Voting June 3rd is a MUST
by Jesse J. Lewis, Sr.
There is no reason on God’s earth why Black people should not turn out to vote in abundance. For those of us who were reared in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, we realize what a difficult time we had exercising our right to vote even though we had been born in a country which coined the phrase, “land of the free.”
There are some groups of people spending a lot of time and a lot of financial resources to make sure you do not exercise your right to freedom. As a Black American you can not afford not to vote in any election. It doesn’t make any difference whether anyone in any group of people intentionally puts forth laws that would hinder the process. This should make you more determined.
The Birmingham Times does not endorse candidates. This is left up to the political organizations such as unions, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. We just assume that you have enough sense to vote for a candidate who represents your views. If a candidate has served in an office for four years and did not do anything to help his/her constituents, why would you think they will change in the next four years?
As always, usually when there is no national election, there is a low turn out. A low turn out, as a general rule, favors the incumbent. You can change this by having a high turn out and, if you do not like the incumbent, make some changes.
The heated races are going to be the Blacks’ County Commissioner race between George Bowman, Sandra Little Brown and several known candidates. There’s only one white Commissioner who has any opposition and his chances of winning are about 95 percent. Several State House seats have serious opposition. The most heated and controversial one is in District 60 between Juandalynn Givan and Arthur Shores Lee.
Candidates for 2014 Primary
Governor
Kevin Bass- D
Parker Griffin- D
Stacy Lee George- R
Bob Starkey- R
Lt. Governor
Stan Cooke –R
Kay Ivey- R
Secretary of State
Reese McKinney-R
John Merrill- R
Jim Palmer- R
State Auditor
Dale Peterson- R
Hobbie L. Sealy- R
Adam Thompson- R
Jim Zeigler- R
State Senate
Senate 17
Joe Cochran-R
Gayle H. Gear-R
Brett King- R
Jim Murphree-R
Adam Ritch-R
Jim Roberts- R
Shay Shelnutt- R
State Representative
House 14
Richard Baughn- R
Tim Wadsworth- R
House 16
Bobby Humphyres-R
Kyle South- R
House 43
John Bahakel- R
Cheryl Ciamarra- R
Doug Clark- R
Gina H. McDonald- R
Arnold Mooney- R
Don Murphy-R
Amie Beth Shaver- R
House 44
John Amari- R
Danny Garrett-R
Joe Freeman- R
House 46
Justin Barkley-R
Pamela Blackmore-Jenkins- R
David Faulkner- R
Steve French- R
House 47
David Wheeler-R
Jack Williams- R
Lawrence Conaway- D
Chris Cummings- D
Patricia A. Todd- D
House 55
Eric Major- D
Roderick “Rod” Scott- D
House 56
Louise Alexander- D
Lawrence McAdory- D
House 59
William A.Barnes- D
Chris Davis- D
Mary Moore- D
House 60
Juandalynn “LeLe” Givan- D
Arthur D. Shores Lee- D
Jefferson County Commission
Place 1
George Bowman- D
Earl Hilliard, Jr.- D
Roderick Royal- D
Jefferson County Commission
Place 2
Sandra Little Brown- D
Max Michael- D
Shelia Smoot- D
Shelia Tyson- D
U.S.Representative
District 6
Scott Beason- R
Will Brooke- R
Paul DeMarco-R
Chad Mathis- R
Gary Palmer- R
Tom Vigneulle- R
District 7
Tamara Harris Johnson- D
Terri Sewell- D
County Offices
Sheriff
Wallace Anger, Jr-D
Charles “Todd” Henderson-D
Tax Assessor
Joel Blankenship-R
Tony Ladu-R
Assistant Tax Assessor
Andrew Bennett-D
Charles R. Winston-D
Tax Collector
J. T. Smallwood-D
Jeanetta Bickerstaff-Miller-D
This article is not about who’s right or who’s wrong. It’s not about endorsing candidates. It’s about voter turn out. If it takes standing in line in the rain, sleet or snow, for 12 hours or more for Black people to vote, this is what we should do on every issue, regardless of how large or how small, if there is a voting taking place, we should be there to participate. We fought and died for this right. It would seem to me that it’s the older citizens’ job to educate the younger generation and make sure they get the message.
When you go to the polls to vote, the thought in your mind should be: “This one vote I am casting will make a difference.”
email: jjlewis@birminghamtimes.com
