Special Georgia Election Edition

Faithful readers, I present the first political blog in the history of Expecting the Spanish Inquisition. Georgia voters will probably want to print it out and take it to the voting booth with you when you vote. Readers from other states may want to print it out in honor of Seth Harp (read below for that to make sense.)

So Tuesday is Primary Election day in Georgia.

"But Luke," you say, "you live in North Carolina, why do you care about Georgia primaries?"

That, fellow netizens, is a great question, and one that I can answer fairly simply. I don't care. But apparently I'm supposed to care. At least, a few candidates in Georgia believe I'm supposed to care.

Last week, Seth Harp, a Republican candidate for State Insurance Commissioner, sent me a flier touting his candidacy. At first, I didn't pick up on what it was. North Carolina's primaries were a few months ago, so I couldn't figure out why I was getting campaign literature this far out from the election. Then, I actually bothered to read the flier and realized that Harp's campaign hadn't bothered to update their list to realize that at least one of their addresses is not only out of state, but had registered and already voted in both city and state elections.

I quickly skimmed over his flier before coming to something that made me laugh. One of the bullet points Harp highlighted was how he would eliminate waste. This amused me. Not that I don't believe him, it's that sending campaign literature to an out-of-state person who isn't registered to vote in your election seems like the exact opposite of eliminating waste. He's actually actively creating waste. (See, I told you the comment at the beginning would eventually make sense.)

Despite all that, I hope he wins. He cares enough to want to know what people he doesn't represent and isn't accountable to are thinking. None of the other State Insurance Commissioner candidates care what a North Carolinian thinks. But Harp . . . Harp does. That's dedication. Sure, he may be unqualified, not be able to actually fulfill any of his campaign promises and generally be among the worst candidates in the field, but no one else cared to try to try to win my vote.

Also caring what people who can't vote for him nor would he represent should he be victorious is Eric Johnson, Republican candidate for Georgia governor. He, like Harp, sent me campaign literature last week. Unfortunately, all it did was tell me about his personal life (here's a hint: I don't care how long you've been married or what church you attend) and didn't seem to go into the issues I care about. For example, if he wins, will he try to steal part of North Carolina like Georgia's current governor did with Tennessee? Will North Carolina need to call up its National Guard to defend the tiny portion of my state that borders Georgia? Is he a Blue Devil or a Tar Heel? Or maybe a Demon Deacon (at which point, his church membership may be something I'd want to know.)

Perusing Johnson's campaign website yielded no answers to these questions. As such, I can't endorse Johnson for governor until he clarifies his positions on these critical issues. So Johnson, try as you did, I can't give you my vote tomorrow.