Georgia Election Results

Georgia held four special elections yesterday, all to fill sudden vacancies in the state legislature. And now there are four new state legislators heading to the state capital of the Peach State.

From a biker's rights standpoint, the House District 58 race in Atlanta was important. The winner by 614 votes, Simone Bell is definitely a friend to motorcyclists. That's because she is one, and she even helped to create a women's motorcycle club. Best of all, she supports our right to decide.

Also in Atlanta, voters chose Donzella Jones for Senate District 35. She won a close race by only 372 votes. Kip Smith won House District 129 in Columbus by 940 votes, and Rusty Kidd took the House District 141 race in Milledgeville by 1,054 votes.

While it's good to know Simone Bell will be in our corner, there's no telling where all the other new legislators stand. The biggest reason is that Georgia motorcyclists were on the sidelines for these races. As in most states that have helmet laws, biker activists don't get involved in elections. Instead they wait until after legislators have already taken office to approach them about legislation affecting motorcyclists.

This of course is a bass-ackwards way to influence legislation. It's like trying to figure out what gender your spouse is after you get married. You'd think it would be a good idea to check under the hood first. But no ... you're stuck with what you got, so make the best of it.

Bikers just don't know how easy it is to stay ahead of the legislative curve. Not yet, anyway. That's my job ... pointing out the obvious over and over, like a broken record. For the umpteenth time, campaign work WORKS!

Special elections are easy pickings. Voter turnout is low, and often the winner takes the race by a handful of votes. Just a couple of campaign volunteers can easily tip an election one way or the other.

The trick is for us to be at the right place at the right time. That's why it's important to check out the candidates first, so we know who to get behind. I contact candidates all the time, right out of the blue with a one-question email.

But it's always a whole lot better when it's a local biker contacting the candidate. The more personal the contact, the more effective the bond.

Once we know which candidates are with us or against us, I post the results to the ELECTIONS page at RIDE2REPEAL.COM. It can't get any easier than this:

Anti-repeal candidates are RED
Undecided candidates are YELLOW
Biker-friendly candidates are GREEN

Each candidate's name is also a link to their website. Then bikers are one click away from contacting the biker-friendly candidate to offer a helping hand.

Bottom Line:

If you do campaign work, you will get your rights back.

If you don't, you won't.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com