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TODAY'S ISSUE
Elections supervisor gives background
of state's new electronic voting system
By Lynn Ledford
Elections Supervisor, Gwinnett County
Special to GwinnettForum.com

NOV. 19, 2002 -- It was not the best of times, it was not the worst of times, but it was definitely a sign of the times, electronic voting and a Republican governor for the state of Georgia!

The unprecedented events of the 2000 presidential election raised public awareness of a nationwide problem that those of us in election administration have known years, but until that fateful November, had not received attention: most equipment used to cast and count votes in Georgia was antiquated and some even problematic.

Two counties still used paper ballots, 17 counties used the infamous punch cards, 73 counties used lever machines and 67 counties, including Gwinnett, used optical scan. The advances of technology that have positively transformed so many aspects of our life had not yet been applied to the election process.

Uncounted votes and antiquated systems create an environment where citizens may have cause to wonder if their choice was, in fact, their choice. Because Georgia recognized these problems very early on, a significant commitment was made to modernize and upgrade equipment, and to educate voters and poll workers on how to properly use it. This would insure that public confidence in this most basic right of citizenship was not further tarnished.

In the aftermath of the Florida debacle, national public opinion surveys found strong support for the complete overhaul of elections, as we had known them. Most wanted a "major overhaul" of the election process. There were those out there who said public interest in election reform would die and the problems that surfaced in Florida would soon be forgotten----well, not in Georgia.

In light of the well-documented problems in Florida, Georgia leaders initiated a bi-partisan reform package in the 2001 General Assembly. The provisions of the legislation established the policy and the framework for Georgia to move aggressively toward identifying and putting into place essential changes in the election process. At the top of the list was the decision that all counties in Georgia use the same equipment for casting and counting ballots. Thus, electronic voting in Georgia was born.

From an administrator's standpoint, it was horrendous trying to implement a new system within such a short time frame. The vendor was chosen in May and it was all-uphill from there. We couldn't have possibly identified every problem or situation that we would be faced with on Election Day. Although Gwinnett had implemented a new system in 2000, this was a new challenge. Poll officials though took on the challenge with pride and anticipation and they performed exceptionally well. I could not ask for a better group of volunteers.

I know that every Gwinnett voter did not have a positive experience, and I apologize that. So thank you Gwinnett voters for being patient with us the first time out and thanks to the 1,800+ volunteers and election staff for making it happen.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Local caterer opens up new possibilities
on menus when going out to have dinner
By Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com

If I go to Kurt's Restaurant in Duluth, I need no menu. I know what I want, for Kurt Eisele knows just the right way to prepare weinersnitzel. His version tastes just like I remember from my three years living in Germany. And I can't resist ordering this dish, no matter what other items look good on the menu.

It happens in other locations. If we are in Brunswick, we head for Jinright's on U.S. 17 north of the St. Simons Causeway....for wonderfully fried shrimp. Ooooooh. I can almost taste them now.

And if I go to my favorite Mexican restaurant, I order No. 4. (Seems many of the Mexican restaurants around here have a good combination of foods as their Number 4.) At our favorite, No. 4 means two tacos, a beef burrito and tostato. Oh, boy!

Pardon me, but I can't help it. I often order the same foods when in familiar restaurants. While I am willing to be adventurous in menu selecting, I get to thinking how one of these delicacies taste, and I can't help it. I go back to the tasty familiar.

The other day we got a chance to sample different Mexican food, and now I am ready to launch out beyond Number 4. Frontera Restaurant group catered the food when the Gwinnett Chamber hosted an Hispanic art show. (The art pieces were beautiful and distinctive, showing talent! The show was a good idea!)

I tried several food items that I had not tasted before, and found them wonderful. A couple of items stood out:

… Pollo Alamendrado. It is chicken in almond sauce, tiny bits of white meat in this wonderful, tangy orange sauce. It was a taste treat to serve with chips.

… Pork Cordillo, simply small chunks of roast pork in a red sauce. I look to try it soon, when eating out again.

There were other items on the menu, but we particularly liked the taste of these two. We didn't go as far as delve into the high calorie Mexican desserts Frontera supplied, but they looked mighty good themselves. (You call that waistline discipline!)

Talking with Nils Stein, catering manager for Frontera, he tells me that the 11 Frontera restaurants in metro Atlanta have similar menus. "But in various locations, we have different specials. For instance, the Frontera at Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Britt Road serves more Mexican dishes, since many of the patrons are from Mexico. They don't even eat 'Tex-Mex', but want the authentic dishes from Mexico."

Authentic Mexican means virtually no ground beef, and more chicken and pork dishes. "They like more pork roast in soft flour tacos, or various chicken dishes."

Nils, of German descent who grew up in Costa Rica, says he plans food to the clientele. "If I had a catering job for the German consulate, I could prepare for him authentic German dishes," he says. "You tell me your theme, and we can create the foods for it," he says.

We are grateful to Frontera for catering the Gwinnett Chamber's Hispanic Art Show. Frontera taught us that, indeed, there is life beyond Number 4.

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FEEDBACK:
11/19: Poor use of apostrophe bugs this Yankee/good ol' boy

Editor, the Forum:

When I first came to Georgia from the North, I bit my tongue and resisted the urge to say "the way we did it up North is ..."

But now this Yankee transplant has had it with one aspect of Southern culture. There is a prevailing tendency here in the South to pluralize nouns by adding "___'s". I saw, for example, two recent signs, "The Amber's Gardens" on Beaver Ruin Road headed Eastward and "Foors and Decor's Being Liquidated" on a building facing I-85. And now, a person even sends a comment to the Gwinnett Forum with that same mistaken way of plurization in it.

Please, y'all, be aware that in all but a few specific forms of a noun, using an " 's" to form the plural of a noun is INCORRECT in most cases. This can be seen by checking in any dictionary or other academic work on our American English usage.

My favorite dictionary, Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, page 1560, stipulates that the apostrophe before the "s" for pluralization is only used in three instances: to show plural of words and letters referred to as such ("...mind your p's and q's..."), to show plural of abbreviations (Ph.D's, M.P.'s) and when pluralizing figures (1990's).

Check your dictionary or other English punctuation text on how to form plurals of nouns before you put the next " 's" in your writing! This Yankee/now "good ol' boy" is tired of seeing our language punctuated improperly. Georgians are better than that!

-- Arthur P. Geist, Norcross

(Editor's note: Don't know, Art. Seems often my copy has to be corrected. Maybe it's the water's. Heh/Heh!.-eeb)

11/19: Feels native Georgians show lack of election interest

Editor, the Forum:

Recently I heard a radio talk show host bash Democrats as citizens making not over $25,000 a year and looking for tax credits and handouts.

Bah Humbug! This is only a myth in Georgia. For instance, I am a college graduate making well over that amount and a taxpayer and never receive handouts from anyone in Georgia.

Originally from South Carolina, I spent 12 years in Paterson, N.J.and was appalled at the lack of interest by the Georgia-borns in politics and government affairs. In previous locations, we were educated and prompted to vote.

I will wait and see what good will come out this election, whether it is the good, bad or the ugly.

-- Georgia D. Jameson, Norcross

NEWS TIDBIT
11/19: Gwinnett businesswoman heads international group

Bonnie Herron, vice president and chief financial officer of Intelligent Systems Corporation and executive director of the Intelligent Systems Incubator, was elected chair of the 950-member National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) board of directors during an October meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Two groups that have a common enemy

'The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy."

-- Comedian Sam Levenson

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