There seems to be a lot of panic in the air

I have heard that, in the aftermath of the clusterf*ck that was the August elections, that there have been calls for both Democratic commissioners, Myra Stiles and James Johnson, to be replaced immediately.

Um, no.  First, no matter who our commissioners are, they will be outvoted 3-2, no matter how long and loud they scream, so it would be pointless. Because Democratic leadership in the legislature never conceived that they would ever be out of power, they failed to ensure that Democratic-leaning counties would always have Democratic-leaning commissioners in charge.

Next, Ms. Stiles (full disclosure, a dear friend of many years and I am not at all impartial here) has spent several terms on the Commission, and Mr. Johnson was formerly the Executive Director of the Commission, so where would you find two more knowledgeable people on such short notice?  Step back and breathe, folks.

Now, if you have concerns about the upcoming election (and I am not saying that you SHOULDN'T, given the unsecurable machines that we are forced to use), what those of you NEED to be doing is getting and TRAINING as many potential pollwatchers as possible for EVERY POLL for November.

Be effective, let's get as many folks as possible and SHOW A DEMOCRATIC PRESENCE at the polls.  This will send a message to those who might be discouraged that we are determined to protect their votes and ensure that they will be counted fairly.  This needs to happen TODAY.

If those of you who want to toss Myra Stiles and James Johnson will work on this project instead, I will support this; otherwise, it's just mindless talk and will achieve nothing.

Are you in?