Kids Voting Leon County

Here are the FINAL official results from this year’s election (also attached in a Word document in case you want a nice copy to print or send out).
In total, we had 6,498 ballots counted. (Please note, these will NOT match the numbers reported to the Democrat at 10:03, as we still had 26 hand count sheets to be added to our precinct tallies).

Thanks to all of you who helped out with this year’s election!

National: President and Vice President

John McCain and Sarah Palin 2,634
Barack Obama and Joe Biden 3,665
Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez 95

State: State Senator District 3

Charles S. Dean 1,760
Suzan L. R. Franks 2,106

County: County Commissioner At Large, Group 1

Akin Akinyemi 2,413
Ed DePuy
1,509

Nonpartisan Judicial: Circuit Judge, 2nd Circuit – Group 7 Lisa Raleigh
2,086 Frank E. Sheffield 1,744

Special Survey Questions:

Grades K-12:
Should school lunch options be limited to only healthy options, or
should students have the right to choose from a variety of options,
including junk food?

Healthy options only 1,764
Healthy options and junk food 1,888

Which of the following should be the State of Florida’s official state
bird?

Osprey 1,501
Snowy Egret
700
Great Egret
1,008
Black Skimmer 340
Brown Pelican 501

Grades 6-12:
Should students be required to pass the FCAT to graduate?
Yes
2,042
No
1,620

Should students be allowed to express themselves through words,
messages, and/or symbols on their clothing, even if it is offensive to
other students?
Yes
1,467
No
2,160

Should students be held accountable by school officials for the content
of their on-line web sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, if they are
engaging in on-line bullying of other students?
Yes
1,932
No
1,628

Amendment 2 proves we are still not there.

This blog is in response to a Facebook comment about my Twitter status.

November 5^th I made this comment on Twitter, “I am SO HAPPY about the Presidential election. I am sad about amendment 2. It hurts my heart that we can’t accept people for who they are.”

My Twitter account auto changes my Facebook status to match.

Later that morning I received this response within Facebook, “You know JP, it’s not always about accepting people for who they are. It’s also about the ways people would take advantage of it. I think that same sex couples have certain rights, but I don’t necessarily with the marriage.”

Below is my follow up comment and I believe it states my feelings and beliefs on the subject:

Please do not take my statements below the wrong way, because they are not meant to be mean or argumentative. I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinions, beliefs (religious or moral), feelings, and system of life they choose to live. Also, I know that my opinion is no better or worse than anyone else’s. Here are some of my feelings/thoughts/opinions on this issue.

Maybe I should have said, “I am SO HAPPY about the Presidential election. I am sad about amendment 2. It hurts my heart that we still don’t allow equal right for all humans.” But I feel saying, “that we can’t accept people” is a true statement too.

Acceptance is defined by Webster’s as: “an agreeing either expressly or by conduct to the act or offer of another so that a contract is concluded and the parties become legally bound”

To me the fact that 65% percent of Floridians voted to legally ban marriage between anyone except a man and a woman is not acceptance.

I do want to point out one thing I do not agree with you on. I believe your statement, “It’s also about the ways people would take advantage of it.” is the same type of statement that was said when it was purposed for women to vote, equal pay for equal work, or blacks not to be slaves. Again, I am not accusing you of that, just saying words like those have been heard in the past when something is not socially acceptable, but social norms change.

Throughout time minorities (woman, people of color, types of religion and now sexual preference) have been persecuted for being different. When most people look back on this persecution, they think it is absurd that people could have missed the mark for sooo long. I see amendments like this in the same way. It is not a gay marriage issue; it is a human equality issue. I just think that we should respect all humans and all humans should start out being equal in the eyes of the law. It is not a crime to be gay (anymore) and it should not be against the law for gays to marry. Again this is not me saying that you are wrong or that I am right. It is just how I feel about the situation.

I do respect your opinion and believe that you have as much right to that opinion as I do to mine. Thank you for sharing your view. As seen by the Amendment 2 vote, my opinion on the issue is in stark contrast to the opinion of majority. Also, my thoughts above, I believe, somewhat go with your second comment about, “Most people will win those freedoms they seek.”

I will say that in light of the recent presidential election, America electing its first black President, I am excited to see how far we as a society have come in the last 150 years. I still hope that we as humans can reach true equality amongst our peers before another 150 years passes.