{"id":1464,"date":"2012-04-29T21:43:47","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T21:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/?p=1464"},"modified":"2012-04-29T22:32:13","modified_gmt":"2012-04-29T22:32:13","slug":"straight-party-voting-thats-not-my-type-of-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/straight-party-voting-thats-not-my-type-of-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Straight party voting. That’s not my type of party."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Before I get windy here let me say here right of the bat that if I was\u00a0permitted and authorized\u00a0to vote for US President 2012 it would be a bitterly cold day in hell before I gave Mitt Romney my vote and if the only way to keep Romney from winning the presidential election\u00a0equated to\u00a0me\u00a0casting my vote for ineligible Barack Obama I would do so, somewhat\u00a0reluctantly and apprehensively, but I myself would so.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the record here I\u00a0was allowed to vote in 2008 but I didn’t know it until the same night that Barack Obama won the election.\u00a0\u00a0 I remember that night.\u00a0 I was sitting in the living room with a family of black Americans (husband, wife, two children).\u00a0\u00a0When asked who I voted for I replied that I hadn’t voted.\u00a0\u00a0When asked why I had chosen not to vote I stated that I\u00a0have never had the right\u00a0to vote for US President.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked to elaborate I explained that I in the year 1996 I was only 16 years old and did not yet have the right to vote for Bill Clinton.<\/span><\/p>\n

I went on to say that in the year 2000, while I was now of legal voting age, I was also\u00a0now a felon (not to mention I was physically serving a 5 year prison sentence within the Iowa Department of Corrections) and felons\u00a0in\u00a0the state of Iowa did not have the right to vote\u00a0in government elections, including that of US President, and so, that being said, I was not\u00a0permitted to cast my vote in that election.\u00a0\u00a0 Btw, I wouldn’t have given my vote\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0or\u00a0Al Gore.<\/span><\/p>\n

At that point my friend, a member of the United\u00a0States Armed Forces, explained to my that I did have the right to vote in Iowa because Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (Democrat) issued an executive order (42) which restored the citizenship rights (including right to vote for US President) of all felons with Iowa.<\/span><\/p>\n

07.04.2005. Iowa Governor, Thomas J. Vilsack. Executive Order Number Forty-Two. July, 4th 2005. (Felons…<\/a> <\/object><\/p>\n

Paragraph II<\/span><\/span>:\u00a0\u00a0 “<\/span>The rights of Citizenship, including that of voting and qualification to hold public office, which were forfeited by reason of conviction shall be restored for all offenders that are completely discharged from criminal sentences, including any accompanying term of probation, parole, or supervised release, as of July 4th, 2005, but have not made an application pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 914.\u00a0 This executive order shall serve as evidence of restoration of of citizenship rights for such individuals.<\/span><\/em><\/strong>“<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I discharged (no parole, probation\u00a0or supervised release) on Christmas Day, 2002 and walked out of the front gates of the Newton Correctional Facility<\/strong> (medium site) a categorically and absolutely free man.\u00a0\u00a0 The above embedded executive order, issued by Iowa Governor Thomas J. Vilsack (Democrat), on Independence Day 2005, serves as evidence of restoration of my right to vote for, though not\u00a0limited to,\u00a0President of the United States of America and for US Congress.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since discharging (12.25.2002) my prison sentence I have not returned prison or penitentiary within the Iowa Department of Corrections nor within any other State..\u00a0\u00a0Moreover, since that date of discharge, I\u00a0have not been placed on probation, parole or supervised\u00a0 release within the state of Iowa.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the unthinkable happened in November, 2010…..I was in Cedar Rapids (Wellington Heights neighborhood), Iowa and I walked over to Johnson Elementary School on 18th Street SE not far from my grandmother’s house on 18th Street SE.\u00a0\u00a0 Once inside Johnson Elementary I proceeded to straight-party-vote (or straight-ticket-vote).\u00a0\u00a0 With a lead pencil I voted Republican for city, county, state and federal elections.\u00a0\u00a0 In voting straight party I voted for Terry Branstad (Republican).<\/span><\/p>\n

Terry Branstad, with the help of my vote as a felon, won the 2010 election and in January, 2011 became the Governor of Iowa.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Its should be noted, for record here,\u00a0that Terry Branstad was also Governor of Iowa before Thomas Vilsack became Govenor of Iowa.\u00a0\u00a0 Branstad served as Governor of Iowa from 1983 thru 1999.\u00a0 Vilsack served as Governor of Iowa from 1999 thru 2007.)<\/span><\/p>\n

On the very day that Branstad\u00a0assumed\u00a0office of Governor of Iowa, January 14, 2011<\/strong>, he warmly\u00a0expressed his gratitude for\u00a0my vote as a\u00a0felon with the following executive order (70) which rescinded Vilsack’s 2005 executive order (42):<\/span><\/p>\n

01.14.2011. Iowa Governor, Terry Branstad. Executive Order Number Seventy. January, 14th 2011. (Felons in I…<\/a> <\/object><\/p>\n

As of January 14, 2011 felons in Iowa must make application with the State of Iowa for restoration of their citizenship rights (includes voting).\u00a0 Moreover, before making that application (which can be denied) it is stipulated that the felon must pay all fines, restitutions, unpaid outstanding monetary obligations\u00a0and court costs\u00a0owed to the State of Iowa.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you Governor Terry Branstad (Republican).\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve learned a lot from you including that I was a fool to straight-party vote \/ straight-ticket vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will never again vote for any based solely on their party affiliation.\u00a0\u00a0 Mitt Romney wont get my vote and if I had to vote for Barack Obama to keep Romney out of Office I would do so, reluctantly.\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t worry though, I don’t have the right to vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few words now from<\/span> U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, Earl Warren<\/span>, in Reynolds\u00a0v. Sims<\/span><\/em> (1964):\u00a0 “<\/span>The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of the democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government.<\/span><\/em><\/strong>“<\/span><\/p>\n

Postscript<\/span><\/span>:\u00a0 For the record, I video-recorded my straight-party voting at Johnson Elementary School in November, 2010 with my then i-Phone (I now use an HTC HD7).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I get windy here let me say here right of the bat that if I was\u00a0permitted and authorized\u00a0to vote for US President 2012 it would be a bitterly cold day in hell before I gave Mitt Romney my vote … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[91,4,538,12,37,5,35,539],"tags":[289,199,13,99,44,55,4340,22,16,41,56,29,555,556,557,558,563,554,97,58,42,23,14,136,4337,11,15,400,562,559,553,551,552,540,561,560,564],"class_list":["post-1464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bruce-steadman","category-barrack-obama-eligibility","category-j-a-lasorsa-assosiates","category-lucas-daniel-smith","category-obama-birth-certificate","category-obama-news","category-the-government-vs-lucas-daniel-smith","category-tom-worthington","tag-289","tag-barack-hussein-obama","tag-barack-obama","tag-birth-certifcate","tag-born","tag-born-in-kenya","tag-bruce-steadman","tag-cedar-rapids","tag-certificate-of-birth","tag-coast-province-general-hospital","tag-cpgh","tag-dominican-republic","tag-executive-order-42-vilsack","tag-executive-order-70-branstad","tag-felon-vote","tag-felon-voting-rights","tag-floating-bridge-santo-domingo","tag-governor-of-iowa","tag-hawaii","tag-illegal","tag-ineligible","tag-iowa","tag-kenya","tag-lucas-d-smith","tag-lucas-daniel-smith","tag-lucas-smith","tag-mombasa","tag-phyllis-vrettos","tag-polygraph-test-lucas-daniel-smith","tag-rescinded","tag-terry-branstad","tag-thomas-j-vilsack","tag-thomas-vilsack","tag-tom-worthington-2","tag-wellington-heights-neighborhood-cedar-rapids-lucas-daniel-smith","tag-wellington-heights-neighborhood-lucas-smith","tag-zona-colonial-santo-domingo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1464"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1471,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464\/revisions\/1471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}