ATLANTA – A new round of purging from Georgia’s voter list ahead of next year’s elections is poised to remove 191,473 voters previously placed into “inactive” status from the rolls.
If an inactive voter’s county voter registration office receives no response to a mailed notice within 30 days, that voter will be taken off the list. Inactive voters who respond by updating their registration information will remain on the rolls.
“Georgia’s voter rolls are the cleanest in the nation,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Tuesday. “List maintenance efforts like this ensure the integrity of our elections.”
State and federal law require periodic updating of voter registration records to account for lawful voters who have died or moved to a different address. So far this year, 75,676 voters have been taken off the voter list because of an out-of-state move.
Voters placed in inactive status for two general elections who have failed to update their records can be removed from the voter list.
Georgians can check their voter registration status by using My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov and submitting any changes to their registration information. They also can register to vote by mail, online or at a state Department of Driver Services office.
ATLANTA – Japanese probiotic beverages maker Yakult will build its second U.S. plant in Bartow County, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday.
The facility represents an estimated investment of $305 million and will create more than 90 new jobs. Yakult U.S.A., which was formed in 1990, built its first U.S. plant in California.
“With a reliable logistics network that connects Georgia companies with markets across the world, we continue to attract world-class companies like Yakult U.S.A.,” Kemp said. “Northwest Georgia has seen incredible growth since I took office, creating more than 11,000 jobs.”
“The state of Georgia meets our business needs in terms of the climate for our production, the logistics for the product distribution, and the positive support from the state and the county,” added Yutaka Misumi, president and CEO of Yakult U.S.A. “We believe that the new facility will be the main supplier for eastern and central U.S. markets.”
The company will be hiring full-time managers and assistants, including staff positions in human resources, machine operation and maintenance, quality control, and warehousing.
Yakult plants provide free tours to the public, teaching visitors about the health benefits of probiotics.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked in partnership with the Bartow-Cartersville Joint Development Authority, the Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber and Georgia Power to bring Yakult to Georgia.
The plant is expected to begin operations in 2026.
ATLANTA – U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. R-Rome, is proving to be the most prolific campaign fundraiser by far among Georgia’s congressional delegation.
The conservative firebrand raised $1.7 million toward her bid for a third term in the House during the first half of this year, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission. That dwarfs the $604,158 raised during the first six months of 2023 by Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-West Point, the closest total to Greene’s haul.
Greene has built a national following among right-wing campaign contributors with her strong support for former President Donald Trump and backing of his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
A then-Democratic House majority stripped Greene of her committee assignments early in 2021 because of her embrace of various conspiracy theories, including questioning whether the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and school shootings were staged.
Most recently, Greene was booted from the conservative House Freedom Caucus after voting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to raise the nation’s debt limit and making disparaging remarks about a fellow House Republican. After the move, she declared she owes allegiance to no one in Washington, D.C., and her priorities lie with her constituents in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.
Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah, raised $597,518 during the first half of this year to finish third in fundraising among Georgia’s 14 House members. He was followed by freshman Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee, who raised $565,941 from January through June.
Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, was the top fundraiser during the same period among Georgia’s Democratic House members, bringing in $403,172. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, the longest serving lawmaker in the Georgia delegation, raised $385,830.
Freshman Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, brought up the rear, raising only $129,302 during the first half of 2023.
Here are the totals for the other seven members of Georgia’s House delegation during the first six months of the year:
ATLANTA – A federal court has dismissed the state of Georgia’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit challenging state House and Senate district lines the Republican-controlled General Assembly drew two years ago based on the 2020 census.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU’s Georgia chapter are arguing the maps deny Black voters an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones has set a Sept. 5 hearing date in the case.
“Georgia’s state legislative maps dilute the voting strength of Black Georgians in violation of the Voting Rights Act,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, co-director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “The maps rob Black voters of the right to engage in politics with equal dignity and equal opportunity. This ruling is a victory, and we look forward to proving our case at trial.”
In rejecting the state’s request for a summary judgment dismissing the lawsuit, Jones wrote that it’s too easy for such a step.
“Material questions of fact remain as to all aspects of Plaintiffs’ claims, and the Court cannot rule for Defendant without making factual determinations, weighing evidence, and assessing the credibility of the experts,” Jones wrote. “Unlike on a motion for a preliminary injunction, these determinations are impermissible on a motion for summary judgment.”
Much of Georgia’s population growth in the last decade has come from an increase in the number of Black residents. Yet, the suit alleges, the legislature failed to draw district boundaries that reflect those demographic changes.
According to the suit, the General Assembly could have – and should have – drawn more than a half-dozen additional new Black-majority districts in light of that Black population growth.
Jones dismissed the lawsuit the first time he heard the case, in March of last year. He declared the May 2022 party primaries were too close at hand for the court to change the maps at that time.
However, that ruling left the lawsuit alive ahead of the 2024 elections.
Voting rights advocates have successfully challenged redistricting maps recently in several states. Congressional maps are expected to be redrawn in time for the 2024 elections in Alabama and Louisiana after federal courts found maps adopted by those states’ legislatures violated the Voting Rights Act.
A federal court has also ordered South Carolina to redraw its congressional map after concluding that one district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
President Donald Trump slammed Georgia’s election system in a speech at the White House on Nov. 5, 2020. (White House video)
ATLANTA – The state Supreme Court late Monday unanimously dismissed a motion by Donald Trump’s lawyers to dismiss Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation of the former president’s alleged attempts to interfere with the 2020 presidential election outcome in Georgia.
A special purpose grand jury Willis assembled last year has recommended that one or more witnesses be indicted for perjury. No names were released when portions of the report were released in February.
Trump’s lawyers filed their motion to dismiss the case last week, alleging that Willis should not be allowed to pursue any charges against Trump because of a conflict of interest.
Willis, a Democrat, was disqualified last year from including Burt Jones, then a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, in the investigation because she had hosted a fundraiser on behalf of Democrat Charlie Bailey, Jones’ opponent. Jones went on to defeat Bailey last November.
Trump’s lawyers claimed the special purpose grand jury process was a violation of their client’s constitutional rights and that as a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, he would suffer “irremediable reputational harm” if he were forced to defend himself against a criminal indictment during the campaign.
While the Georgia Supreme Court has the authority to exercise original jurisdiction in “extremely rare situations,” the justices ruled Monday that Trump has not demonstrated a need for the court to pursue that route.
“The Court has made clear that a petitioner cannot invoke this Court’s original jurisdiction as a way to circumvent the ordinary channels for obtaining the relief he seeks without making some showing that he is being prevented fair access to those ordinary channels,” the justices wrote in a joint opinion.
“He makes no showing that he has been prevented fair access to the ordinary channels. Notably, Petitioner does not assert that the superior court has denied him the opportunity or ability to seek therein the relief he now requests from this Court.”
The Fulton County case involves a recorded phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021 asking the Republican state elections chief to “find” 11,780 votes in Georgia. Democrat Joe Biden had carried the Peach State the previous November by 11,779 votes.
The special purpose grand jury also heard testimony surrounding the assembling of a panel of “fake” GOP electors in December 2020 to cast electoral votes for Trump.
With the special purpose grand jury’s work complete, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney empaneled two regular grand juries last week. One of those two juries is expected to hear the case against Trump and consider indictments that could be issued as soon as next month.
