Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for October 19, 2015

British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia on October 19, 1781,  ending the American Revolution.

On October 19, 1790, Lyman Hall, one of three signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia, died in Burke County, GA. Hall was elected Governor of Georgia in 1783, holding the position for one year, and was an early advocate for the chartering of the University of Georgia.

On October 19, 1983, the United States Senate voted 78-22 to create a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., to be celebrated on the third Monday of January. The House passed the King holiday bill, sponsored by Reps. Katie Hall (D.-IN) and Jack Kemp (R-NY), by a vote of 338-90 in August. President Ronald Reagan signed the legislation on November 3, 1983.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The Democratic National Committee showed its contempt for Georgia when a DNC tour bus emptied its sewer tank into a storm water drain in Gwinnett County.

The incident occurred on Grayson Highway early Tuesday, while the vehicle promoting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Democratic Party was between campaign stops, CBS 46 News said.

CBS 46 News reported that a Lawrenceville businessman took several photos of the “Forward Together” tour bus dumping waste into a storm drain. The man’s pictures showed liquid seeping out from underneath the vehicle.

Gwinnett County hazmat units have since cleaned up the mess, and CBS 46 News reported that the Gwinnett County Stormwater Management and the State Environment Protection Department are now involved in the investigation.

The DNC apologized for the incident on Tuesday.

“This was an honest mistake and we apologize to the Lawrenceville community for any harm we may have caused,” a DNC spokesperson told WSB-TV 2 News.

Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile then stepped in it and tracked it all through the living room.

The bus is expected back in Atlanta today for a Democratic debate watch party.

The Georgia Secretary of State absentee/early voter file shows the following as of yesterday:

242,010 absentee and advance votes cast
171,555 In-person ballots cast
168,546 mail-in absentee ballots requested
68,306 mail-in absentee ballots returned
11,621 electronic absentee ballots requested
2,149 electronic absentee ballots returned

Some voters are still encountering long lines for advance voting.

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — Long lines formed for the second straight day at early voting sites. Tens-of-thousands of people in Georgia have already voted – and there are three more weeks until election day.

Long lines formed outside the Gwinnett County Board of Elections office. For now, it’s the only location in Gwinnett offering early voting. But those locations will multiply and the hours will expand for the week prior to the election.

Yet with all those hours and locations available, folks still opted to stand in in line here.

WSB-TV says the length of the ballot is partly responsible for voting lines.

As of right now, it’s a 2 1/2 hour wait in this parking lot to get inside here to cast a ballot.

Part of the problem, officials said, is the length of the ballot. It’s very long, and it takes voters on average about 15-20 minutes to vote.

Columbus officials also saw high voter turnout this week.

From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, 1,748 Muscogee County residents cast ballots, averaging 145 an hour.

The poll was not as swarmed Tuesday, but still drew a crowd: 1,520 voted, averaging around 127 an hour.

Voters reported waiting up to 45 minutes each day.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Georgia seeking extension of voter registration after Hurricane Matthew closed voter registration offices in several coastal counties.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued Georgia to compel the state to extend the voter registration deadline by six days past Oct. 11 in five coastal counties because offices were closed during and after Hurricane Matthew.

“The state’s failure to extend the voter registration deadline, despite the massive disruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew, means that thousands of Georgians will be prevented from participating in the November election. This is unethical and illegal,” Kathleen Burch, interim counsel for the ACLU of Georgia, said in a release.

The ACLU and other groups successfully sued Florida to have the voter registration deadline extended. The suit in Georgia names Gov. Nathan Deal and Secretary of State Brian Kemp as defendants.

The ACLU asserts that more than 1 million Georgia residents were under mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders and that government offices were closed and services disrupted by the storm.

The suit notes that U.S. District Judge William Moore on Friday ordered Deal and Kemp to extend the registration deadline in Chatham Camden for six days from Oct. 11 through Oct. 18.

Moore’s order removed the “undue burden” on Chatham County voters, the suit says.

The five other coastal counties in the mandatory evacuation area suffered the same injury as Chatham County, the inability to register to vote: The state’s refusal to extend the deadline in those counties is a violation of equal protection of the law, the suit says.

Georgia officials say a rigged election is unlikely here.

“There is no proof that it’s rigged, but elections officials have to proof that it’s not rigged,” said Merle King, executive director of the Center for Election Systems at Kennesaw State University.

King and his colleagues are responsible for testing the state’s voting equipment. They prepare the ballots and the electronic poll book of registered voters.

He said Georgia has a rigorous and overlapping security process and rigid procedures elections officials have to follow. It’s a system that has worked ever since the state became the first in the country to implement electronic voting statewide 14 years ago.

“The likelihood of an anomaly or some conspiracy that would alter the outcome of the election in a way that’s undetectable is improbable to the point of impossible,” King said.

The computers that tally the votes are not networked, he said, and therefore can’t be hacked.

Congressman Hank Johnson (D-Atlanta) fears election tomfoolery in Georgia.

“I don’t want to set off any alarms, but it’s clear that our election process is susceptible to corruption of the results through a cyber attack. The specter of election contamination is definitely a possibility, and it has been highlighted by recent successful attempts to hack into state voter registration databases  –  at least two and perhaps as many as 20. These attempts have been attributed to the Russians. But we know that such attacks can come from external or internal forces. It should press upon us the need to protect the security of our election, which is why I introduced the Election Integrity and Infrastructure Act of 2016,” [said Johnson].

State Rep. Mike Cheokas (R-Americus) spoke at a forum with his opponent, Democrat Bill McGowan.

The two had varying opinions on the governor’s proposed Opportunity School District amendment.

“The school board would no longer have any control,” McGowan said. “The local tax payers would no longer have a local school board controlling there monies. These monies would be used by that superintendent in Atlanta.”

“You realize that that the opportunities your child has are limited,” Cheokas said. “That there is a ceiling that other children don’t have. They have the whole gambit of opportunities in front of them. How would you feel?”

Dick Yarbrough writes about Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle’s new book, Education Unleashed.

He has a new book out, entitled “Education Unleashed,” that spells out what our public education system needs to do to ensure that Georgia builds a world-class workforce to attract new industries and ensure current businesses don’t have to import labor from outside the state, as well as helping students find a career path that utilizes their skillsets and interests.

“I wrote the book,” he told me in his office, “to paint a very clear vision of what education can become in Georgia and highlighting the two specific programs that have demonstrated remarkable successes.” Both programs are already up and running and Casey Cagle was the driving force behind their creation.

With evangelistic fervor, Casey Cagle believes charter systems and College and Career Academies are the answer to what ails public education in Georgia. In “Education Unleashed,” Cagle says, “Charter systems and College and Career Academies are proving every day that we can redesign our schools to provide high quality education to all our students.” In doing so, Cagle believes schools under local control with high accountability will create a better community.

There is a governor’s race coming up in 2018. It will be interesting to see if this lieutenant governor intends to carry his vision for improving public education into the governor’s office as did Zell Miller. If so, may he have equal success.

Attorney General Sam Olens spoke to the Atlanta Jewish Times about his future.

AJT: Does this rule out a future run for governor?

Olens: I frankly was not intending to run for governor before this.

AJT: Do you plan to continue any involvement in previous projects, such as campaigning for Amendment 2 (Penalties for Sex Crimes to Fund Services for Sexually Exploited Children)?

Olens: Clearly, I still have scheduled meetings; I have talks. You know, I’ve had three big initiatives as AG: the food bank program, the sex trafficking program and the prescription drug abuse program. When I leave office, I’m not going to leave these areas. I plan on continuing to support any and all efforts to reduce sex trafficking. I think Channel 2 is actually doing a series in about two weeks, and I previously was interviewed for that series. It is astounding to me how many young children are sold throughout our state every night. The biggest thing we can do, even more important than passing new legislation, is getting the point across that the buyers will spend many years in jail. When the middle-aged male finds out that his friend, his colleague at work or whatever, was given 10 years in jail for having sex with a 12-year-old, that sends the message. The old days where you disregarded the acts of the buyer and only went after the seller are long gone.

For instance, we had a training at Emory Law School for judges because the judges really need to understand that we can’t solve the problem without going after demand. That’s got to be an essential part of this scenario. The beauty of constitutional Amendment 2 is it gives the resources to assist the victims. So, for instance, now when I have a DA in South Georgia say, “I have a victim, there’s no place in South Georgia to assist the victim,” that’s unacceptable. If Amendment 2 is passed (Nov. 8), there will be institutions throughout the state to assist these victims. That’s paramount because too many of them are committing suicide or overdosing, and we’ve got to do what we can as a society for the most vulnerable to protect them.

Gwinnett County police rescued a 13-year old girl who was being sold in a motel.

Gwinnett County police believe they’ve cracked what could be a large human trafficking ring.

This week, a 13-year-old girl was rescued from a man she says was trying to get her to work the streets.

A detective told a judge that [Tyler] Summerour housed the girl at a motel and tried to recruit her into sexual servitude by “telling the 13-year-old victim that she should make him some money by engaging in sexual acts.”

“Detectives are still investigating the magnitude of this case,” Cpl. Deon Washington said.

Police say the victim’s own relatives are the ones who were able to track her down to the restaurant. They confronted Summerour, and the argument is what got officers to the location.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a nationwide anti-trafficking operation that resulted in numerous arrests in Georgia.

Nearly 70 people were arrested in the metro Atlanta area as part of an international sex trafficking and prostitution sting this week, the FBI announced on Tuesday.

The arrests were a part of a nationwide operation called Operation Cross Country X; it is the 10th FBI-led initiative of its type. According to the FBI, 82 minors were rescued and more than 239 alleged traffickers were arrested from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15.

The Metro Atlanta Child Exploitation Task Force (MATCH) executed two search warrants, rescued one juvenile and seized seven firearms in their operation.

Five people were arrested in Alpharetta. One person was arrested in DeKalb. Four people were arrested in Dunwoody. Two people were arrested in Gwinnett County. Two people were arrested in Marietta In the Athens area, five people were arrested. One person was arrested in Augusta.

In the Athens, Ga. operation, authorities said that the suspects, ranging in age from 22 to 66, traveled to the city with the intent to meet a child and pay for sex. Two of those arrested arrived with a gun; one had illegal drugs. One suspect had alcohol for the minor. At least one of those arrested in the Athens operation admitted to prior sexual contact with a minor.

Also part of this operation, two suspects who wanted in the death of a 14-year-old girl were arrested in Georgia.

Orlando Police say 20-year-old Karla Michelle Quiros Alsina and 26-year-old Arthur Lee Coleman III were taken into custody in the Atlanta area along with 19-year-old Avorice Jeno Holman, and 22-year-old Jose Ignacia Santiago Sotomayor. They face multiple charges, including first-degree murder, human trafficking of a child, prostitution, racketeering and transmission of child pornography after a 14-year-old overdosed. Read more here.

FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett said that it appeared that the two were beginning to operate another sex ring in Georgia at the time of their arrest.

The Gwinnett Daily Post writes about the local part of the nationwide operation.

The Gwinnett County Police Department used additional resources available through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s ‘Operation Cross Country X’ to help crack down on human trafficking this month.

The FBI credited partnering Georgia nonprofits and government agencies including Gwinnett police for assisting.

Although Gwinnett police work year round to combat human trafficking, they regularly set up stings with regional agencies. At times, Gwinnett police may receive a call from an out-of-state agency with information about someone with Georgia ties involved in the activity.

For about six years, Gwinnett police has been part of the FBI Metro Atlanta Child Exploitation Task Force — MATCH. Gwinnett officers with the special investigations section said pimps tend to be attracted to Atlanta because of its easy access, nightlife and special events that bring in money.

However, Gwinnett and its affluence have been an ideal place for pimps to hide their girls, said Cpl. J. Doherty.

But the federal operation provided Gwinnett police the opportunity to network with even more agencies and reach additional areas, Doherty said.