Tag: georgia

Posted on

That time I was purged from the voter rolls in Georgia for not being a US citizen

Back in July of 2010 I showed up at my local library to vote. The big race that year was for governor of Georgia. I detailed what happened next on Facebook at

Basically my voter registration was purged because I was flagged as a non-citizen. Thousands of other voters were purged in the spring of 2010 one of the first official acts of the newly appointed Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the likely next governor of Georgia. I had to complete a provisional ballot after being told by a poll worked that I should just go home. I spent a day slogging through various state and county offices waving my birth certificate and passport convincing beleaguered and confused bureaucrats that I was indeed a citizen of the United States of America. The experience was infuriating and humiliating.

I had to get a new driver license even though I still had several years left on the one held at the time. If I had been pulled over for any reason prior to the point my citizenship was restored, the officer who stopped me would have been able to hold me indefinitely because the state’s computer systems had flagged me as an undocumented non-citizen subject to deportation. It was not funny and the ease with which the state could flag me for detention is extraordinarily disturbing.

Since the Republicans have been in power in Georgia they’ve worked very hard to keep people from voting. Of course the best remedy for that is to actually get out and vote for Democrats.

Posted on

6 More GA Banks Fail, 16 So Far in 09, 64 Nationwide

Regulators on Friday shut six banks in Georgia and a small bank in New York state, raising to 64 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the banks: six bank subsidiaries of Security Bank Corp., based in Macon, Ga.; and Waterford Village Bank of Clarence, N.Y.
The six Security banks had a total of 20 branches, which will reopen during normal business hours starting Saturday as branches of State Bank and Trust, the FDIC said.
They are: Security Bank of Bibb County, based in Macon; Security Bank of Houston County, based in Perry; Security Bank of Jones County, based in Gray; Security Bank of Gwinnett County, based in Suwanee; Security Bank of North Metro, based in Woodstock; and Security Bank of North Fulton, based in Alpharetta.

via 6 More Georgia Banks Shut Down – News Story – WSB Atlanta.

The only thing that surprises me is that we haven’t seen any actual runs on the banks.