Charles Darwin write-in votesIn 2012, Charles Darwin received 4,000 write-in votes from voters in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, protesting the re-election of an anti-science fundamentalist, Paul Broun. The Republican, a medical doctor, ran unopposed in the general election as a U.S. Representative. He sat on the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Yet, on 27 Sep 2012, Broun had expressed his contempt for the true meaning of science research when he called evolution and the Big Bang Theory, “lies straight from the pit of hell,” in a speech to a sportsman's banquet at a Baptist church. Although the votes for Darwin could not count officially, a University of Georgia plant biology professor, Jim Leebens-Mack promoted the write-in campaign to protest the incongruity of an anti-science fundamentalist on such a committee.« |
