Welcome

Senator's Note

Dear Supporters:

I cannot begin to say “Thank You” to each and every one of for the wonderful job you all did getting the Voter ID Petitions signed and turned in on time!!!! I know you have all officially heard by now but we were successful last Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010; in turning in over 130,000 signatures (the goal was 90,000) and with more than enough in each of the old five congressional districts. I have to give a huge “shout out” to all the TEA Party, 9/12 and Patriot groups all over the great State of Mississippi for your assistance in getting this issue placed on the 2011 general election ballot. I do not understate the reality of the matter when I say that we could not have done this without your help!

I want to say a special Thank You to Joe Dirt and her wonderful band of volunteers from DeSoto County, Mississippi. They literally travelled the entire state from the Tennessee line to the Mississippi Gulf Coast (and all parts in between) working this issue for us and their dedication to this cause is very humbling to me.

I also would be remiss if I didn’t thank Jeppie Barbour, Tom Lord, T.J. Harvey, Mallory Lambert, Brad White and all of the wonderful volunteers (Pete Perry, Mary McLaurin and my Mom among others) who worked their tails off at the State Republican Party Headquarters gathering all of these petitions as they were coming in from all corners of the state and getting them audited and certified and back out to the correct Circuit Clerks offices around our state. That was a huge logistical undertaking in and of itself and I’m forever grateful to their hard work and leadership in this effort.

I would also be neglectful if I didn’t publicly thank Governor Haley Barbour, Lt. Governor Phil Bryant and all of our statewide Republican elected officials and many of my fellow legislators, many of whom worked their individual House and Senate districts back home to get this issue on the ballot. I am particularly grateful to fellow senators: Billy Hewes, Merle Flowers and Chris McDaniel, who all stood firm with me in the Senate Elections Committee last year and said “NO” to a horrendous voter id bill that was weak as water and would have done little more than delayed a strong, pure voter id requirement for many years to come had it passed. Many pundits and media members have suggested that we did what we did for political gain or to ramp up the voter turnout in next year’s general election instead of because we actually believe in a strong Voter ID requirement in Mississippi’s elections. Let me set the record straight here. I believe that having the Voter ID ballot issue on the 2011 general election ballot will indeed turn up conservative voter participation (as will the Life Amendment and the Eminent Domain Amendment, should they make it) but that was never the reason for opposing a weak House bill and for pushing this statewide Voter ID initiative. The reason we supported a clean and strong Voter ID initiative is because we have run elections before and know first-hand how critical it is that our election system is a clean and honest one. Otherwise, the results of those faulty elections lead to public doubt about the outcome of those elections. Election Fraud happens way too often in Mississippi’s elections and a strong Voter ID requirement is a large step in the right direction to cleaning that up.

I want to say a great big “Thanks” to my little sister, Marlissa Fillingane Northrop, who has been the Administrator of our Mississippians for Voter ID website and our Facebook page. She has done a tremendous job in keeping you all updated on the status of our Voter ID project. I also want to say how happy we are that she and her husband are expecting their first child and we just learned this week that he’s a BOY!!!! Congrats Marlissa and Knight and thanks for all your hard work.

I want to also thank Sam McCain for helping us get this site set up initially and for helping us with the mechanics of it all throughout the project. Sam, you did an excellent job. David Morris also was a great help to me on this project, working the southern third of the state for our Voter ID project. Many of you probably called or exchanged e-mails with David throughout the course of our initiative. I really thank you David for all your good work on Voter ID’s behalf.

I apologize for the length of this “Thank You” e-mail but allow me to once again say THANKS to everyone who was involved from top to bottom. Our Republican Women’s groups and our Republican Executive Committees around the Magnolia State worked tirelessly to get this job done and I could not have done it without y’all.

Lastly, please don’t forget that getting the Voter ID Amendment onto the state general election ballot in 2011 is only half the battle. The important thing now to remember is to vote YES for the Voter ID Amendment when you see it on the 2011 general election ballot next November 2011!

Thanks,

Senator Joey Fillingane

Our Mission Statement

Our goal is to make elections in Mississippi more fair, open, honest and the election results more trustworthy. A voter identification requirement would help us eliminate the voter fraud that currently exists in our election system. We ultimately want teh citizens of Mississippi to have trust that their election system is accurate and void of voter fraud and cheating on election day.