by Dave Williams | Sep 24, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The State Election Board is launching an investigation into allegations that local election boards in eight counties are routinely thwarting citizen activists’ challenges of thousands of voter registrations.
The five-member board voted 3-0 Monday to direct Mike Coan, the board’s executive director, to look into how challenges are being handled in Athens-Clarke, Bibb, Chatham, Cobb, DeKalb, Forsyth, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties and report back to the board at its next meeting Oct. 8.
The board’s three Republican members approved the investigation after DeKalb County Republican Chair Marci McCarthy said 5,215 voters are on the rolls in her county who are not eligible to vote. She said the vast majority of those voters – 4,861 – have not had any contact with local election officials for more than a decade, while the rest either are registered at non-residential addresses or have moved to a different jurisdiction and voted there.
“When ineligible voters remain on the voter rolls, it increases the likelihood of those persons voting in our county, which dilutes the legitimate votes of our citizens,” McCarthy said. “We have some of the dirtiest voter rolls in the state, in the country.”
The General Assembly’s Republican majorities passed election reform legislation this year making it easier to file mass voter challenges. Senate Bill 189 established the standard for challenging a voter’s registration “probable cause.”
Two years ago, Republican activists filed thousands of voter challenges in Democratic-leaning counties only to see local election boards dismiss the vast majority as baseless.
While Republicans argued that making it easier to file challenges would clean up the voter rolls by removing ineligible voters, Democrats maintained Republicans would use the legislation to get rid of eligible voters in Democratic counties.
On Monday, the board’s lone Democrat – Sara Tindall Ghazal – said Republicans who believe Democratic counties are blocking efforts to clean their voter rolls should take their case to court. In fact, DeKalb Republicans have filed a lawsuit to force the county’s election board to enforce the voter eligibility requirements.
“That is the proper venue,” Ghazal said.
Republican board member Janice Johnston, who made the motion to launch an investigation, said some counties are guilty of “blanket refusals” to accept voter challenges.
“This is an opportunity to put the counties on notice that we are aware of what is happening,” added GOP board member Janelle King, who joined Johnston in voting to authorize the investigation.
by Dave Williams | Sep 23, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Coastal Georgia is the beneficiary of a fifth round of grants through Gov. Brian Kemp’s Rural Workforce Housing Initiative.
Brunswick and Chatham County will receive more than $4.8 million for infrastructure supporting 129 housing units, Kemp announced late last week.
The governor launched the program early last year during his annual State of the State address to the General Assembly. The grants are overseen by the OneGeorgia Authority.
“We have made supporting communities in developing the infrastructure they need to meet the demand of historic economic growth a top priority,” Kemp said. “We look forward to these projects supporting the hardworking Georgians who deserve to be able to live in the same areas where they work.”
The city of Brunswick will get $2.5 million to build water, sewer, road and drainage improvements for the Reynolds Street Cottages development, enabling the construction of 46 new homes. The city and the nonprofit revitalization group Forward Brunswick will contribute nearly $1.4 million to the project.
Chatham County’s grant of $2.3 million will go toward infrastructure projects for an 18-acre development containing 83 new single-family detached homes and multi-family housing units. The city of Port Wentworth and Chatham County will contribute more than $3.7 million toward the project cost.
“The demand for workforce housing is growing throughout Georgia,” said Christopher Nunn, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs. “The OneGeorgia Authority is pleased to support local communities pursuing deliberate workforce housing strategies.”
by Dave Williams | Sep 20, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Vice President Kamala Harris Friday put the blame for the deaths of two Georgia women after doctors delayed abortion care squarely on former President Donald Trump.
At a mid-afternoon rally in Atlanta, the Democratic presidential nominee said the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller shortly after Georgia’s six-week abortion ban took effect in 2022 were a consequence of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. Trump appointed three of the six justices who joined the majority in that 6-3 ruling.
“Doctors have to wait until the patient is at death’s door before they take action,” Harris said. “This is a health-care crisis. Donald Trump is the architect of that crisis.”
Thurman and Miller died after taking abortion medication left them with some fetal tissue remaining in their uteruses, ProPublica reported this week. Both needed a dilation and curettage (D&C), a common procedure that removes remaining fetal tissue.
But in Thurman’s case, doctors delayed the procedure for 20 hours, worried they could run afoul of Georgia’s “heartbeat law,” which prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, typically at about six weeks into a pregnancy. Miller didn’t seek medical care because of the same concerns with the law, according to the ProPublica report.
“Amber’s death was preventable,” said Harris, who met Thursday night in Michigan with Thurman’s mother and sisters. “She should be alive today.”
Harris warned that if Republican nominee Trump is elected, he would sign a national abortion ban. If she is elected, she vowed to push for legislation codifying the Roe v. Wade decision into federal law.
In response to Harris’ appearance in Georgia, the Republican National Committee (RNC) accused Democrats of spreading misinformation about the two Georgia cases.
“The loss of any life is always a tragedy,” RNC spokesperson Morgan Ackley said. “[But] Georgia not only established clear exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, but also included providing necessary care in the event of a medical emergency. There was no reason that doctors could not act swiftly to protect the lives of mothers.”
by Dave Williams | Sep 20, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled State Election Board Friday approved a controversial change in election rules requiring counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day.
The proposal passed 3-2 despite objections from the Georgia attorney general’s office, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, local election officials, Democrats and voting-rights groups.
Many counties hand-counted the number of ballots cast in the 2020 election without any complaints, said Sharlene Alexander, a former assistant poll manager in Fayette County. Hand-counting without actually tabulating the results can be done without taking a lot of time, Alexander said.
“I don’t understand why this big uproar is going on,” she said.
But opponents argued that changing the hand-count rule so close to this year’s election is part of a concerted effort by Republicans in Georgia to sow chaos and confusion, potentially delaying the results and helping former President Donald Trump secure the state’s 16 electoral votes whether or not he wins the popular vote in the Peach State.
“Counting thousands of ballots by hand will be incredibly tenuous, expensive and possibly error-prone process,” said Kristin Nabers, state director for All Voting is Local Action, a group that advocates expanding voter access. “Any human errors can be exploited by election deniers to sow distrust and decrease confidence in our elections.”
Senior Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Young questioned the State Election Board’s statutory authority to make such a rules change.
“These proposed rules purport to amend provisions to allow for hand-counting ballots at the precinct level, which would appear to occur prior to submission to the election superintendent and consolidation and tabulation of the votes,” Young wrote in a letter to board Chairman John Fervier dated Thursday. “However, the statutes upon which these rules rely do not reflect any provision enacted by the General Assembly.”
Raffensperger, who has called the State Election Board a “mess,” also has warned that changing election rules so close to the start of early voting next month and Election Day Nov. 5 could delay the tabulation of results.
“Attorney General Chris Carr has stated that these rules would not withstand a legal challenge, and I have worked every day to strengthen Georgia’s election law to ensure our elections remain safe, secure, and free,” Raffensperger said following Friday’s vote.
The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials weighed in this week with a letter to board members objecting to changing the rule on hand-counting ballots, citing its potential to “delay results, set fatigued employees up for failure, and undermine the very confidence the rule’s author claims to seek.”
“The pro-Trump Election Board’s newest changes passed today seem meant to create a fail point in our system — it’s a perfect illustration of the MAGA operation’s strategy to sow doubt and chaos, and upend the 2024 election,” added Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight, a voting rights group founded by two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.
“But it won’t work. We the people of Georgia have the power to stop them. By turning out in huge numbers too big to cry fraud, we can protect our freedom and ensure the choice of the voters, not the election deniers, prevails.”
But board member Janice Johnston, one of the three Republicans on the board who supported the rules change, dismissed arguments that it’s coming too close to the election. She cited past instances where the board approved rules changes close to Election Day.
Janelle King, another GOP board member who voted for the proposal, said getting a correct count is worth any delays at the precinct level on Election Night.
“I don’t want to see a precedent where we’re OK with speed over accuracy,” she said.
by Dave Williams | Sep 20, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A Georgia hemp industry that has been manufacturing and selling hemp products virtually unfettered since Congress legalized it six years ago is about to get some significant regulation.
Legislation the General Assembly passed this year that takes effect Oct. 1 will prohibit retailers from selling hemp products to anyone under the age of 21 and impose labeling, packaging, and testing requirements on manufacturers.
“[Congress] left it pretty open-ended,” said state Sen. Sam Watson, R-Moultrie, who introduced Senate Bill 494. “There’s no regulatory environment around it. … It’s a consumer-protection bill.”
The bill, which the legislature passed overwhelmingly in March, requires hemp growers, manufacturers, and retailers to obtain licenses and pay a licensing fee. Violators will be subject to criminal misdemeanor charges and civil penalties.
The new law prohibits the sale of any hemp products containing more than the legal limit of 0.3% of THC, the psychoactive drug that gets users high.
That means retail stores may continue to sell gummies, tinctures – generally cannabis-infused alcohol or oils administered orally – and non-alcoholic CBD beverages. But anything smokable and food products will no longer be permitted.
“A lot of these facilities are scrambling to get rid of inventory and replace it with compliant products,” said Gary Long, CEO of ONE59, which sells a line of hemp-derived, over-the-counter products from Botanical Sciences LLC, one of two companies awarded a Class One license to grow, manufacture, and sell low-THC cannabis oil to eligible patients under Georgia’s medical cannabis program.
“We saw this as an opportunity, with our expertise, and knowhow, to create a separate line of products that could be sold over the counter.”
Tom Church, an Atlanta lawyer who represents hemp retailers, said having to get rid of smokable hemp and food products poses a serious threat to some of the businesses.
“Legislators were uncomfortable legalizing something that looks like cannabis and smells like cannabis,” he said. “[But] for some stores, that’s their bread and butter. It’s not infeasible that some businesses may have to shut down because of this bill.”
But Watson said hemp products like peanut butter cups that are attractive to children shouldn’t be legal.
“It scares me as a parent,” he said. “If you’re using this stuff for medical purposes or a sleep issue, why do you need a candy bar for that?”
Church said some parties may file lawsuits challenging the restrictions on which hemp products can be sold, but he hasn’t heard of any as yet.
