Thomas Jefferson once wrote that a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite to democracy.
And, as much as writing this may get this blog labeled “racist” by association with T.J., the Founding Father was right.
Unfortunately, that’s a lesson that many in New Hampshire are just now learning the hard way. It turns out that a self-described “transsexual Satanist anarchist” who regularly chants “f*** the police” just won the GOP nomination for sheriff in Cheshire County after nearly 4,000 people, most of them unwittingly, voted for her because of the “R” next to her name on the ballot.
Aria DiMezzo, a man who identifies as a woman, also refers to himself as a “High Priestess of the Reformed Satanic Church” and a “libertarian anarchist,” saying “I was always upfront about who I am" after it turns out many people cast a vote for him not realizing who he was.
“So you’re mad. I get it. I promise you: I get it. You feel betrayed. You may even be wondering how the party that you so believed in could do something like this. But, odds are, you’re blaming me. Most people are probably angry at me, and blaming me for all this. That’s silly. I was always upfront about who I am. The good man in Rindge who looked into me found out everything he needed to know with a simple Google search,” DiMezzo wrote.
“I didn’t think that so many voters were just … completely and totally oblivious about who they are voting for,” he said.
DiMezzo also said in his online blog that his campaign isn’t a stunt, and that he will be “campaigning to win in November” against 8-year incumbent Sheriff Eli Rivera.
And while he may be wrong about his position on the police, his anti-capitalist leanings and his apparent inability to grasp the basics of biology, DiMezzo's right about one thing: the ballots you cast are entirely and unequivocally on you.
Know who and what you're voting for.