student Union for the General Election, that site also led all others in number of voters per hour.)

2. Who was early-voting at the Student Union? Not just students. Hundreds of faculty and staff, whose residences are scattered all over the county, often drove past a satellite Early Voting station in their neighborhoods in order to vote at the Student Union.

3. It has been demonstrated over and over that many citizens want an Early Voting site on the ASU campus. Every citizen who spoke after the board's vote last night expressed anger and regret that the board would not even consider Early Voting at ASU.

4. A report by state Board of Elections Executive Director Kim Strach found no problems with the Early Voting site at ASU during the 2014 General Elections ... despite Bill Aceto's multiple weak excuses for why he doesn't want students to vote.

Watauga County Republicans -- if they didn't hate students so vividly -- ought to be pissed at the Aceto-Owen arrogance. It's Republicans who have the hot primary race for president (Democrats too, for that matter), and many many Appalachian State staff people are registered Republicans and would appreciate the convenience of a voting site on the campus where they work.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I guess some consider themselves more equal than others.

I am shocked that those Repubs have the nerve to think that they can imitate the Dems!

Oh Suzannah said...

OMG! Sarah Palin has gotten onto Watauga Watch, and she brought her word salad!

Unknown said...

Jerry, it's time both of us turned off the fog machine concerning our desire or lack thereof for an early voting site/polling place on ASU's campus. Democrats want it because of the large number of democrat votes on campus. Votes that will not be cast unless there is a polling place on their way to class. The republicans don't want it for the same reasons. This does not cast either of us in a very flattering light. But at least, let's tell the truth about it.

J.W. Williamson said...

Mr. Wilson, with your insult of ASU students in mind, I appreciate your admission that the Watauga GOP's agenda is the suppression of the student vote, which is actually pretty much illegal. And I can see why the Watauga GOP wastes no time trying to win their hearts and minds to vote for their side ... since you (and they) so clearly think so little of them as fellow citizens.

Anonymous said...

The local GOP doesn't want anyone with an ASU connection to vote early...Students, Faculty, Staff

Anonymous said...

I have nothing to do with ASU - I'm not a student, I don't work there. And yet that's where I went to vote - easier to get to than fighting for the 3 spaces at the courthouse.

Millennial Mike said...

Yeah, it would be easier for me if they would put a voting booth in my garage. Why should I have to travel all the way to a polling place? To hell with them. If they don't put one in my garage, I just won't vote! That will show them!

Anonymous said...

THERE IT IS! Anon 5:39 has uncovered the actual reason behind the push for a voting site at the Student Union. Those pesky professors just won't get up out of their comfy tenured desk chairs where they send emails complaining about voter suppression with their buddies long enough to actually go vote. Beware Students....you are not important to them but merely pawns in their game to remain comfortable hiding behind their tenure.

And forget the scandalous activity that occurs at the student union with student hires that subject those waiting in line inside the buffer to "Pam's Picks" or follow those young voters who are "easy prey" across the buffer zone. No, no you are not allowed to think for yourselves without being inundated with propaganda from the Liberals using you to keep their stronghold on the Town of Boone.

The GOP wants you to vote AND they want the older citizens of your precinct to be able to vote without feeling afraid of being run over by an 18yo on their way to class across campus with a scant 10 min window. No one should be disenfranchised from voting.

Anonymous said...

I love the image of volunteers 'paid to hand out Pam's Picks'....as a 60-something who frequently engages in that activity (always outside the 50-foot buffer zone), I'd like to know where MY check is! ;-)