Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for October 16, 2024

The Pennsylvania Gazette published a criticism against the British Tea Act on October 16, 1773.

The Tea Act of 1773 was a bill designed to save the faltering British East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the company to undercut even tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as yet another example of taxation tyranny. In response, the “Philadelphia Resolutions” called the British tax upon America unfair and said that it introduced “arbitrary government and slavery” upon the American citizens. The resolutions urged all Americans to oppose the British tax and stated that anyone who transported, sold or consumed the taxed tea would be considered “an enemy to his country.”

Five thousand British and Hessian troops surrendered to patriot militia on October 17, 1777, ending the Second Battle of Saratoga, and leading to France recognizing American independence and sending military aid.

An editorial published pseudononymously by Alexander Hamilton on October 17, 1796, accused Thomas Jefferson, then a Presidential candidate, of having an affair with a slave.

Happy birthday to the Texas Rangers, created on October 17, 1835.

In the midst of their revolt against Mexico, Texan leaders felt they needed a semi-official force of armed men who would defend the isolated frontier settlers of the Lone Star Republic against both Santa Ana’s soldiers and hostile Indians; the Texas Rangers filled this role. But after winning their revolutionary war with Mexico the following year, Texans decided to keep the Rangers, both to defend against Indian and Mexican raiders and to serve as the principal law enforcement authority along the sparsely populated Texan frontier.

On October 16, 1854, Abraham Lincoln, a candidate for Congress, spoke against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and called the practice of slavery “immoral.”

Lincoln, who was practicing law at the time, campaigned on behalf of abolitionist Republicans in Illinois and attacked the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He denounced members of the Democratic Party for backing a law that “assumes there can be moral right in the enslaving of one man by another.” He believed that the law went against the founding American principle that “all men are created equal.”

On October 16, 1918, visitors to the Southeastern Fair at the Lakewood Fairgrounds were required by the Georgia State Board of Health to don face masks in order to prevent the spread of the Spanish flu.

Paul Anderson, known as the “World’s Strongest Man,” was born in Toccoa, Georgia on October 17, 1932. From his New York Times obituary:

As the unknown substitute for the injured American champion at the first Soviet-American dual athletic competition, in Moscow in 1955, the 5-foot-9-inch Anderson was scorned by his hosts.

The scorn turned to snickers when Anderson called for a weight of 402.4 pounds, more than 20 pounds above the world record. The snickers stopped when the 340-pound Anderson lifted the weight. By the time he set another record, in the clean and jerk, he was being hailed by Soviet fans.

The stunning achievement at the height of the Cold War made Anderson an instant American hero, and it was largely an anticlimax when he set three more world records at the world championships in Munich, Germany, later that year.

Although virtually conceded the gold medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, Anderson was stricken with a severe inner-ear infection.

Competing at 304 pounds and with a 103-degree fever, he fell so far behind his chief rival that on the final of three required lifts, he needed to clean and jerk 413.5 pounds, an Olympic record, to claim the gold. Twice he tried and failed. On the third attempt he asked God for a little extra help and got it.

“It wasn’t making a bargain,” he said later, “I needed help.”

Paul Anderson Memorial Park in Toccoa is a private park supported by a 501(c)(3) organization.

Maynard Jackson was elected Mayor of Atlanta on October 16, 1973. Jackson was the first African-Amercian Mayor of Atlanta; he served eight years, and was elected for a third, non-consecutive term in 1990.

On October 16, 1976, Jimmy Carter campaigned in Youngstown, Ohio.

Tybee Island celebrated their 137th Anniversary on Tuesday, according to WSAV.

The City made a post on Facebook saying in part, “For over a century, this beautiful coastal gem has been the heart of sandy toes, salty air, and unforgettable memories. From sunrises over the Atlantic to the charm of our historic lighthouse, Tybee has captured the hearts of locals and visitors alike. Whether you’re strolling along the beach, enjoying fresh seafood, or exploring its rich history, Tybee Island continues to offer something special for everyone.”

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney struck down the State Election Board rule requiring hand counts of ballot, according to Newsweek via the Ledger-Enquirer.

Judge Robert McBurney of Fulton County Superior Court wrote in his order on Tuesday that “the hand count rule is too much, too late.” The new rule was passed by a 3-2 vote in September by Georgia’s State Election Board, fueled by three supporters of former President Donald Trump. It would have required poll managers and officers to tally ballots by hand after machine counts were registered.

“This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 [2021] have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy,” McBurney wrote in his order. “Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public.” The judge added that the hand count rule “on paper … appears consistent with the [State Election Board’s] mission of ensuring fair, legal and orderly elections.”

He added, however, that a “rule that introduces a new and substantive role on the eve of the election for more than 7,500 poll workers who will not have received any formal, cohesive, or consistent training and that allows for our paper ballots … to be handled multiple times by multiple people following an exhausting Election Day all before they are securely transported to the official tabulation center does not contribute to lessening the tension or boosting the confidence of the public for this election.”

From Georgia Recorder:

McBurney wrote in his court order that the election board’s approval of the hand-count rule came too late in this year’s election season to give local election workers time to comply with new procedures for the November election. The injunction will remain in effect until McBurney makes a final decision on the case at a time to be determined, according to McBurney’s order.

The new state rule, which the state attorney general says could be invalid, calls for a trio of poll workers to hand count every paper ballot cast on election day and verify that their count matches the machine-calculated totals.

McBurney wrote that the hand count rule on paper appears to be consistent with the election boards mission to ensure fair, legal, and orderly elections, however its timing complicates the electoral process in a way that is not in the public interest.

“A rule that introduces a new and substantive role on the eve of election for more than 7,500 poll workers who will not have received any formal, cohesive, or consistent training and that allows for our paper ballots – the only tangible proof of who voted for whom – to be handled multiple times by multiple people following an exhausting Election Day all before they are securely transported to the official tabulation center does not contribute to lessening the tension or boosting the confidence of the public for this election,” McBurney said in the Tuesday order.

Attorneys for the State Election Board and Cobb election board debated the hand-count rule Tuesday before McBurney during a hearing on the plaintiff’s emergency motions seeking to stop the rule from taking effect this year. The Cobb County board of elections is also asking McBurney to overturn several other rules adopted by the State Election Board in recent weeks.

The Democratic National Committee, and Democratic Party of Georgia and several local election officials in Georgia also filed motions opposing the new ballot counting rule.

“This labor-intensive process happens either late at night on election day at precincts across the state (with anxious and agitating observers) or in the days that follow at election offices ill-equipped to add yet another task to the many they tackle during that time,” the plaintiffs’ emergency motion brief says. “The end result: tired, undertrained poll workers sorting through millions of ballots with scant guidance and no oversight, under immense time pressures.”

State and national Republican political organizations have defended the implementation of election rules this close to an election, stating that they are necessary steps toward restoring public confidence in elections after Georgia’s narrow 2020 presidential election win by Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

McBurney also ruled Tuesday county election board members are required to promptly certify election results without delay, in another lawsuit challenging Georgia’s State Election Board rule changes.

On Wednesday, Fulton Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. is set to conduct an afternoon hearing on two separate election lawsuits, including several state election rules also being challenged in court by the Cobb election board.

From the AJC:

McBurney didn’t rule on five other rules contested in court Tuesday, including requirements for poll watching in tabulation areas, reconciliation of ballot counts, and public posting of the number of early and absentee voters.

Those rules are also being challenged in other lawsuits, including cases brought by both Republicans and Democrats. Two of those lawsuits are scheduled to be considered by a Fulton County Superior Court judge Wednesday.

McBurney isn’t the final say on the hand-count rule. His ruling will likely be appealed during the three weeks before Election Day on Nov. 5.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that more advance votes were cast yesterday than any other first day of early voting.

More than 300,000 Georgians cast ballots on the first day of early voting – far surpassing the previous record.

Gabriel Sterling, the chief deputy to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, confirmed the total had topped 300,000 late Tuesday. In 2020, about 136,000 people voted on the first day of early voting, and about 134,000 people voted on the same day in 2022.

From the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times:

As of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, about 72,000 Georgians already had cast their ballots on the first day of the early voting period. By the end of the day, that number is expected to far surpass the 136,000 who voted on the first day of early voting ahead of the last presidential election four years ago.

“It looks like it’s going to be a record breaker for the first day of early voting,” Raffensperger said.

Raffensperger said his office shipped out absentee ballots last week as scheduled, despite disruptions in South Georgia and the Augusta region caused by Hurricane Helene. Just more than 250,000 Georgia voters have requested absentee ballots, he said.

Blake Evans, director of elections for the secretary of state’s office, said Georgia has 350 early voting locations statewide. Voters can click on MyVoterPage.com for information on early voting locations in their county.

Raffensperger said the average wait time for early voting on Tuesday morning was just 57 seconds, even faster than the average wait time of three minutes posted two years ago.

“It’s going to be free. It’s going to be fair, and it’s going to be fast,” he said.

Early voting in Georgia continues through Nov. 1, four days before Election Day.

Note: the URL for My Voter Page is not MyVoterPage.com, it’s https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/.

From the Statesboro Herald:

Bulloch County residents began lining up outside the Bulloch County Elections Office at 7:30 Tuesday morning to cast their ballots in early voting for the Nov. 5 general election.

When the doors opened at 8 a.m., election officials said the initial rush of about 150 people went through smoothly and by 9:30 a.m. there was a short, but steady line, which kept up all day.

By the end of the day, 1,328 Bulloch voters had cast ballots, according to Bulloch County Election Supervisor Shontay Jones. In 2020, the last presidential election, 574 Bulloch voters cast ballots on the first day.

“Today was awesome,” Jones said in an email. “We were seeing voters pull in the parking lot as early as 6:45 a.m. and lining up in the building at 7:30 until we opened the polls at 8. It has been a steady flow all day. The majority were very nice and appreciative for our services.”

Meanwhile, early voters around the state shattered the first-day record of 136,000 votes cast in 2020.

Within six hours of polls opening Tuesday, Georgia had posted record turnout for the first day of early voting. Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, said that more than 154,000 people had voted by 1 p.m. Tuesday, beating the 136,000 from 2020. By 4 p.m., Sterling said, close to 252,000 people had been to the polls.

From the Savannah Morning News:

Voters in Georgia turned out in record numbers as the battleground state opened early voting for the Nov. 5 presidential election between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, state officials said on Tuesday.

At least 252,000 voters had cast ballots at early-voting sites as of 4 p.m. EDT, nearly double the 136,000 who participated in the first day of early voting in the 2020 election, said Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s No. 2 election official. “Spectacular turnout,” he wrote on social media.

Like some other states, Georgia has tightened its mail-voting laws since then, requiring voters who want to cast an absentee ballot to provide proof of identity and limiting the number of places they can deposit their ballots.

Georgia is one of the seven competitive battleground states expected to play a decisive role in deciding the election.

From WTVM:

“We have already set an opening day of Early Voting record with 154,505 votes cast in person today, with several hours to go,” Gabriel Sterling, the COO for the Secretary of State’s office, said on X. “MASSIVE numbers! Way to go county election offices and way to go voters! Keep it going Georgia!”

By 4 p.m., another 100,000 Georgians cast their ballot. Shortly after polls closed, Sterling said more than 300,000 votes were cast Tuesday.

“That’s 123% higher than the old record for the 1st day,” Sterling wrote on X.

Raffensperger also said about 250,000 people have requested absentee ballots so far. That number could rise to 300,000 in the next week.

“When you think about where we were two and a half weeks ago, for us, it’s also a double celebration. Because so many people said, ‘What’s going to happen? There’s no way you’ll have elections starting in Georgia on time.’ And in spite of all that, early voting has started in all 159 counties,” he said, referencing the widespread destruction Hurricane Helene brought to Georgia.

Voters unable to provide photo identification can vote through a provisional ballot. They will need to provide a copy of their ID within three days after the election to their county board of elections and registration.

From WSAV:

“Our motto is simple. Every vote matters because every voter matters. We have been working overtime to for the last two years since 2022 — counties have been working hard and we have been putting together our shoulder to the wheel to get it done,” said Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.

Georgia’ Secretary of State said he anticipates record voter turnout over the next three weeks.

“We have partnered with a tech company,” said Raffensperger, “and we are going to be able to audit every single race, and all 5 million ballots based on the human text not the QR code. From the president to the commission race, but every single race will have an audit. That is tremendous and builds trust.”

New laws in Georgia now require two required Saturday voting days and left it up to the county election boards to add Sundays as well. The last day to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 25.

Former President Donald Trump rallied in Cobb County last night, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.

Former President Donald Trump Tuesday night pledged to defeat inflation, lower taxes, and deport illegal immigrants at a campaign rally in Cobb County.

“The American standard of living is in a free fall,” Trump told sign-waving supporters at the Cobb Energy Center. “Cities aren’t safe. Illegal aliens are pouring in by the millions. … We’re going to take back our country, turn it around.”

Trump, the Republican nominee for president for the third consecutive time, said Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, would raise taxes on American families by allowing the tax cuts a then-Republican Congress passed during Trump’s first year in office to expire. He also reiterated his call for ending taxes on tips and overtime.

He also accused his opponent of being soft on crime during stints as district attorney in San Francisco and as California’s attorney general.

“She destroyed San Francisco,” he said. “It’s not even livable.”

As he did during a previous rally in Atlanta in August, Trump cited the murder last February of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. A 26-year-old Venezuelan man allegedly in the country illegally has been charged with the crime.

But Trump said illegal immigration is the top issue in this year’s election. He drew loud applause from the crowd when he promised to launch the largest deportation initiative in the nation’s history.

“Illegal immigration is a bigger thing than inflation,” he said. “We don’t want them in this country.”

As he did during a rally in Atlanta in August, Trump cited the murder last February of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. A 26-year-old Venezuelan man allegedly in the country illegally has been charged with the crime.

If he’s elected, Trump said he would bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. by imposing tariffs on a host of imported goods. He also pledged to make America energy independent through more aggressive drilling – including fracking, which he accused Harris of opposing.

Trump praised Gov. Brian Kemp’s mustering of state and federal resources to respond to the damage caused by Hurricane Helene late last month. He and Kemp had a falling out when the governor refused to help his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, but Kemp has endorsed Trump this year.

Trump didn’t mention the abortion issue on Tuesday night, which Democrats see as an opportunity to win a large majority of the women’s vote. Harris is calling for Congress to restore the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion and has criticized Trump for appointing three of the justices who overturned Roe in 2022.

“We know what Trump wants to do because it’s in his Project 2025 playbook: a nationwide abortion ban, restrictions on access to contraception and threats to IVF,” said Porsha White, Georgia state director for the Harris campaign. “Georgians have seen the damage Trump inflicted, and we’re not going back.”

Trump said the stakes in this year’s election couldn’t be higher.

“If we’re not successful, we’re going to lose our country,” he said. “[But] we have a mission. … America will be confident again. We’ll have a rebirth of the American dream.”

From the AJC:

“The United States is now an occupied country, but on Nov. 5, 2024, that will be liberation day,” he said to cheering supporters, falsely suggesting later that entire communities were held captive by migrants in the country illegally.

“I will rescue every town across the country that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said.

Trump’s calls for the largest domestic deportation program in U.S. history contrasts with Harris’ support for a comprehensive immigration overhaul that includes pathways to citizenship for some immigrants in the country without legal status and tougher border security policies.

Trump’s two-stop sweep through Georgia came as the campaign entered a new phase with the start of in-person advanced voting, as voters eager to make their voices heard quickly shattered records.

The visit came the same day Gov. Brian Kemp deployed his political network to make a significant push for the former president. The Kemp-aligned federal political action committee Hardworking Americans plans to fund a statewide digital, mail and text initiative to bolster Trump.

“Brian Kemp has done a really good job,” Trump said Tuesday of the governor he often attacked in recent years. The crowd greeted the praise with an ovation.

Both campaigns are shifting more of their focus to Georgia as polls show Trump and Harris knotted in a close race. The vice president plans to headline a Saturday rally in Atlanta, her fifth visit to the state since becoming the Democratic nominee.

“He bragged that he’s the one who overturned Roe v. Wade,” U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock said of the 2022 ruling that reversed the constitutional right to abortion. “We ought to give him full credit for that, and we ought to make him pay for it at the polls.”

Trump brushed off Warnock’s comments.

“I don’t know this guy,” the former president said of Warnock, who beat Trump-backed Herschel Walker to win reelection in 2022, “but he got lucky as hell to win, I’ll tell you that much.”

Trump’s visit telegraphed his campaign’s closing strategy. Senior Republicans worry that split-ticket voters who helped give Biden the edge in 2020 — and then elected Jon Ossoff and Warnock to the U.S. Senate — could break against him again.

That’s why instead of setting his sights on the deeply conservative parts of rural Georgia he visited in the closing parts of the 2020 race, Trump is taking a different tack in this campaign.

He’s scheduled two stops in metro Atlanta over the next eight days, with a visit to a National Rifle Association convention in Savannah sandwiched in between.

In Forsyth County, Trump fielded questions from several of the 100 or so women in the audience, as well as host Harris Faulkner, during a Fox News town hall on “women’s issues” that will air at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Governor Brian Kemp will campaign in Gwinnett County for two state legislators next week, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Kemp’s Georgians First Inc. group announced the governor and First Lady Marty Kemp will appear at a Get Out The Vote Lunch at 12:15 p.m. on Oct. 25 at StillFire Brewing, which is located at 343 Buford Highway in Suwanee. The event is being held to support the campaigns of state Reps. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, and Matt Reeves, R-Duluth, as well state House District 105 GOP nominee Sandy Donatucci and state House District 108 Republican nominee Elvia Davila.

This is actually Kemp’s second campaign-related trip to Gwinnett County this month in support of local Republicans. He was in Buford last week for an event to support state Rep. Soo Hong.

The visits are part of a push by the governor and first lady to support Republicans running for offices, particularly legislatives seats, in metro Atlanta.

Former Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade testified in Washington about the Trump prosecution, according to the AJC.

Departing Capitol Hill after roughly four hours of closed-door questioning, Wade and his two lawyers declined to go into detail about the questions that staff members for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee asked him. Roy Barnes, the former Democratic governor of Georgia who was recently added to Wade’s legal team, said the meeting was effective and that he did not expect Wade to need to return.

“We gave our testimony, cooperated and we are through,” Barnes said.
Wade, who had been subpoenaed, read aloud a three-page opening statement to begin the sworn deposition, and said he was appearing before the committee voluntarily.

Wade told the committee staff members present that he was part of a team that investigated efforts to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 election for more than two years and that he did so with integrity and by seeking the truth.

“The case was not politically motivated,” he said, according to the prepared remarks. “Rather, it was an independent investigation based upon facts, interviews, evidence and the rule of law.”

The GOP-led panel was expected to question Wade about the case, which he oversaw until he was forced to step aside in March. The committee also likely asked about meetings between the District Attorney’s office and the White House and congressional Jan. 6 committee, as well as the DA’s use of federal grant funding.

Rabun County Board of Education District 5 voters will elect a new BOE member as a write-in candidate, according to AccessWDUN.

Rabun County’s Director of the Board of Elections and Registration Tammy Whitmire said that just one candidate qualified for the primaries in May.

That was Incumbent Molly Lima, who then moved out of the state after the race began.

“That put that seat into a write-in category,” Whitmire said. “We did have three individuals that signed up to be write-in.”

Candidate Rick Story was appointed in May to finish Lima’s term and now runs against two other write-in candidates.

The qualified candidates are Story, Jason Streetman, and Eric Thurmond.

Whitmire said to qualify as a write-in candidate, you have to run an advertisement in the local newspaper stating that you are going to be an official candidate.

So that means the only write-in votes that will count will be for the three qualified candidates.

Whitmire also added that if the spelling of the candidate’s name is far enough off, it will not be able to be counted.

“It has to be where I know the intent of the voter,” Whitmire said. “You have to be able to spell it close to being correct.”

Whitmire said the intent of the voter is up to her and a team that will tally the votes. If there is a really big issue, though, it will have to be taken to the state board if they can not agree on the intent.

Also, the results will not be counted until the next day due to the nature of hand-counting the names of the candidates.

Governor Brian Kemp renewed the State of Emergency for Hurricane Helene for another week, according to WRDW.

Kemp said the state of emergency will end on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 11:59 p.m., unless otherwise renewed or terminated by executive order.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp extended the state of emergency for counties hit hardest by the storm.

In the CSRA, those counties are Columbia, Emanuel, Jefferson, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond, Screven, Taliaferro, Warren, Washington and Wilkes.

On Oct. 15, Kemp stated, “As Georgia communities hit hard by Hurricane Helene continue to rebuild, I want to assure them that we aren’t going anywhere until they recover fully. Our commitment remains unwavering, even if the news cycle has moved on. That is why I extended the State of Emergency today for counties in South and East Georgia as we continue to work with local partners on assisting.”

Before the most recent renewal, the emergency extension was set to expire on Oct. 9 and then again today, Oct. 16.

The executive order includes the suspension of the collection of motor fuel and diesel fuel taxes statewide during the state of emergency will end on Oct. 16 at 11:59 p.m., along with the collection of tax required upon the retail purchase, sale, rental storage use or consumption of fuel.

From Fox5Atlanta:

The state of emergency, initially declared on Sept. 24, was previously extended twice and was set to expire on Oct. 16.

The renewed declaration will now terminate on Oct. 23. Kemp emphasized the importance of this extension, stating that it is necessary “to ensure continuation of the State’s storm response and recovery efforts” and to protect the safety and welfare of Georgia’s residents and visitors.

The counties included in the renewed State of Emergency are Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Butts, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Evans, Glascock, Glynn, Hancock, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, Madison, McDuffie, McIntosh, Montgomery, Newton, Pierce, Putnam, Rabun, Richmond, Screven, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Telfair, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilkes, Wilkinson, and Worth.

Augusta Commissioner Brandon Garrett announced he will step away from his office, according to WRDW.

Augusta Commission member Brandon Garrett on Tuesday announced he is stepping away to “take care of his family and spiritual mental health.”

He said fellow Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle will be taking care of District 8 needs.

Garrett didn’t say how long he will be away, but “looks forward to returning soon.”