This morning's edition of the Fayette County section of the Atlanta Journal Constitution alluded to your “new plan to encourage higher voter turnout.” By obtaining a list of voters who participated in elections (or conversely, who don`t participate), you are apparently going to determine who will merit your attention and support. Woe be unto them who fail to vote. Will a permission slip suffice if on Nov. 2 one is in the hospital or out town on an emergency?

Even if you have the legal right, you have no moral right to ascertain whether or not a specific individual did or did not vote. I highly resent this contemplated intrusion on my privacy. This Orwellian thinking abridges the First Amendment's freedom of speech and the right of people to petition the government for a redress of grievances. To quote you from the paper, “if you have a problem with something going on in the city, you can call me, but if you didn't vote, you don't count”. And “....so we'll listen, but not very carefully”.

You were quoted as being “disgusted” that only 4,000 of the city's 16,000 registered voters took part in the school sales tax vote last month. Instead of blaming this low turnout solely on apathy, consider the fact that the powers-that-be opted for a special election, with the inherent additional costs, rather than making it part of a general election. Voter turnout is inherently less for one-item special elections. It was also a strong indication that voters are tired of SPLOST and having to continually say “no more taxes” (where before have we heard this phrase?). We`ve been down this road before and this old horse has been ridden to death.

Believe it or not, I, too, am concerned about voter apathy. But I am even more concerned that individual's voting records are made public and used as a Sword of Damocles. I am not a constitutional attorney, but something here smells of Big Brotherism, and if opening voters' records to the public is not illegal, it certainly should be.

And, yes, I am a registered voter; yes, I voted in the school sales tax referendum; and yes, I have voted in virtually all elections in the past several years. Nevertheless, that does not alleviate my fear and angst at your proposed power play and efforts at intimidation. I cannot believe a person in your position with your record of achievement would seriously consider such an abuse of privacy. What were you possibly thinking of when you came up with this hare-brained idea?

Robert J. Menhinick
Peachtree City

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