Forwarded (with some editing) from a fellow anti income tax and pro-freedom activist:
Dear Fellow Freedom Fighters:
Today it takes 25 signatures to file a petition with the election commission to run as a candidate and get on the ballot.
Here is the latest: Senator Joe Haynes plans to introduce legislation to raise the number of signatures required to get on the ballot from 25 to 500!!!
Who do you think pays the price for this? Anyone who is not currently in office. What do you think this will do to the verification process? As it is now, one needs at least 5 or 10 extra signatures to ensure 25 passed verification. Why? Because every signature needs to meet a list of requirements. The signature must be recognized, the signer must be a registered voter and living at the address on their registration.
Many people move and don't think to update their address with the election commission. Some signers write like doctors. If the person reading the signatures says they can't read the signature, the name may be disqualified. This is a very subjective process.
500 signatures cannot be verified in one day, while the candidate waits and oversees the process. Who knows what will happen in the dead of night or behind closed doors?
When you make the process harder, what is the outcome. Yes, fewer qualified candidates. It is fairly easy to spend the time and effort to get 25 qualified signatures. What do you think raising the number to 500 will do? That is 20 times the number required today. If it takes between 2 and 5 days to get 25 signatures, how long will it take to get over 500? It could take 3 months for a candidate to personally receive and verify this many signatures.
Aspiring candidates will need a lot more help. When someone else gets your signatures the number of signatures that quality will drop; instead of an extra 20 percent (in this case 100, instead of just 5) signatures, you may need 30 or 40 more (150 or 200), just to run for even a local office (the way Sen. Haynes' bill is written, it is unclear who this affects).
This is an attack on our liberty and participation in the political process. The Good Ol' Boys who have held the seats, in the Assembly and in otheer state and local power centers, don't want to lose their stranglehold on Tennessee's bank account ... or the momentum for an income tax.
This legislation is the pro-taxers response to anti-taxer gains last year. This is also just one of many ways they are going to try and protect turncoat Republicans who voted with the Democrats to keep Naifeh as Speaker. This is how they plan to stop the momentum for honest government.
What can you do? Raise hell about it!! Call Joe Haynes and let him know what you think of his despicable attempt to subvert the election process and protect the Good Ol' Boys.
Senator Haynes Represents District 20 in Davidson County.
District Address:
219 Moss Trail
Goodlettesville, TN 37072
Phone (615) 859-3529
Nashville Address:
5 Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243-0220
Phone (615) 741-6679
Fax (615) 741-2533
Staff Contacts: Jan Markum, Denise Lawrence, Andy Spears
E-Mail:
sen.joe.haynes@legislature.state.tn.us
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