Your vote counts. It is so easy on election day to get busy or have something unexpected come up and, at the end of the day, you realize that you forgot to vote. Then you rationalize and tell yourself that it doesn’t really make any difference anyway.

Two candidates for Board of Education, District 3, Lanier County, Georgia will quickly tell you differently. In the Republican Primary held on May 22, three candidates ran for School Board, District 3. Phillip Connell fell just 9 votes short of winning without a runoff.

I do not live in Lanier County but I do know Phillip Connell. If I lived there Phillip would have received my vote.

In the July 24 runoff, when all the votes were cast, the result was a tie – 170 votes each. So they go another round on August 21, but there is yet another cliff hanger.

One of the candidates, JJ Strickland, is an attorney. He has filed a lawsuit “demanding” an injunction to stop the 2nd run-off and give one of his supporters an opportunity to cast a second vote in the runoff. Here is what happened.

On election day, Tyler Westlake, went to vote. He received a ballot for School Board District 4. Tyler Westlake lives in District 3. When he looked at his the ballot, the candidates for District 3 were not on the ballot.

I know you are thinking that the problem should be easily resolved. He simply had to call an election official and point out that he did not see the candidates from his district.

The election official could void the erroneous ballot and give a correct ballot, or at least a provisional ballot, until they can straighten out the matter of which ballot the voter should receive. Election officials will tell you that these questions come up in every election.

The voting machine itself has a large notice on the screen before the ballot is cast. After making all selections and before casting the ballot, there is a final large screen to make a final review before casting the vote. At the very top of the screen, in large letters is this notice:

“Carefully read all instructions before proceeding. If you have any questions, DO NOT touch anything: contact a poll worker.”

Step 3 of the instructions clearly states, “Your vote is FINAL when Cast Ballot is touched.”

Westlake proceeded to cast his vote. It was only after he voted that he told the election official of the mistake.

Instead of contacting a poll worker, as soon as he saw that District 3 candidates were not on the ballot, Mr. Westlake ignored all the instructions and went ahead and voted. After he cast his ballot, he told the poll worker that received the wrong ballot.

Even with paper ballot voting, the rule is always clear: After you drop your ballot in the ballot box, the vote is final. It is too late to change your mind. It is too late to ask questions. All questions, concerns, doubts, are to be resolved before pushing the button on a voting machine, or releasing the ballot to fall into the ballot box.

Until that moment, a voter can change as often as he or she wants. But once the ballot is cast, it is cast and that vote is final.

Mr. Strickland’s lawsuit is a desperate Hail Mary pass. I suspect that there are more than a few voters in Lanier Board of Education District 3 who view this as grasping for some technicality instead of honestly doing the work to ask every voter for his or her vote.

Common sense and bold faced instructions are clear, “DO NOT touch anything: contact a poll worker.” One cannot change the rules after the game has been played. This sounds more like Democrats in 2000 and hanging chads or Hillary blaming the Russians than it does a Republican Primary in South Georgia.

From a political point, this stunt is an extremely unwise move. I predict that it will hurt Strickland in the 2nd runoff.

Lanier County is a small close-knit community. It is one thing for a person to choose to not vote in an election. Tell that same person that a candidate is asking a judge to take away his or her right to vote and “thems fightin words.”

Lawsuits like this are why lawyers are not held in high esteem in the first place. This “demand” to take the election away from the people and have a judge give Strickland’s supporter a second vote is ludicrous. This kind of thing only adds to the greasy reputation of the legal profession.

There will be a hearing on August 16 to make a determination. Strickland has already said that if the judge rules against him, he intends to file an appeal. Yet, another unwise move on his part. In the mean time, early voting has started and the election is still on for August 21.

I suspect that more than a few voters who voted for Strickland in the primary and first runoff, will not be voting for him in this one. There are probably a few who did not vote in either of the previous elections but will go vote in this one just to vote against Strickland. Voters do not like politicians who who try to find a technical loophole that robs them of their right to vote.

This November, you will have your opportunity to vote. Go vote. Your vote counts.

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