The line outside South Cobb Regional Library in Mableton stretched around the block on the first day of early voting for the Nov. 3 elections in 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – After eclipsing the 2018 midterm elections turnout on the first day of early voting this week, Georgians surpassed the turnout ahead of the 2020 presidential election on the second day of early voting.
More than 134,000 voters cast early ballots across the Peach State Tuesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported. That’s a 3.3% increase over the second day of early voting two years ago. Historically, voting in midterm elections falls off substantially from voting in presidential elections.
“We’re extremely pleased that so many Georgians are able to cast their votes, in record numbers and without any reports of substantial delays,” Raffensperger said. “This is a testament to the hard work of Georgia’s election workers, the professionals who keep our elections convenient and secure.”
This year’s midterms mark the first general election since the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed controversial election-reform legislation last year replacing the signature-match verification process for absentee ballots with a photo ID requirement and restricting the location of absentee ballot drop boxes.
Raffensperger and other Republican leaders are pointing to the strong early voting numbers as proof the new law is not suppressing the vote as Democratic critics have claimed.
But Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams argued the record turnout is a result of Democrats overcoming the voting restrictions.
“It does not mean voter suppression doesn’t exist,” Abrams told supporters Tuesday during a rally in southeastern Atlanta. “But we’re stronger, better, and faster than it.”
During the first two days of early voting, which began Monday, more than 268,000 Georgians voted early in person. Tuesday’s turnout was 75% higher than the second day of early voting ahead of the last midterm elections in 2018.
Early voting turnout is expected to increase during the last week of the early voting period. All 159 Georgia counties will have early voting this Saturday.
The last day for early voting will be Nov. 4, the last Friday before Election Day Nov. 8. To find early voting locations and hours in your county, visit the secretary of state’s My Voter Page.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Both major party candidates for Georgia labor commissioner agree the agency needs an overhaul after it was overwhelmed by unemployment claims during the pandemic.
But Democratic state Rep. William Boddie and Republican state Sen. Bruce Thompson disagreed over how to solve the agency’s woes during a debate Tuesday streamed by Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Boddie, a lawyer from East Point, said he wants to more than triple the department’s employees from the current 1,100 to the 4,000 on the payroll when Michael Thurmond, the last Democratic labor commissioner, ran the agency during the late 1990s and 2000s.
Boddie complained the labor department took a 55% budget cut this year.
“How can you adequately serve the needs of the state with a skeleton budget?” he asked.
Thompson said throwing money at the problem is not the answer. He said he would use technology to modernize the department’s operations.
“When you bring technology in, you don’t need to balloon this staff,” he said.
Boddie also pledged to increase the number of career centers the agency operates around the state by placing one in every county with a population of 25,000 or more.
Thompson, who owns several businesses in Northwest Georgia, said he would use his business experience to improve efficiency at the labor department.
“I’m the only one on the panel with the experience as a business person who has gone in and turned companies around,” he said.
Libertarian candidate Emily Anderson agreed with her opponents that the leadership of the labor department “dropped the ball” during the pandemic. She conceded she lacks the government experience of either Boddie or Thompson but is a “quick learner.”
The current labor commissioner, Republican Mark Butler, is not seeking reelection.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams launched a statewide bus tour Tuesday, three weeks ahead of Election Day.
At a Mexican restaurant in southeastern Atlanta, Abrams told cheering supporters she wants put a $6.6 billion budget surplus to work meeting Georgians’ needs, not passing tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy, the approach taken by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and his GOP predecessors for the past two decades.
“For 20 years, we’ve been told there’s not enough money,” Abrams said. “We know we need education. We know we deserve health care. … It’s time to get rid of a governor willing to do less and less and hire a governor willing to do more.”
Abrams’ “Let’s Get It Done” bus tour began the day after she and Kemp appeared for one of two televised debates.
The governor argued the tax cuts the Republican-controlled General Assembly already has approved and additional reductions he will propose if reelected are the right approach because they put money into the hands of taxpayers who can decide for themselves how to use it.
Abrams also criticized Kemp’s positions on abortion and guns at Tuesday’s rally.
She said if she is elected governor next month, she will push to repeal the “heartbeat” abortion law, which bans abortion in Georgia after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually about six weeks into a pregnancy.
Kemp pushed the bill through the legislature three years ago. It took effect this summer following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision declaring abortion a constitutional right.
“We need a governor who believes bodily autonomy belongs to every person in Georgia,” Abrams said.
On guns, Abrams said the Kemp-backed legislation the General Assembly passed this year allowing Georgians to carry concealed firearms without a permit was the wrong way to go in a state plagued by gun violence. She said the governor pushed the bill for political expedience.
“We need a governor who is willing to strengthen our laws, not weaken them to win a primary,” she said.
Kemp has said he asked lawmakers to pass the heartbeat bill because it was in keeping with Georgia’s pro-life values.
He said the “constitutional carry” bill on guns would make it easier for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves against criminals who are going to be armed with or without a permit.
Abrams’ bus tour will continue Wednesday with stops in Lilburn, Athens, and Conyers. On Thursday, she will make stops in College Park and Columbus.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Republican State Sen. Burt Jones was an election denier who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
Democrat Charlie Bailey is a former prosecutor who was soft on crime.
Those charges leveled by the two major party candidates for lieutenant governor at each other Tuesday dominated a debate streamed by Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Bailey reminded voters of Jones’ role as a “fake elector” in December 2020, part of a team of 16 assembled to provide an alternative to the Democratic presidential electors Georgia voters had chosen the month before when Democrat Joe Biden carried the Peach State over Republican incumbent Donald Trump.
“What you did was un-American and unpatriotic,” Bailey said.
Jones responded that the alternate slate of electors was put together while a number of lawsuits challenging the outcome of the presidential election in Georgia were pending. The slate only was to be activated if the court cases moved forward, he said.
Jones accused Bailey of using the 2020 election dispute to distract voters from the campaign’s real issues.
“[Voters] are talking about gas prices, 40-year-high inflation, crime … and what’s going on in our educational system,” Jones said.
Jones accused Bailey of supporting no-cash bail for criminals at a time crime is on the rise in Georgia and failing to aggressively prosecute criminals during his time as an assistant district attorney in Fulton County.
As an example, Jones cited a 2017 letter from then-Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard suspending Bailey without pay for five days for “conduct unbecoming” an assistant district attorney. The letter didn’t specify the nature of the conduct.
While not responding directly to the suspension, Bailey said he prosecuted hundreds of cases during his time in the D.A.’s office.
“I’m proud of the work I did,” he said. “I stand on my record.”
After being quoted during the Republican primary campaign last spring calling for a total ban on abortion, Jones said Tuesday he supports the “heartbeat” bill the General Assembly passed in 2019 prohibiting the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically about six weeks into a pregnancy. The law allows exceptions in the case of rape, incest or “the wellbeing of the mother,” Jones said.
Bailey said he opposes the heartbeat bill.
“The six-week abortion ban is an infringement on the women of Georgia and their right to make their own decisions on health care,” he said.
Bailey said he favors codifying into state law the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring abortion a constitutional right.
Jones said he wants to eliminate the state income tax to keep more money with Georgia taxpayers.
“The money is better used in their pockets than by the state or federal government,” he said.
Bailey said he supports legalizing casinos, sports betting, and pari-mutuel betting on horse racing in Georgia and using a portion of the proceeds to increase spending on education. Jones introduced a sports betting bill into the state Senate two years ago.
Libertarian candidate Ryan Graham said the last two occupants of the White House – Trump and Biden – both deserve blame for inflation because of the spending both steered through Congress following the onset of the pandemic.
“The truth is this inflation has been bipartisan,” he said.
Graham said he has drawn support from as many as 8% of voters in some recent polls, making it likely the lieutenant governor’s race won’t be decided until a December runoff.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – More than 131,000 Georgians turned out on Monday for the first day of early voting ahead of this year’s midterm elections, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported Tuesday.
That’s 85% higher than the number who showed up to vote on the first day of early voting before the last midterm elections four years ago and fell just short of the 136,739 who cast ballots as early voting kicked off ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The huge turnout wasn’t surprising considering Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock are on the ballot, along with Georgia’s congressional delegation. All 236 seats in the General Assembly also are being contested.
Democrats in particular have been urging their supporters to take advantage of early voting in light of changes to state election laws the Republican-controlled legislature passed this year that put new restrictions on voting by absentee ballot in the name of restoring voting integrity.
Statewide, reports of long lines Monday were minimal, although there were some reports of voters waiting in line for more than 30 minutes at a few popular voting locations in metro areas, Raffensperger said.
There will be at least 17 days of early voting throughout the state. All 159 counties will have an early voting Saturday this weekend.
The final day of early voting will be Nov 4, the last Friday before Election Day Nov. 8.
To find early voting locations and hours in your county, visit the secretary of state’s My Voter Page.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
