On June 28, 1742, Spanish forces based in Florida invaded Georgia.
On June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson’s second draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On June 28, 1887, John Pemberton patented Coca-Cola Syrup and Extract.
Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28, 1914, sparking the First World War.
The first production Corvette was assembled on June 28, 1953 in Flint, Michigan.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
The United States Department of Justice announced Friday it would sue over Georgia’s 2021 election law revisions, according to the Associated Press via WTVM.
The Justice Department is suing Georgia over the state’s new election law, alleging Republican state lawmakers rushed through a sweeping overhaul with an intent to deny Black voters equal access to the ballot.
“Where we believe the civil rights of Americans have been violated, we will not hesitate to act,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday in announcing the lawsuit.
Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, said he would contest the suit. The Republican official was harshly criticized by then-President Donald Trump and his allies for rebuffing efforts to challenge the outcome of the state’s vote in the 2020 election. Raffensperger largely supported the new law and faces a primary challenge from a congressman backed by Trump.
“The Biden Administration has been spreading lies about Georgia’s election law for months,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “It is no surprise that they would operationalize their lies with the full force of the federal government. I look forward to meeting them, and beating them, in court.”
Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., called the Justice Department’s lawsuit “legally and constitutionally dead wrong” and said the accusations made by prosecutors were baseless and “quite honestly, disgusting.”
“Today, the Biden Justice Department launched a politically motivated assault on the rule of law and our democracy,” he said at a news conference.
Governor Brian Kemp released a statement in reaction:
“This lawsuit is born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgia’s Election Integrity Act from the start,” said Governor Kemp. “Joe Biden, Stacey Abrams, and their allies tried to force an unconstitutional elections power grab through Congress – and failed. Now, they are weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out their far-left agenda that undermines election integrity and empowers federal government overreach in our democracy. As Secretary of State, I fought the Obama Justice Department twice to protect the security of our elections – and won. I look forward to going three for three to ensure it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat in Georgia.”
Secretary Raffensperger released the following statement on the lawsuit from the Biden Administration attempting to overturn Georgia’s election law:
“The Biden Administration continues to do the bidding of Stacey Abrams and spreads more lies about Georgia’s election law. Their lies already cost Georgia $100 million and got the President awarded with four Pinocchios. It is no surprise that they would operationalize their lies with the full force of the federal government. I look forward to meeting them, and beating them, in court.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told McClatchy News Friday afternoon that a lawsuit alleging the state’s new election laws intended to deny Black residents the right to vote is “not supported by the facts.”
The 46-page lawsuit, filed Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice, seeks to overturn certain provisions of SB 202, a sweeping 98-page law that touches nearly every aspect of voting and elections administration in the state.
“I know at the end of the day (we’ll) make sure absentee voting is secure and that we have a secure method of identifying those voters that is objective,” he said. “Time and time again, when we’ve asked voters to support photo ID, they’ve said yes.”
Residents requesting and submitting absentee ballots will now have to provide their driver’s license, state ID number or some other acceptable form to prove their identity. The lawsuit alleges Black Georgians are less likely than white residents to have that ID number needed.
Deadlines for absentee ballot applications are earlier. Under the new law, applications are due two Fridays (11 days) before Election Day instead of just one. The lawsuit alleges Black voters were more likely than white voters to request a ballot between four and 10 days before the election — something that is now not allowed.
The lawsuit also targets provisions that limit the use of ballot drop boxes first introduced in 2020, bans outside organizations from serving food and water to voters in line, and restricts third-party groups from mailing absentee ballot applications.
“Together, these obstacles will push Black voters toward in-person voting, where they will be more likely than white voters to confront long lines, and where, because of SB 202, they will face additional impediments to successfully casting a ballot that will be counted,” the lawsuit reads.
Not long after Raffensperger’s interview, Gov. Kemp held a 13-minute news conference in Savannah calling the lawsuit a “politically motivated assault on the rule of law and our democracy” filed just days after the ‘For the People Act,’ — a federal bill that would have, among other things, expanded voting access — stalled in Congress.
“The DOJ lawsuit announced today is legally and constitutionally dead wrong,” Kemp said.
Hall County’s state lawmakers, all Republicans, have previously said changes had to be made following complaints about the election process since 2016.
“Conversations around voter law changes began after the 2016 presidential election and continued through the 2018 gubernatorial election and now in the November 2020 and January 2021 elections as well,” state Rep. Matt Dubnik, R-Gainesville, told The Times in March. “Both sides of the political spectrum have been clamoring for changes to Georgia election laws for a while, and this bill is not a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to the November election.”
Now, the courts are being asked to decide whether Georgia legislators targeted Black voters by limiting absentee voting in several ways: voter ID requirements, shorter deadlines, fewer ballot drop boxes, provisional ballot rejections and a ban on volunteers handing out food and water to voters waiting in line.
Georgia’s majority Republican Legislature passed the state’s voting law in response to supporters of former GOP President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed the 2020 election was fraudulent and that he was the real winner. The law’s backers say it’s justified by a need to restore Republican voters’ confidence in the integrity of elections.
Critics of the law say it’s clear that parts of Georgia’s law disproportionately affect Black voters. Black voters were more likely to cast absentee ballots last year and less likely to have photo ID than white voters, according to state election data.
The lawsuit’s prospects are uncertain in the federal court system.
It has been assigned to a judge appointed by Trump, J.P. Boulee, and conservative appellate courts have frequently rejected expansions of voting rights sought by plaintiffs in recent years. For example, an initial decision to extend Georgia’s Election Day deadline for absentee ballots to be returned was overturned on appeal.
It alleges the law’s absentee ballot limitations were passed with a discriminatory purpose in violation of the Voting Rights Act, saying state legislators knew voting hurdles would hinder Black voters after Georgia flipped to a Democrat for president for the first time since 1992, when Bill Clinton won.
Of the more than 272,000 registered voters who don’t have an ID number on file with election officials, 56% of them are Black even though they make up only about 33% of the state’s population, according to the AJC’s analysis of state election records.
“This is nothing more than a brazen attempt by the Department of Justice to seize powers delegated to states,” said U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, a Republican from West Point, Georgia. “I will continue to fight against these ‘woke’ misinformation campaigns that seek to undermine the authority of states to administer their own elections.”
Former Democratic DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones spoke to a group of Republicans, according to the Rome News Tribune.
Jones spoke to the group about his campaign goals which he terms a “Contract with Georgia.” Among other items, Jones pledged to eliminate state income tax, make Georgia a Second Amendment sanctuary state and require all public school to recite the Pledge of Allegiance daily.
Former Congressman Bob Barr (R-Cobb) is urging President Trump to stay out of Georgia’s 2022 Republican Primary elections, according to AccessWDUN.
Barr said regaining control of Congress will give Republican much-needed momentum going into the 2024 presidential election.
“That is job Number 1 right now, not so much worrying about 2024, but focusing on 2022 because if we don’t, as we should, take back the House and the Senate, then it’s going to make our retaking the White House in 2024 extremely difficult, unfortunately,” Barr said during an appearance Friday on WDUN’s “Newsroom.”
Barr, who back Gov. Brian Kemp for re-election, is concerned that GOP infighting over the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and elsewhere has the potential to hurt the party in 2022. Kemp, he said, has been on the right side of important issues like the coronavirus response and gun-rights issues. He urged the former president to stay out of the race.
“I’m a strong supporter of Gov. Kemp and I hope that we do everything we can to help Gov. Kemp. He’s been on Second Amendment and the COVID issue very, very good,” Barr said. “What I hope the president doesn’t do is interject himself into our primary here in a way that harms the gubernatorial race.”
A federal moratorium on evictions might expire next week, according to the AJC.
Court filings to oust renters behind on their payments slowed in metro Atlanta after pandemic-inspired eviction bans were put in place, but some housing experts worry a deluge could be coming if a federal moratorium is lifted next month.
Between last April and the middle of this month, 74,454 evictions had been filed in five Atlanta counties, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission. But many more tenants owe back rent. Estimates range from 184,000 to 353,452 Georgians and 5.7 million to 7 million Americans.
No time is a good time to be kicked out of a home, but now is especially bad, said Georgia Tech assistant professor Elora Raymond, the lead author on a recent Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta study on evictions.
“Unless we can get the vaccination rate up and get the case and hospital rates down, it will not be safe to go to homeless shelters and double up with relatives,” Raymond said.
The CARES Act moratorium ran from the end of March 2020 to the end of last July. The CDC’s prohibition on evictions started up in September. During the one-month lapse, eviction filings roughly tripled in the five metro Atlanta counties from the Fed study.
Fort Benning will be renamed, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Fort Benning’s name will change, and its commander, Maj. Gen. Patrick Donahoe, said local stakeholders have floated several possibilities for what they want the post to be called when the process is finished.
In late July, the commission tasked with removing Confederate names from military assets will visit Benning. Local leaders will meet on the installation during that visit, Donahoe said.
“We’re right now in the process of talking with … elected leaders, leaders of the (chamber of commerce,) religious leaders, community leaders downtown, former commanding generals of Fort Benning that live in the area — they’ll all be invited in that stakeholder meeting so that they can provide feedback and local input to the commission,” he said.
United States Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Atlanta) will speak at a Boys & Girls Club in Columbus this week, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Ossoff is scheduled to visit the East Columbus branch, 3835 Forrest Road, on Thursday to discuss the new monthly Child Tax Credit payments.
The news release from the BGCCV says Ossoff will be at the club at 11:30 a.m.
After touring the club, Ossoff is expected to brief local leaders and families on the changes to the Child Tax Credit payments as part of the American Rescue Plan.
Hall County Commissioners voted to allow retirement homes to sell alcohol to residents, according to AccessWDUN.
The vote came at the Thursday night (June 24) meeting of the commission with no one from the public offering any comment.
Sara McQuade, the Director of Planning and Development for Hall County, outlined the basic information of the amendment for commissioners.
“It would permit places classified as a continuing care retirement community to sell alcohol to their residents and guests,” McQuade said. “This would not be open to the public for consumption.”
Any senior living community that wants to sell alcohol would have to apply for an alcohol license.
“These licenses are not issued immediately, as they require two public hearings, but applications may be filed,” McQuade said.
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