Let Georgia Elect Its Senators

I’m old. Old enough to remember When New York Times columnist Tom Friedman was smart and offered thoughtful reflections on the world.

Shoot, I remember when he won three Pulitzers.

Now he’s so full of loathing for conservatives that he sounds like a political hack, and appears to be encouraging something that verges on voter fraud.

Not a good look.

On “Cuomo Prime Time” on Tuesday, Friedman urged folks to move to Georgia to vote in the January 5 special election that will decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

I hope everybody moves to Georgia, you know, in the next month or two, registers to vote, and votes for these two Democratic senators, running against incidentally two Georgia senators, both of whom were investigated for what? For getting a briefing on the Coronavirus and then selling stocks before the public was aware of that information, both of them were investigated for that.”

Terrific.

Is this the latest Democratic gambit? To have voters moving around the country like human chess pieces, for purposes of casting votes in places where they do not live?

First of all, Friedman ought to know that being investigated is not the same as being guilty of anything. He failed to mention that Dianne Feinstein was investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee along with Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue and the probe ended earlier this year without sanctions or charges.

He conveniently left that out.

Friedman may be one of The Times’ resident intellects, but someone needs to remind him that voters in each state get to pick their own senators. They vote for the candidates who will best represent their interests in Washington, not those of an Upper East Side scribe.

Frankly, the notion of carpetbagging New Yorkers, Washingtonians or Virginians rushing to the Peach State to impose their will on Georgians is repugnant. I cannot tell you how angry I would be if this were happening in Virginia and people were moving here for the sole purpose of picking MY senators.

Look, I may not be enamored with Tim Kaine or Mark Warner, but they’re ours. Virginia voters elected them, not power-hungry outsiders with an agenda.

The fact that Friedman would propose such a sleazy tactic tells you just how high the stakes are in the Georgia elections. Should the Democrats win both seats and Joe Biden become president, the makeup of the Senate would be tied 50:50, with Vice President Kamala Harris owning the tie-breaking vote.

This thin majority would usher in court packing, an end to the filibuster and other atrocities.

With no other elections in January hundreds of millions of dollars from all over the U.S. will pour into Georgia from both Republican and Democratic donors. Voters there will have their holidays spoiled by an avalanche of advertising and muscular get-out-the-vote efforts.

But anyone moving to Georgia simply to vote, without intending to live there, is crossing a line. A legal one.

Here’s what The Wall Street Journal had to say about this chicanery in a piece headlined, “Thinking About Moving to Georgia to Vote in Runoffs? Better Hurry and Plan to Stay.”

Under Georgia law, anyone with a legal primary residence in the state can register to vote with their county board of elections. The law does not specify a specific time limit.

A spokesman for the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees voter registrations, declined to comment on how quickly someone could establish legal residency in Georgia, but cited state law that it is a felony to vote in Georgia elections if you are not a legal resident or if you are residing in the state briefly with the intention just to vote and then move away.

“These are sensitive issues, and election officials are going to pay attention to what is happening,” said Enrijeta Shino, a University of North Florida political science professor who has researched voting issues in Georgia. “People should be very careful about doing that.”

People moving to Georgia briefly can work on campaigns and canvass for candidates, but voting in the state without the intention of staying would be considered fraud, she warned.

You would think that a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist would recoil at appearing to endorse voter fraud to help a political party.

You would be wrong.