Will 75% of apathetic voters determine

Will

75% of apathetic voters determine

outcome of SPLOST?

In the Wednesday,

Aug. 11, edition of "The Citizen," there was an

article "SPLOST supporters getting organized."

The part that gives the statistics about the voting

public in this county ... goes on to say there are about

50,478 registered voters in the county.

Only about 25 percent will

turn out for the referendum. That means only 12,620

voters will go to the polls and only 7,572

"yes" votes would give the pro-SPLOST-ists a 60

percent margin (the article's figures, not mine).

The article continues that

there are about 3,500 voters associated with the [Fayette

County] Board of Education in some fashion (teachers,

spouses of teachers, etc.). They will surely get out and

vote and they will surely vote "yes."

There are about 600

Realtors who have pledged their support. This means, if

all the figures are correct, they only need 3,472 more

votes for their 60 percent. And I always thought 50

percent plus one carried the vote. Goes to show you what

I know.

Why shouldn't this scare a

normal, sane thinking person? Because the figures being

thrown about in that article are probably correct.

Seventy-five percent of you

eligible voters out there are going to be sitting at home

watching the soaps or whatever it is that you do instead

of getting out and vote. Seventy-five percent of you

registered voters are going to allow 25 percent of us to

dictate what you will or will not do.

Not only that. Seventy-five

of you voters will probably be the first ones to

[complain] because the taxes in this county are going

through the roof. And if the money isn't there to pay off

the bonds then 75 percent of you will really be screaming

because these bonds will be paid for, someway, some

fashion.

I will vote "no"

on this referendum. I do not want a bond to be floated so

the board of education can go on a spending spree. I

can't believe that any sane thinking voter in this county

would want that to happen.

Those of us who will vote

"No" on Sept. 21 have a big uphill road to

travel. The board of education already has a built-in

buffer. They have about 4,100 "Yes" votes in

their pocket.

Will this be a referendum

to set all attendance records or just a ho-hum shoo-in

for one side or the other?

See you at the polls.

Chuck James

Fayetteville

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