Ted Cruz came to Newnan to stump for state Senator Mike Crane on Friday, July 22, one day after his controversial speech at the GOP National Convention; where he refused to give his support, as he had promised, to his party’s nominee.
We should consider this a “learning moment” for us early voters. This “material” event might have given me pause and changed my mind to vote for Mike Crane or Drew Ferguson. Imperfect information and lack of timely information are the disadvantages of early voting.
If I was a fan of Ted Cruz I might have been more inclined to early vote for Crane.
If not, might I have had more comfort in a vote for Ferguson?
Who had the more effective strategy? Who won the run-off? We found out July 26th.
There is always the chance that a material event will occur between our early vote date and Election Day, that will give us a major hangover of buyer’s remorse the day after the election.
The seminal example of the pitfalls of early voting:
Would the truth about the murders of four brave Americans in Benghazi, rather than the misinformation that Susan Rice perpetuated on the Sunday talk shows, later reinforced by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, that the attack resulted from a popular protest against a U.S.-made video, rather than a pre-planned terrorist attack have changed the minds of voters?
After the presidential election was long over, the newly re-elected Barack Obama recanted, admitting “terror,” not a video, nor a protest that turned violent. Would knowledge of this blatant misinformation have changed the minds of many voters and particularly early voter’s going into the presidential election?
Perhaps yes, maybe not.
“What difference at this point does it make?”
Michael Velsmid
Peachtree City, Ga.
