General George Washington set up winter headquarters at Morristown, New Jersey on December 1, 1779.
On December 1, 1824, the election for President of the United States, in which no candidate received a majority of electoral votes, went to the United States House of Representatives.
Andrew Jackson of Tennessee won 99 electoral and 153,544 popular votes; John Quincy Adams–the son of John Adams, the second president of the United States–received 84 electoral and 108,740 popular votes; Secretary of State William H. Crawford, who had suffered a stroke before the election, received 41 electoral votes; and Representative Henry Clay of Virginia won 37 electoral votes.
As dictated by the Constitution, the election was then turned over to the House of Representatives. The 12th Amendment states that if no electoral majority is won, only the three candidates who receive the most popular votes will be considered in the House. Representative Henry Clay, who was disqualified from the House vote as a fourth-place candidate, agreed to use his influence to have John Quincy Adams elected.
The City of Sandy Springs began operations at one second after midnight on December 1, 2005. Three years later, Dunwoody became a new city, on December 1, 2008.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Today is Runoff Election day in some areas of Georgia. From the AJC:
The two men competing to fill the remainder of John Lewis’ congressional term already faced the prospect of a low-turnout runoff where the winner will serve for just one month.
But it’s gotten even harder for Kwanza Hall, a former Atlanta city councilman, and Robert Franklin, president emeritus of Morehouse College, to get through to voters ahead of Tuesday’s election.
The Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoffs that will determine the balance of power in Washington have siphoned resources and attention. Social media companies are enforcing a moratorium on political ads, taking away an inexpensive tool that Hall and Franklin could have used to connect with voters and clear up any confusion or misinformation.
But the winner will serve for a month — filling out Lewis’ term — then pass the title on to Williams.
Once the runoff results are certified, the winner can be sworn into Congress and start working right away.
Congress must pass legislation by Dec. 11 in order to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. Lawmakers also intend to approve a defense policy bill that has grown controversial because of a provision that calls on military bases named after Confederate leaders to be renamed. Georgia has two: Fort Benning and Fort Gordon.
There is also a chance some type of coronavirus stimulus will be put up for a vote during the month of December.
[Former State Senator, now Congresswoman-elect Nikema] Williams previously held the District 39 state Senate seat, which also includes part of southern Buckhead. Williams left that seat to make her run for Congress, triggering a special Democratic primary to replace her.
Sonya Halpern and Linda Pritchett were the top finishers in a four-way race for the seat Nov. 3. In the Dec. 1 runoff, voters will choose one of them to be the next state senator.
The state Senate race is a separate election from the 5th Congressional District election. Voters will have to specifically request the ballots for each race and vote in them separately, but that can be done the same day at the same polling place.
From the Athens Banner Herald:
Voters will decide who will serve as the next Western Judicial Circuit district attorney in a runoff Tuesday that’s so far attracted low turnout.
Democrat Deborah Gonzalez, the leading vote-getter in the Nov. 3 election, faces James Chafin, who finished second, running without a party label but with strong Republican support.
Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday in Clarke and Oconee counties, which comprise the Western Judicial Circuit.
Gerald Evans and Julie Newman will likely be the candidates headed to a runoff election to fill the remaining term of former District 1 councilman Robert Patrick.
The two were the top vote getters in the seven-candidate field, with Evans receiving 20.44 percent, or 488 votes, and Newman receiving just 22 less votes.
The winner in the runoff will serve through Dec. 31, 2021, representing the northernmost part of the city.
Polk County Commission District 2 voters return to the polls in a Special Runoff Election today, according to the Polk Standard Journal.
Advance in-person voting in the Dec. 1 runoff for Polk County Commissioner District 2 started last Monday, Nov. 23 and finished Wednesday, Nov. 25 with 275 ballots cast at the Polk County Elections Office.
The runoff between Ricky Clark and Linda Liles is needed after none of the five candidates in the special election on the Nov. 3 ballot received 50% plus one of the total vote.
Any absentee ballots for the Dec. 1 runoff must be returned to the elections office by 7 p.m. on Dec. 1. With such a short window, officials are encouraging voters to use the drop box located at the county annex building at 144 West Ave. in Cedartown.
Nearly a million Absentee Ballots have been requested in the Senate runoff elections, according to CNN.
More than 940,000 mail-in ballots have been requested in Georgia for the January 5 runoff election that will decide which party controls the Senate, Gabriel Sterling, the state’s voting systems implementation manager, said Monday.
That includes 604,255 people who are eligible to receive mail-in ballots automatically, according to Sterling. For comparison, 1,322,529 absentee ballots were cast in November’s general election, according to a release from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.
Sterling said that 1,040 ballots have been returned so far, a “small trickle that we expect to get larger soon.”
The election process has been underway since earlier this month, with November 18 as the earliest date for a registrar to mail an absentee ballot. December 7 marks the voter registration deadline to vote in the federal runoff election, and advanced in-person or early voting begins for the general election runoff for federal offices on December 14.
COVID is presenting challenges for elections offices recruiting poll workers, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
“Without poll workers, we won’t have enough precincts to serve the community that needs them and that’s where we see the long lines and voter discrepancies,” said Malbrough. “So we need to make sure we have adequately staffed elections, so we know we have a free and fair one.”
It’s an uphill battle. Election workers who are busy recounting the November presidential ballots are being run “into the ground” as state voting systems implementation manager Gabriel Sterling said in a recent press conference.
Some county officials say they are worried that, along with being burned out, potential poll workers will be put off by the surge in coronavirus cases and the timing of the runoff right after the holidays.
“It’s harder to get people during the holiday season, so for our early voting workers, we’re challenged to getting those because that’s right through the holidays,” said Janine Eveler, director of elections and registration in Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State’s office is investigating whether out-of-state residents are falsely registering to vote for the Runoff elections, according to the Macon Telegraph.
State election officials are investigating at least four groups for allegedly attempting to register out-of-state residents as Georgia voters ahead of two U.S. Senate runoffs in January.
Investigations into alleged voting irregularities tied to the Nov. 3 election continue, but the secretary of state’s office has previously said there is no evidence of widespread foul play or tampering that would have affected the outcome.
Raffensperger identified four groups:
America Votes: The organization allegedly sent absentee ballot applications to people at addresses they haven’t lived at since 1994.
Vote Forward: The group allegedly attempted to register a dead Alabama woman to vote in Georgia.
The New Georgia Project: The organization allegedly sent voter registration applications to New York City. The group was founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Operation New Voter Registration Georgia: The group allegedly told out-of-state college students that they could change their residency and register to vote only in the Jan. 5 election before changing it back.
“Voting in Georgia when you are not a resident of Georgia is a felony,” Raffensperger said. “These third party groups have a responsibility to not encourage illegal voting. If they do so, they will be held responsible.”
Richmond and Columbia counties began recounting ballots in the Presidential election, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Watching from the Richmond County observation room but without official credentials to go inside, two Republican observers remarked that the scanners weren’t checking ballot signatures. Trump, without evidence, has claimed another review of signatures would reveal widespread fraud, and the state certified election results weeks ago.
“What they’re doing today is not comparing the signatures on the absentee ballots,” said retired engineer Mark Knoderer.
When Georgia elections offices received ballots by mail, signatures were compared with that on a voter’s registration, in a process used for decades. The signed envelopes are then removed to ensure the voter’s identity is not attached to the vote selections.
Observer Brett English said voters’ privacy might be less important than an accurate result.
“At what point is that outweighed by the right to an accurate election for everyone?” English said.
Vice President Mike Pence will rally Republicans in Savannah on Friday, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Pence will return to Georgia for a Defend the Majority Rally in Savannah on Friday at an airport hanger on L.P. Owens Drive.
The Vice President will “deliver remarks on the historic accomplishments of the Trump Administration and the Republican Senate Majority, along with the importance of fighting for conservative legislators,” according to a press release from the Georgia GOP.
Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler will be attending as well. The two incumbents are facing off in a Jan. 5 runoff against Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively.
Doors to the event open at 12:30 p.m., and the program begins at 2:30 p.m.
As we’ve noted before, President Trump will be in Georgia this weekend. From AccessWDUN:
Republicans acknowledge Trump as the GOP’s biggest turnout driver, including in Georgia, where Biden won by fewer than 13,000 votes out of about 5 million cast. That means every bit of enthusiasm from one of Trump’s signature rallies could matter.
But some Republicans worry Trump will use the platform to amplify his baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud — arguments roundly rejected in state and federal courts across the country. That could make it harder for Perdue and Loeffler to keep a clear focus on the stakes in January and could even discourage Republicans from voting.
“The president has basically taken hostage this race,” said Brendan Buck, once a top adviser to former House Speaker Paul Ryan.
“Trump’s comments are damaging the Republican brand,” argued Republican donor Dan Eberhart, who added that the president is “acting in bad sportsmanship and bad faith” instead of emphasizing Republicans’ need to maintain Senate control.
Trump on Monday blasted Gov. Brian Kemp as “hapless” for not intervening to “overrule” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s certification of Biden’s win.
Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R-Forsyth County) pushed back on claims of election fraud, according to the AJC.
The lieutenant governor became the highest-profile Republican to defend Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after Trump blasted both for refusing his demands to interfere with the results of Georgia’s election over false claims of a “rigged” outcome.
In an appearance on CNN late Monday, Duncan said he was “concerned about the amount of misinformation that continues to fly around” involving President-elect Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia, which made him the first Democratic nominee to carry the state since 1992.
“It troubles me that some folks are willing, just for the sole intent of flipping an election, of spreading misinformation,” said Duncan, who spoke of friends who sent him pro-Trump conspiracy theories that took him seconds to debunk.
“I think we’re better than this. My hope is that we move past this here in Georgia and as a country.”
The Port of Savannah set an all-time record for container throughput, according to the Savannah Morning News.
October proved to be another busy month for the Port of Savannah with container volumes reaching 464,095 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), up 35,714 TEUs or 8.3% compared to the same month last year.
It marked the best overall month on record in the history of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), surpassing the previous record of 441,600 TEUs, which was set in August. July through October trade totaled 1.68 million TEUs, an increase of 55,378, or 3.4% for the fiscal year to date.
Griff Lynch, GPA executive director, said he was pleased with the growth, which is partially due to retailers making up for inventory, lost time and a compressed season.
“We have a stronger peak season than we anticipated and it’s being done in a smaller amount of time, a smaller window of time and so that’s putting pressure on the supply chain all over the U.S. right now,” he said.
COVID News
Governor Brian Kemp issued Executive Order 11.30.20.01, renewing the Public Health State of Emergency and E.O. 11.30.20.02, providing guidance on social protocols for slowing the disease progression. From the Press Release:
On November 30, 2020, Governor Brian P. Kemp signed Executive Order 11.30.20.01 and Executive Order 11.30.20.02, extending Georgia’s Public Health State of Emergency until January 8, 2021, and extending current COVID-19 restrictions. Executive Order 11.30.20.02 also includes changes that allow nurses and pharmacists to administer the pending COVID-19 vaccine, including in a drive-thru setting, and permits any nurse or pharmacist to observe patients for the requisite 15 minute window after receiving the vaccine.
Both Orders take effect on December 1, 2020 at 12:00 AM. Executive Order 11.30.20.02 runs through December 15 at 11:59 PM.
Kemp ordered a suspension of all laws and regulations that limit the types of vaccines pharmacists or nurses may administer. The administration of vaccines will be limited to patients over the age of 18. He also suspended laws that prohibit administering a vaccine while the patient remains in their vehicle.
Additionally, Kemp waived laws that require the administering pharmacist or nurse to observe the patient for at least 15 minutes after a vaccine is administered. It is suspended to the extent that any pharmacist or nurse, not necessarily the one who administered the vaccine, must observe the patient for at least 15 minutes after the vaccine is administered.
Local governments may still choose to issue mask mandates if their county reports 100 or more COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period.
Shelter in place requirements remain in effect for residents of long-term care facilities and Georgians with certain medical conditions. However, visitors are allowed at long-term care facilities if certain public health reopening guidelines tied to cases, testing and other metrics are met.
From the Capitol Beat News Service via the Gwinnett Daily Post:
Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday he expects health-care workers and nursing home residents in the state to start receiving vaccines in the second or third week of December, noting several state agencies have been preparing to move quickly on distribution as soon as the initial vaccine shipments arrive.
“Obviously, that timeline could change, but that is what we’re shooting for right now,” Kemp said at a meeting with local nursing home administrators.
“I’m confident that when the vaccine is authorized … that we will be ready to distribute that,” he added.
The general public should expect to have access to COVID-19 vaccines sometime between May and July of 2021 after officials have prioritized more vulnerable populations, he said.
Congressman Austin Scott (R-Tifton) has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Tifton Gazette.
“Rep. Scott has tested positive for COVID-19 and is following guidance from the House Attending Physician as well as his personal physician,” Scott’s Chief of Staff Jason Lawrence said in a statement to CNHI. “Austin and Vivien are appreciative of the prayers and well wishes.”
U.S. Rep. Rick Allen of Evans announced last week that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and would quarantine.
Days earlier, U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia stopped campaigning in person for the Jan. 5 runoff after she received a positive coronavirus test. She returned to the trail after receiving two consecutive negative tests.
U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson of West Point announced he had COVID-19 in October.
Nursing homes are experiencing staffing shortages due to the pandemic, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
During a roundtable Monday, Gov. Brian Kemp assured nursing home administrators the state is prepared to rollout an approved coronavirus vaccine as early as the second or third week of December. “We lost a lot of staff to begin with because they were afraid,” Mark Todd, president and CEO of Magnolia Manor, a faith-based senior living organization with facilities in rural Georgia, said. “We had a lot of long-term employees specifically that ‘we’re not going to deal with this anymore.’ So, we’ve been in a critical staffing situation, almost from day one.”
“Where that puts us moving forward is in a really difficult situation because if the vaccine comes in… if the medical community gets back to normal and we start seeing the same numbers of people that need the services that we have and all of a sudden our census takes off and grows,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to manage that. We don’t have the people in place — now or in the future — to do that.”
Other nursing home administrators echoed similar concerns of burnt out staff and falling revenue.
Tony Marshall, president and CEO of the Georgia Health Care Association which represents long-term care providers said that while revenue is dipping because of falling resident population, costs are increasing.
Marshall did note that under Kemp’s executive action and a waiver submitted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the state has been able to train over 3,500 temporary nurse aides to help offset staffing losses.
“Without those individuals being able to come in place, our workforce challenges would have been beyond difficult and would have almost been impossible,” he said.
Dalton Municipal Court is postponing some court dates due to rising COVID-19 numbers, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
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