Dean - you must be on Alice Walton's payroll as well! Talk about spin - Walmart is not a monopoly but my locally elected school board is. Go ahead give the billionaires access to the last pot of money they don't yet control. These folks have raised propaganda to an art form - have to give you all credit for that.

I for one will vote NO to Amendment One. (1.) There is no cap on the number of charter schools that can be approved each year by this unelected board of political cronies, a duplication of the existing charter school approval process. We already have a constitutional process in place to approve charter schools. (2.) Our Georgia Constitution should never be amended unless absolutedly necessary which is not true in this case. (3.) The parents and children who might possibly need another school choice often live in low-income, impoverished communities. That population would need transportation to the charter school. Charter schools do not currenlty provide transportation. Charter schools are more likely to be placed in higher income communities. (4) This amendment and its associated H.B. 797 do not require that teachers be certified nor that they be U.S. citizens. (5.) This legislation also requires that the charter schools have the same federal testing manadates as traditional schools which removes the very advantage previous charter schools offered. In conclusion, I am voting NO to the blank check this unelected commission will most surely request. Please work with our current legislators to removed federal mandates and interference in our schools. That will get us on the right road to recovery.

Dean, there is no such thing as status quo in education. Politicians, like yourself, who have no idea what is best in education, are continuously changing policies in education. Most of the time to the detriment of education.

@ Monty - I'm in Education and I am here to say that YES, there is a status quo in Education. Not every district, or every school, or every teacher believes in delivering high quality customer service. Particularly in a district or school where there is a high incidence of behavior issues. In these cases, people often feel that they are martyrs and that poor professional behavior is justifiable after years of service. Instead of being removed or removing themselves for burnout, they stay and sour the experiences of groups of children. If administration is more concerned with making AYP than with making sure that there are high levels of engagement and positivity in a classroom, then it doesn't matter how many parents complain about the treatment of the children. VOTE YES FOR AMENDMENT ONE. PARENTS IN GEORGIA NEED MORE CHOICES WHEN THEY ONLY HAVE ONE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL CHOICE.

Then why not get rid of AYP? It's a joke in the first place. So is "customer service". You should be educating the students, not giving them grades to appease them. The main concern I hear from the teachers I talk to is that parents are more concerned with grades and not that their children are actually learning. The good teachers are berated when their students are not receiving good grades because the teacher has high expectations. Is it the teachers fault when students are not studying at home, stay up until 3AM playing games or on the internet, or just poor parenting? Why hasn't there been a shift to placing more responsibility on the students and parents so that there is an equal share in responsibility between the three?

There's hardly room for change when Admin are overburdened with having to keep up with classroom observations, and teachers are inundated with submitting paperwork which takes away even more time from them focusing on their students needs. NCLB, RTTT, and standardized testing is worthless. These policies should be set at the local level. I'm keeping it local with my vote. I'll be voting NO.

@Monty: Really, customer service is a joke? I'm not talking about giving good grades. I'm talking about treating students with humanity and love. Children learn future behaviors from the role models they have during their childhoods. You need to take a class in child development.

This lady is so clearly into the cool aid, she is not coming out dean. Other than the need to oppose her insane viewpoints, arguing back and forth with her is a waste of time. i do not understand how people think this way, but unfortunately they do.

I love when people use the "Kool-Aid" line... especially when they are permanently attached to the teat of our politicians and can't see past the "udder" corruption.

This amendment is the ultimate entitlement.

Jane, Massachusetts is number one in education on the NAEP tests. Why aren't we modeling our policies after them? Let's jump at anything shall we - this legislation is weak. It's a joke compared to any other state's. A parent group has filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida for failure to live up to their constitutional mandate to provide an adequate education for all children. Charter school scandals abound. Florida is Georgia's model - no difference in NAEP test scores. Can't wait.

Mrs Hooper,I doubt I've enough influence to sway anyone's opinion but thanks for the vote of confidence.

When you actually take a conservative stance on something, rather than backing the status quo that's failing so many GA schoolkids, you might get some respect. Until then, keep shilling for the same system that produced APS and the other accreditation-losing districts you are so blindly in support of and never even acknowledge the existence of. I know - that's not how it is in N. Fulton so what's the problem, right?

I hope this is your last word on the subject, seeing what a poor job you've done with the first few thousand you've typed.

TEA Party opposes this amendment. More spending? More government? Change the Constitution? This amendment will lead to more taxes to support two school systems... "Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck"? Looks like you're the Liberal, Dan.

Monty, only a single branch of the TEA Party led by Debbie Dooley supports NO. The rest of the TEA party is voting YES, as they're aware of the disaster being foisted upon us by the various admins in the public schools.

It's very similar to the Steroid Scandal in Major League Baseball: As we found out (and already knew), Mark McGwire wasn't the only one using steroids - just the most prominent.

Similarly, the test-score-altering cheating is certainly not limited to APS - they're just the district stupid enough to get caught. Before they got caught, all our funding was going to subsidize these cheaters. And remember: Had the Atlanta newspaper not investigated this and found the ridiculous test-score discrepancies,it would most-likely still be ongoing. (APS wasn't very good at cheating, it seems) The schools aren't reporting themselves.

APS is Mark McGwire-the big-name that got caught. So...which other districts are Roger Clemens? Barry Bonds?Andy Pettitte? Which other districts haven't been caught yet?

Voters need to familiarize themselves with APS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Public_Schools_cheating_scandal

Vote YES to give parents a chance to avoid these cheaters. Charter schools cannot possibly do a worse job providing an education than the status quo is doing now.

So lets open more schools with less oversight? I don't see your reasoning? Should we start a new baseball league?

The fallacy in your thinking Monty, is that ONLY government can provide "oversight" for our schools. Parents are far better stewards of their children's education than ANY government employee!

And the Forsyth County Tea Party does NOT oppose this amendment!

Are there any TEA Party branches that support it?

Are all the students in the district schools orphaned? I'm missing your point Hal.

Hal, this amendment will create more government... That's about all it does.

Monty,

Have you actually read the amendment? It creates NOTHING! It reinstates authority to the State Charter Commission, which ALREADY exists, to hear appeals from parents and charter companies in the event that their application is rejected by the local BoE. That is ALL it does! The State Charter Commission has been in existence since 2008 and was functioning just fine until last year's stupid court ruling!

Hal, can you name the members on the "already existing" commission?

Voting YES will decrease government because if the public schools can not keep up with charter schools than they will get no business. No parent in their right mind will send their child to a public school that does more poorly than a private charter school.

We pay less and the kids get a better education.

Andrew, only 17% of charters have shown to be better than their public counterpart. They certainly are not cheaper, unless you are only looking at the money that actually makes its way to the classrooms.

Andrew, private charter school!? They are PUBLIC schools. And, did you know that only 38 of 150 met their goals last year in Georgia? So what were you saying about 'under-performing public schools' again?

Do your homework - Charter Schools perform the same or WORSE than traditional public schools. Here's a great start: http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/National_Release.pdf. And they almost ALWAYS have a more 'desirable' population to educate. Take a look at the fiasco in FL with Charters and SPED students: http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/tag/disabled-in-florida-charters/. Lastly, visit the DOE website and compare ethnicity, free/reduced lunch and ELL students between CCSD schools and CCA. The numbers are staggering. And CCA performed NO BETTER than CCSD (comparing CRCT scores), though I would think the school would blow the county out of the water with a whopping ONE ELL (English-language Learner) student last year.

Monty, you're wrong. Almost all charter schools outperform almost all traditional public schools - it's not even close. Here in GA, our public schools can't even get 7 of 10 kids to graduate on time. Yet you want to bend over backwards to continue this dismal D- grade in HS education. Meanwhile, charter HS graduate over 90% of kids. Yet you want to end these alternatives to your D- approach.

Vote YES to Amendment 1 and 'no' to the D- mentality.

Dan, you are wrong. The most inclusive, unbiased Stanford CREDO study shows that public schools are much more likely to outperform charter schools. Where's your data proving otherwise?

Most students that do not graduate are due to low socioeconomic status, not because of the schools that they attend. Charters have a higher ratio of students that come from affluent families, and have parents with the freedom to volunteer and drive them to and from school. Many public schools students do not have these liberties as they work multiple jobs. Many students will drop out to support their families due to illnesses as well. When a receiving school doesn't report the transfer, the student will also count as a drop out. And I'm sure that charters will kick out any students that are not performing, or at least make their experience one that will cause them to move back to public schools so they are not affected by their failure.

Dan, I can't find those 90% grad rates for charter schools in Georgia.... Especially the state charters. please don't point to Walton high school as your example, it was high performing 30 years ago, decades before it converted.

Hal, you still looking for those members of the commission that doesn't exist?

Looks like the YES voters are having the last word, Mrs. Hooper.

did you ever consider that a majority of Georgians might actually with me?

I guess you're finding that out now.

Thanks for driving many of the undecideds to the 21st century side of the argument with these blogs of yours. The no-ideas negativity of the NO crowd did more damage than anything I ever typed.

You should be looking for NO votes, Monty. You're gonna need about 600,000 more of 'em at this point.

What a loud statement the YES crowd has made. Congratulations, children of Georgia - the real winners of this election.

Bob, the ranking is not accurate as it compares 80% of our student population to less than 20% of more than half of the other states. If you compare our top 20% to have a real comparison, we would be in the top 15, possibly top 10.

We need to give students more choice and less testing. Our legislators (the same ones pushing for amendment 1 and HOST tax) have stripped those choices from our children and inundated them with testing. Do you really think they are now offering you real choice? Seems to me there is something bigger on the agenda and this is just the first step... a reason to divert more funding from the majority of our children and take away more of their choices.

So Monty, why aren't you NO folks fighting for that? Where's the NO crowd protests and lobbying for less-testing and more choice? Your agenda is clear - you've no real interest in educational improvement - only increases in taxation to get more funding, even though all studies and real-world data show that there's no correlation with increased spending and educational performance.

Meanwhile, the system you heap praise on is resulting in 50% of GA tech. college students needing remedial education due to your system not preparing them. It's resulting in a 66% HS graduation rate (compared to 90% for charter HSs).

The main reason Amendment 1 is needed is to correct the decades of damage you NO people have inflicted on it through your insistence on more funding and less accountability. You liberals have only one solution to all of life's problems: More funding. It doesn't work, as Cherokee County's recent high SAT scores (after several years of spending CUTS) proved. Those, after years of spending increases resulted in SAT-score stagnation.

Then put your (lack of) money where your mouth is...and accept less funding for chartyrs. Repeal 797.

Monty, when I see you, Frank, and Mrs. Hooper at the Capital, protesting for real improvements in education rather than just keyboard-cowboying' for more funding, I'll join you - how's that?

Why don't you folks ever do anything to try and improve education?

Not more funding, adequate funding. Maybe we can all carpool down in January. We can use your parking space Chip has reserved for you.

Monty, the funding is already 'adequate' enough to give every CCSD employee an across-the-board, no-questions-asked 3$ raise in January. Funding is already adequate enough for record high SAT test scores in CCSD.

See you in January - but you and your 3% raise can pick up the gas tab. Those of us living in Planet Reality aren't getting 3% raises.

I won't be getting any raise in January. So I'm not sure who you think you're talking to. However, where else can employees be the best around and not be expected to get a raise. Teachers should get a lot more than that. Especially the under valued, over worked, and under paid chartyr school teachers.

You hit the nail on the head - from someone with a Master's degree in Education.

Monty, our teachers are already very well-paid, esp. since most of them only work 8 months/year. GA's teacher pay rate is far, far higher than the educational metrics they're in charge of teaching. Once again, as CCSD's SAT scores show, more money never equates to an increase in performance, unless you're APS and just alter the test scores. I know you libs loving squandering and spending as much tax $$$ as you can, but there's not a single instance of that failed philosophy actually working.

And fund the Teachers & Classrooms first, and they'd get an immediate 8-furlough-days raise. Instead, your hero supers get to siphon off the top.

You contradict yourself in less than a paragraph... again, proving my point.

Bob,
"If a school performs well, more will go to it, so it will receive more funding, and the opposite for bad schools. Wouldn't it be great if the failing public schools of Atlanta could be replaced by well-performing charter schools. Our drop-out rate is very high. No amount of state and national standards will fix that"
But if the failing schools are replaced, where will the troubled kids go?

1. Amendment 1's passage would cement your point. So what's the fear of making it part of the constitution, so that short-sighed local boards couldn't dictate choice to parents, as they currently do?
2. Studies show that charters always outperform traditional public schools. GA traditional public HS grad rate: 66%. Charter HS grad rate: 90%. Though you fear it, competition and accountability WORK.
4. Public schools don't provide public elections of officials outside of board members. Superintendents, admins, principals - all are appointed. Superintendents are contractors - it's not surprising that most act in ways that are harmful to education. See APS, Bibb, Dekalb, Clayton, and other districts on the verge of losing accreditation. Superintendents DO NOT CARE about public education - only funding.
4. Our schools ARE 48th in the nation. Obfuscate stats all you want, but our test scores lag even those states that test similar %s of students.
5. Non-charter GA High schools are graduating 66% of students on time Not only is this embarrassing and another of the numerous examples of the system failing our children, it's also adding tremendous added cost to a system whose adherents spend every waking moment begging more money for.
6. The Charter amendment is being pushed by a majority of GA voters and is a BiPartisan issue. Even many Democrats are awake to the reality of our educational failures and desire choice for their constituents.

Vote YES for excellence.

Dan, the "majority" of people voting for this are being influenced by politicians who are influenced by profiting corporations. This is backwards, but explains why Georgia is ranked as the most corrupt state in the US. People should influence politicians, not the other way around.

(This is where Steely Dan says the opponents are being bullied by the overpaid superintendents that don't earn their pay, and teacher's unions (that don't exist). Then, being the teacher hater that he is, say something snarky about teachers being overpaid and trying to protect their bloated salaries. What other profession can a person do a great job, attract more "customers" and get paid less?). Sorry, Dan. We know all your talking points. Something knew perhaps?

Elizabeth Hooper: "Dr. Barge is my hero"

This isn't my talking point, Monty. I'm just quoting your buddy Liz. The NO folks haven't had an original thought on this topic - you mouth every single bit of nonsense that flows out of your local superintendents, who care only about protecting their billions-dollar budgets.

Prove me wrong - say something (anything) new. Bring something "new" to the table.

That's "new"...as in 'opposite of old'. Not "knew", as in "I knew Monty had no idea of what he was talking about."

Steely, if the best argument you have is against a misuse of one word on a blog, you might want to revisit your stash of intellectual weapons. After wasting many hours following the Patch comments (I must be bored), Monty has brought up several important concerns and questions about the Amendment. I'm hearing the 'same ole' same ole' from you:

1) You think Superintendents (especially the Big Bad Dr. P! Oh my!) make too much money, but fail to apply that same principle to out-of-state for-profit charter EMO's, and
2) You believe that 'money won't fix this problem' (I'm 100% positive that apprpriate funding will restore our full calendar year in Cherokee, but maybe I'm just being crazy!).

So, pray tell. If a Superintendent makes $200,000 a year to run a district with nearly 40,000 kids and 4,500 employees, how much should say... Jon Hage with CSUSA make? Oh wait, the 'free market' dictates that - I guess we shouldn't ask that question even though Georgia taxpayer funds line his pockets in Florida! Oops! Uber-Conservative Hypocrisy 101. Moving on.

and...

If money won't fix CCSD's current financial woes of furloughs, staff reductions/attrition, skyrocketing healthcare costs, large class sizes, just what will? And don't you dare say 'look at Forsyth County.' This is CHEROKEE COUNTY.

Thanks in advance for your response.

It was a simple parapraxis. As in "I knew you had nothing new" or "Vote kNOw".

Common Sense

- ESPLOST is allegedly handling capital expenses.
- Record-high SAT scores prove that massive spending increases aren't needed. If anything, we should trim even more Admin/Superintendent overhead. We'd likely see SAT scores increase again if we did. Admins and Supers are in no way, shape, nor form responsible for students getting an education. Teachers and active parents deserve 100% of the credit here. Neither group needs a bunch of overpaid fatcats telling them how to do their job. Check the salaries of these CCSD admins: All are over $125K. For what, exactly? Why do these people deserve money that is actually being earned by teachers in classrooms?

Question: Given the complete lack of evidence to support your assertion...just how does increasing funding help? Seeing that our SAT scores were stagnant and mediocre when we were spending like drunken sailors....and have only increased after a few consecutive years of spending cuts, why would we want to return to the educational stagnation that resulted from 2+ decades of a doubling in per-child spending? We need to educate kids for cheaper - the way all charter schools do. Cut the super's salary and all his (numerous) admins in half. Give all that money to teachers. If the super or his (numerous) admins complain, fire 'em on the spot. Plenty will do their job for 50% off without complaint nor monthly vehicle expenses.

High SAT scores are a result of a well-educated student population, thanks to dedicated teachers and parents working together. Administrators certainly play a huge part in the day-to-day operations of a well-run school, and school district, so I disagree with you there - they help 'set the stage' for success. Teachers need to teach, not worry about the multiple functions of their school and district - which is why we need a solid Administration as well. I'm not sure where the 'fat cat' references comes from as CCSD has one of the LOWEST Administrative overheads in the state. If you don't like Dr. P, that's a personal problem. The numbers speak for themselves - we certainly don't overspend in Admin.

And I wonder how long CCSD teachers will be as dedicated moving forward? If the district continues to spiral down the financial toilet, and furloughs increase, days are continually lengthened, healthcare costs continue to double every year, what kind of morale will that lead to? I believe teachers are already underpaid as is, and this is a several-thousand dollar blow to every teacher, every year. Are we all suffering? Sure. But do we, in the private sector, have mud thrown at our jobs regularly? Get blamed for the woes of society, but are expected to fix it? Perform better in worsening conditions? For most of us - NOPE!

@Ralph - not all the liberals are against this amendment or charter schools. Although the financing of the support for the amendment is not a source I consider friendly, and although I believe the language in the amendment to be biased - I AM A LIBERAL AND I SUPPORT ANY VESSEL THAT WILL CLEAR THE WAY FOR MORE BRIDGES TO CHARTER SCHOOLS IN GEORGIA.

Athens Mama, no one said liberals were against, Liberal arguments are anti choice and I salute you for your "SUPPORT" of other "BRIDGES". I also agree that the language is biased and should not be included on the ballot.

Frank, we're already giving out-of-state, for-profit companies millions of $$$ every day to supply the schools with the materials they need to operate. Everything from bus fuel to lunch food to books to computers: All going to out-of-state, for-profit companies.

And you know what - there's not a darn thing wrong with that.

Why do you liberals hate profit? Without profit, there'll be no money to steal from taxpayers to pay for your stupid ObamaCare plan that you love so much, Frank. It's one of a thousand examples of the short-sighted stupidity of liberal thinking and yet-another reason to vote YES - to give parents a choice around such ignorant, profit-hating communist thinking.

Take your hatred of 'profit' to Cuba and say 'Hi' to Castro, Frank.

Again, Dan... there is a HUGE difference between for-profit VENDORS that offer a book, bus, or computer product and a for-profit MANAGEMENT CORPORATION that operates and manages every aspect of the school from what shirt the kids where to who is employed at the school. The EMO should only be in charge of curriculum, not employment. That should be controlled by the school.

Monty, there's no difference whatsoever.

Profit is profit, whether it be by someone admin'ing world-class schools or someone supplying gasoline to CCSD school buses.

Your definition of profit far below (accurate, btw) is the same in both cases.

PROFIT IS NOT A BAD THING. Though Monty, I don't think you're a Profit-hater like your buddy Frank Jones is.

I don't know Frank Jones. Wish I did, though. He is extremely bright and factual.

Dan, please know that there is a major difference of influence based on one's ability to profit, not that a profit is being made.

Monty, you need to raise your standards for the words 'bright' and 'factual'.

It's actually not a lie that charter schools can be labelled "for profit". They are schools operating in the public school system, but many of them are developed and run by corporations selling charter models. Charter schools are a great idea on paper that is being bent into a voucher model, and as such will provide no fix for the educational system.

Antosc,

You can attempt to twist the truth all you wish. Charter Schools are only operated as 501c3 organizations which are NOT FOR PROFIT"!

The county public schools ALSO use "for profit" organizations to provide services to them, but that does NOT make THEM "for profit" either. STOP the misrepresentations....PLEASE!

Hal, see the explanation above. There is a difference between for-profit vendors and for-profit management corporations.

Profit's profit, Monty.

Hal: "Frank, everything you just said is nonsense!"

I.E - a typical Frank Jones post.

No one is perfect.

Common Sense...you make sense here. The preamble and amendment wording should not hold up in court. The actual amendment has no provisions for parental involvment. Actually, when Jan Jones was asked to put it in 797, she refused!

Time to get a better education for our children by having competition. This will also lower costs as I'm sick of paying taxes in order to pay $100,000 for a kindergarten teacher who gets full benefits.

Andrew, if Kindergarten teachers made $100,000 a year with full benefits, you'd have 90% of the country knocking down every school's doors to teach. That hasn't happened yet. Me thinks it's because of the lousy pay (sorry, I don't know one teacher that makes $100,000 a year, and I know plenty), and blatant disrespect that you, and many others, show the profession.

And for the record, I believe many teachers deserve $100,000 a year for the garbage they deal with. Which is, more or less, a result of lack of parenting at home.

Does this site also show that most teachers put in 12-16 hours a day and work over their unpaid 3 months? I have multiple family members that were teachers and they worked endlessly, even when they weren't being paid. They don't get paid overtime, and they don't get paid more for being the best. This is the only profession that I can think of that their contract is not honored. Your hatred for this group of selfless people is despicable.

Dear Andrew, you might find it enlightening to visit a public school, talk with the teachers and principals, and compute the time they put into their jobs. Then see if that equals an 8 to 5 work day, with time for bathroom breaks and lunch. You would find they work far more than nine months during the school year. Did you know teachers lead the way in kidney and bladder infections because they can't take breaks from their classrooms?

@Monty: You are completely correct in your assessment of the hours and dues paid by teachers. I just spent about 6 hours on Sunday planning lessons and writing a readers' theatre for my class. I work at least 6 days a week. In my opinion, teacher pay in Georgia could be better, but I do get 2 months in the summer, as well as a week on spring break, and 2 weeks over the holidays. It's not such a bad deal. There are federal programs to forgive student loans, programs to improve pay, such as advanced degree incentives, and local incentives like in one county in South Florida where teachers make an extra $36,000 per year just for completing 2 years of specific professional development and staying in the district. With merit based pay in Georgia, teachers will get paid if their students consistently test high. I'm not sure what I think about this - it hasn't applied to me yet. I will say that I think that with best practices in place as well as a commitment to each individual student, many teachers can improve test scores and qualify for merit based incentives. I don't read a "hatred for this group of selfless people" in the blog posts. I don't. I think though, that we have to be objective. For instance, I stood out on Broad Street on the day of Officer Christian's funeral, but that doesn't mean I stand behind the behaviors of every police officer everywhere. Childcare workers are often underpaid and unappreciated, but we cannot lump them all into a group of "martyrs."

I personally would never want to be a teacher. I have a lot of respect for most of them. My son had 1 kindergarten teacher that really was lazy and pretty much would stay pregnant, in the 4 years my son wast at the APS school, she had 3 kids. She would let the kids watch movies if she didn't feel like teaching. A few of us parents caught her and of course she isn't there anymore. My son is now 12 and I have to say his teachers deserve a lot more money and respect than they get. I totally agree with the type of students the teachers deal with is a lack of parenting. These people that keep having kids to be able to get more welfare so they can supply their drug habit and not really care about what is going on with their kids is really the parents fault. If the school is doing that badly, then the Super. or the BOE needs to take another look at the school and teachers. But opening more schools isn't the answer.

For once, I actually agree with you on something Monty.

You're right - we're in a recession. Yet local districts still want to spend like it's 2006, with you & I picking up the tab. But you're right - we're in a recession. There's less funding for everything, including education.

Which is why we need to vote YES. Charters do the job of education better and cheaper than traditional public schools.

Dan, there is no limit to spending with charters under this amendment. Again, I like charters, but this is not the time to give them free reign.

People, if having someone from MARYLAND blogging on our local Patch, about teacher pay and how wonderful charter schools are, has you a little confused... step back and scratch your head for a moment. They are drooling over YOUR tax dollars should Amendment 1 pass tomorrow. Get the word out TODAY - VOTE NO to profit-seeking goons that see nothing but a price-tag on your kid's head!

The corrupt politicians have more of a negative affect. They are also the status quo. Write in! Do not vote for the status quo legislators! Vote NO on Amendment 1. Vote No on Amendment 2! And WRITE IN "Anyone but Chip" for District 21. NO MORE STATUS QUO! I agree, Dan.

Monty, believe it or not, I suspect we agree on more than we disagree.

Here's the problem with writing-in candidates: It's a complete waste of time.

Under GA Election law, a write-in candidate must announce their write-in candidacy within a month after the end of the primaries. Failure to do so results in such a candidate being ineligible for an election. This is to prevent you & me from writing in "Mickey Mouse", "Monty Brewster" , "Steely Dan", "Frank Jones" or some other comical character and having that guy actually win.

Also, any candidate who lost the primary is ineligible for election in the general. So a candidate like Danny Dukes cannot lose to Janet Read and then try to run as a write-in or member of the other party.

What America really needs is a viable 3rd party that combines the best of the Ds & Rs for the vast majority of America that is in the middle of the political aisle. Unfortunately, the Ds & Rs work actively to shut down any attempts of this nature.

PS: Voting NO is a vote for the Status Quo. But you knew that already.