The Anniston Star today pointed out that, when Calhoun County voters go to vote on March 13, there will be ZERO Democrats on the ballot. Not a single Democrat qualified to run in the entire county. I think a total Republican takeover on a primary ballot deserves a shout-out for the Calhoun Co. GOP crew:
Carol Allen
Sonny Coker
Brandon Fisher
Steven Henry
Gene Howard
Edis Isom
Bob Maynard
Tony Moreland
Tom Shelton
Frank Boullemet
Great work, folks!
People like you are the heart and soul of the Republican Party in this state. Many of you have been pounding the pavement and rallying the grassroots for decades. You started the snowball rolling and now we have ourselves an avalanche.
There’s no doubt about it — it’s an exciting time to be a Republican in the state of Alabama.
Of course, with every set of successes, a new set of challenges present themselves. I believe the role of the county Party organizations is going to change a bit in the years ahead.
It will be as important as ever to recruit great candidates and rally grassroots support. However, the candidate vetting process is going to be of paramount importance moving forward as frustrated Democrats continue to flood into our Party. We’re going to have to lean on strong county leadership to ensure that we grow our party in a way that maintains its credibility.
We can’t ever forget: Alabamians are racing into the Republican party because it represents the conservative principles and values they hold dear.
Ronald Reagan famously said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.” The second we abandon our principles, the Ronald Reagans of the future will be saying the same thing about the GOP.
But that’s a problem for another day. Until then, let’s keep pushing!
You can check out the Anniston Star article below.
Republican candidates and delegates to dominate upcoming local ballots
by: Paige Rentz
The changing tide of local party politics is finally playing out on paper. When Calhoun County voters head to the polls for the March 13 primary, they’ll find an unusual sight: No local Democrats will appear on the ballot.
A Democratic voter’s only choices will be between President Barack Obama and an uncommitted candidate for president and then eight Obama delegates to the Democratic National Convention. A quirk of the state Democratic Party requires voters choose from among two gender-specific candidate lists — four men and four women.
Circuit Clerk Ted Hooks said this is the first time he’s seen such an empty Democratic ballot in his 18 years in office.
The county pays a pretty hefty price for ballots with no local candidates. Although no cost projections are available for this year’s election yet, the county paid $123,271 to run a similar primary in February 2008, according to County Administrator Ken Joiner.
The ballots alone in 2008 cost $28,660 for the Democratic ballots and $29,990 for the Republican ballots. “I’ve never seen it go down, I’ll tell you that,” Joiner said of the anticipated costs for the March election.
The Democratic choices might be slim, but the double-sided Republican ballot includes seven presidential candidates and more than a page of potential delegates committed to each of the candidates. In addition, there are Republican candidates for six state and local offices, including 19 candidates for seven at-large seats on the Calhoun County Board of Education.
But the Democrats do have a few candidates for local office come November. They are fielding three candidates to the GOP’s 19 for those seven school board seats, and Missy Hall and Foster Marshall are running for circuit clerk and circuit judge, respectively.
The Republicans are “pleased as punch” with the new state of things, said Gene Howard, chair of the Calhoun County GOP. Of the 27 local officials within the county, 24 of them are now Republicans, most of whom were initially elected as Democrats, he noted.
Howard said those who have switched parties in recent years have expressed to him discomfort with the atmosphere of the Democratic Party on a national level.
Sheila Gilbert, the chair of the county Democratic Party, said the state of the Democratic ballot shouldn’t be a great surprise with the recent trend. But she said she believes the trend may be temporary. “I think the Democrats just need to ride out the storm and wait for 2014,” she said, noting that once the policies of Republicans play themselves out, voters may be ready to return Democrats to office.
But the present disparity in local candidates between the parties, Hooks said, could lead to cross-voting on Election Day. The Alabama Republican Party has no rule against it, and with no local offices to vote on, he expects that even national Democrats will request a Republican ballot to vote for their local officials.
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