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

<!-------------