Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for June 24, 2026

On June 24, 1497, John Cabot first sighted North America, claiming it for the British Crown.

On June 25, 1788, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the tenth state to vote for ratification of the United States Constitution by a vote of 89 to 79. A committee was appointed to be chaired by George Wythe to draft a proposed Bill of Rights.

On June 24, 1795, the United States Senate voted to ratify Jay’s Treaty between the UK and United States. The terms of the treaty required an appropriation from the U.S. House of Representatives to implement it, and Congressional opponents tried to defeat the appropriation, which was approved by a 51-48 margin on April 30, 1796. Click here for more background on the treaty and controversy.

On June 24, 1853, President Franklin Pierce signed the Gadsden Purchase, acquiring what it now southern Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico.

General Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River toward Pennsylvania on June 24, 1863.

On June 25, 1868, the United States Congress provisionally readmitted Georgia to the Union following the Civil War with the requirements that they ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and never deprive any citizens of voting rights.

On June 25, 1876, Indians under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry under Lt. Colonel George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

John R. Lynch was the first African-American elected Chairman of the Republican National Convention on June 24, 1884; Lynch was nominated by Theodore Roosevelt.

Woodrow Wilson married Ellen Louise Axson of Rome, Georgia in Savannah on June 24, 1885.

On June 25, 1888, the Republican National Convention nominated Benjamin Harrison for President of the United States; Harrison’s grandfather was WIlliam Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States.

On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union blockaded West Berlin from all road, rail, and barge traffic.

Following World War II, Germany was divided into occupation zones. The United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and, eventually, France, were given specific zones to occupy in which they were to accept the surrender of Nazi forces and restore order. The Soviet Union occupied most of eastern Germany, while the other Allied nations occupied western Germany. The German capital of Berlin was similarly divided into four zones of occupation.

The United States response came just two days after the Soviets began their blockade. A massive airlift of supplies into West Berlin was undertaken in what was to become one of the greatest logistical efforts in history. For the Soviets, the escapade quickly became a diplomatic embarrassment. Russia looked like an international bully that was trying to starve men, women, and children into submission. And the successful American airlift merely served to accentuate the technological superiority of the United States over the Soviet Union. On May 12, 1949, the Soviets officially ended the blockade.

General Lucius D. Clay of Marietta, Georgia was military Governor of occupied Germany at that time.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released in West Germany on June 24, 1977. It’s astounding.

Rickey Henderson made his major league debut with the Oakland A’s on June 24, 1979, stealing his first base.

On June 24, 1982, the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution was defeated, having garnered the ratification of thirty-five states, three shy of the requisite Constitutional Majority.

Hopes for ratification before the deadline next Wednesday were dashed this week when the amendment was rejected by the Illinois House and the Florida Senate, two states in which supporters felt they had a fighting chance.

Had Illinois and Florida ratified the amendment, there was at least some chance that either Oklahoma or North Carolina would have provided the final needed vote.

Prospects were far slimmer in the other nonratifying states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

Phyllis Schlafly, a leader of a group called Stop-ERA, hailed the defeat of the amendment tonight, saying: “They realized E.R.A. is dead and I think that that is an admission they have lost the battle. My feeling is that E.R.A. will take its place with the prohibition and the child labor amendments as ones which did not have enough support of the American people to be in the Constitution.”

On June 25, 1990, the United States Supreme Court released its opinion in Georgia v. South Carolina, a boundary dispute. From Wikipedia:

A… 1922 Supreme Court decision, also called Georgia v. South Carolina, 257 U. S. 516, also held that all islands in the river belong to Georgia, but that the border should be in the middle of the river between the two shores, with the border half way between any island and the South Carolina shore.

Since the 1922 case, a number of new islands were created in the river between the city of Savannah and the ocean, due to the deposit of dredging spoilage or the natural deposit of sediments. In some cases, the new islands were on the South Carolina side of the previously drawn boundary, and Georgia claimed that once a new island emerged, the border should be moved to the midpoint between the new island and the South Carolina shore of the river. In some cases, the state of South Carolina had been collecting property tax from the land owners and policing the land in question for a number of years.

When an island causes the border to leave the middle of the river, it raises the question as to how the border line should return to the middle of the river at each end of the island. South Carolina advocated a right angle bend at each tip of the island, while Georgia advocated a “triequidistant” method which kept the border an equal distance between the two shores and the tip of the island (resulting in a smooth curve).

Seventeen cannon believed to be from the Revolutionary War are on display at the Savannah History Museum, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Workers carefully hoisted the big guns one-by-one from the back of a truck and wheeled them inside their new home at the Savannah History Museum, which will put them on display just in time for the Fourth of July celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

“They look brand new,” said Andrea Farmer, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist who was part of the team that researched and preserved the cannons. “They could pretty much be fired if someone wanted to.”

The artifacts were discovered in 2021 when a dredge scooping sediment from the riverbed as part of an Army Corps project to deepen Savannah’s shipping channel pulled up a cannon in its metal jaws. The crew soon dug up two more.

In the course of just over a year, a total of 19 cannons were hoisted from the location just downstream from Savannah, which is where Georgia was founded in 1733 as the last of Britain’s 13 American colonies.

After being pulled from the river, most of the cannons left Georgia for several years to undergo cleaning and preservation work at a Texas lab.

Archaeologists initially assumed the cannons likely dated to the Civil War. But further research indicated they’re likely almost a century older and sank during the buildup to the American Revolution’s bloody siege of Savannah.

Savannah was under British occupation in the fall of 1779, when colonists planned an attack to retake the city with help from French allies.

When French ships carrying troops were spotted off the Georgia coast, British forces scuttled at least six ships in the Savannah River downstream from the city to block the French vessels.

The land battle that followed was one of the bloodiest of the war. British forces killed nearly 300 colonial fighters and their allies, and wounded hundreds more.

The cannons will be part of a new exhibit on Savannah’s role in the American Revolution, which is scheduled to open Fourth of July weekend, said Samantha Moss, the museum’s curator.

The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners will host the unveiling of a Time Capsule from 1976, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

“Fifty years ago, the citizens of our community buried a time capsule to commemorate Lowndes County’s 150th anniversary and America’s Bicentennial,” county officials said in a press release. “Now, as our nation celebrates its 250th birthday, the community will gather to uncover this piece of local history and discover what the citizens of 1976 hoped future generations would remember.”

The capsule is believed to contain commemorative collectibles, photographs, documents, and other items that capture life in Lowndes County during America’s 200th birthday year in 1976. The unveiling offers a rare opportunity to look back in time and experience history through the eyes of those who came before us.

“This is a unique opportunity to connect with our community’s past while celebrating a major milestone in our nation’s history,” said Chairman Bill Slaughter. “As America marks 250 years of independence, we’ll have the chance to see what the people of 1976 chose to preserve and share with the future.”

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

A memorial service for the late Martha Zoller will be held Monday, according to AccessWDUN.

Memorial Park Funeral Home Riverside Chapel announced Tuesday afternoon, June 23, that a celebration of life service for Zoller will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, June 29, at Gainesville First United Methodist Church on Thompson Bridge Road. A reception will follow in the church’s Great Room.

Zoller was the host of “The Martha Zoller Show” on WDUN since 2019. Her final day on the air was Friday, June 19. She had previously announced plans to step down from her daily radio appearances due to health concerns, with her last day hosting the show planned for June 26.

Zoller was also a member of the Georgia State Board of Education and a former U.S. congressional candidate.

Governor Brian Kemp appointed David Emadi, current Executive Secretary of the Georgia State Ethics Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, to the Fulton County Superior Court, according to the AJC.

David Emadi, the executive secretary of the State Ethics Commission, takes the Fulton County Superior Court seat vacated by Jane Barwick when she retired earlier this year.

Nikia Smith Sellers, a Fulton prosecutor who ousted incumbent Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker in a nonpartisan election last month, has been appointed to fill the vacancy created when Kemp subsequently appointed Whitaker to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Sellers’ election win had been placed in jeopardy by Whitaker’s recent promotion and the creation of a Superior Court vacancy that Kemp had the authority to fill with the candidate of his choice.

Kemp’s office said Wednesday that Sellers’ appointment recognizes the election result.

The governor also appointed Fulton County Magistrate Court Judge Debbie-Ann Rickman to the Superior Court bench. She fills the vacancy created by the resignation in February of Shermela Williams, who was fighting the state’s attempt to remove her from office for multiple ethics violations.

The Augusta Board of Elections will move to dismiss a lawsuit that claims more than 18,000 absentee ballots are missing, according to WRDW.

Augusta’s Board of Elections announced it will file a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from former mayoral candidate Lori Myles over the Augusta mayor’s election.

Myles is pushing for a recount. Her lawsuit claims more than 18,000 absentee votes are missing and makes claims of voter suppression.

Lori Myles filed the lawsuit in Richmond County Superior Court challenging the handling of the May 19 election, alleging missing absentee votes and errors tied to how results were reported, according to court records.

In the complaint filed on May 28, Myles alleges election officials mishandled voting information and election materials and claims the election returns were inaccurate. Among the allegations, the filing claims that absentee-voter records were mishandled and that there were 18,353 missing absentee votes.

“I believe that ‘my votes, and your votes’ were stolen, erased, and strategically ‘voter suppressed,’” Myles said in lawsuit documents.

Defendants in the lawsuit include Richmond County Board of Elections Director Travis Doss, the Augusta Commission, members of Augusta’s elections board and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Myles also points to what she describes as polling-place reporting issues, repeatedly questioning why Diamond Lakes is not listed among polling locations and results on Augusta’s election website.

The complaint requests a recount and recanvass and references the pursuit of open-records requests. It also calls for additional verification measures, including rescanning ballots and scrutiny of QR-code tabulation, as part of the relief sought. Myles wrote that she plans to submit a voter-signature petition in support of her challenge.

Results posted on Augusta’s election website for the May 19 contest show Johnson leading with 16,313 votes, or 42.8%, followed by Kendrick with 13,531, or 35.5%, Eric Gaines with 5,442, or 14.3%, and Myles with 2,832, or 7.5%.

State legislators adjourned the Special Session after passing legislation on voting machines, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Augusta Chronicle.

Georgians should continue voting with the same machines they have been using for years until a new system can be acquired in 2028, lawmakers decided before ending their special session Tuesday.

In largely partisan votes by the state House and Senate, Republicans approved a measure that delays their previous July 1 ban on the use of QR codes to tabulate votes.

Georgia’s voting machines became a target for some after President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Critics contended the system was vulnerable to hacking and error, and they noted that voters cannot read the QR code on their ballot to confirm it accurately recorded their intent.

After voting two years ago to ban the system, GOP lawmakers failed to adopt or pay for an alternative. They blamed fellow Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who pointed back at them.

With the November midterms approaching, local election directors were saying it was far too late to switch to a new system. And that was back in the winter and spring, when the General Assembly was considering postponing the July 1 deadline during its regular session.

Lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would have done that, so Gov. Brian Kemp called them back to the Capitol to resolve the crisis.

If Kemp signs Senate Bill 3EX, it will delay the deadline to replace the system until Jan. 1, 2028.

It would also establish a committee of lawmakers to recommend standards for the next voting system based on hand-marked paper ballots. And it would require a hand recount of top-of-the-ballot races with tiny margins.

An earlier version produced by the Senate would have required hand recounts of the two top races in each cycle, including for U.S. president and U.S. Senate.

Critics derided that proposal, saying hand counts are inaccurate and time-consuming and that manual tallies that conflicted with machine tallies would further erode confidence in elections.

“Please do not subject Georgia to this,” Kristin Nabers, the Georgia director of the group All Voting is Local, said at a House committee hearing Monday.

Members of that committee, both Republicans and Democrats, were dubious about the hand count provision, as well.

So, leaders of the House and Senate met Monday night to negotiate a compromise.

The version of SB 3EX the Legislature sent to Kemp would require hand recounts in most statewide races only when the margin is within 0.5%.

“So it’s very narrowly defined,” Rep. Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, the chairman of the committee that reviewed SB 3EX, said on the House floor Tuesday.

The organization that represents election officials was satisfied by the change.

But those who do not trust the state’s current voting machines were not happy that the requirement for manual recounts would not extend to federal races and that QR codes would still be used in November.

“I think there’s going to be dissatisfaction in the fact that we are still on the QR codes for the 2026 election,” said Garland Favorito, cofounder of VoterGA, a group that has been pushing to eradicate the digital codes from the voting process.

Many Democrats rejected the premise of a flawed election system, calling the special session a waste of time and taxpayer money.

“You just cannot build a healthy democracy by catering to people who will just never accept the results of an election if it does not favor them,” Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, said on the House floor before voting against SB 3EX.

But her GOP colleague, Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, noted the fast-approaching July 1 deadline for eradicating QR codes. If the General Assembly failed to pass the measure, he said, “then we may be hand-counting ballots in 159 counties in the state of Georgia. That is a high probability.”

In the Senate, only four Democrats voted for the measure, including Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, his party’s nominee for lieutenant governor.

His opponent, Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, voted for passage along with all the other Republicans present.

If Kemp signs SB 3EX, and the tally in their election is within 0.5%, they will automatically get a hand recount.

From AccessWDUN:

Access North Georgia spoke to local legislators, State House Representative for District 106 Akbar Ali (D-Lawrenceville) and State Senator for District 50 Bo Hatchett (R-Cornelia), to get updates.

Needing a two-thirds majority for property tax relief on a county-by-county (or municipality-by-municipality) basis, not a single property tax-for-sales tax measure passed.

“We don’t believe in new taxes for folks, especially if it means more sales taxes, which is the most regressive form of tax within our state at the moment,” Ali told Access North Georgia. “[The property tax elimination] will end up hurting disproportionately people of lower income, but also be a lot more expensive to families during a massive affordability crisis in Georgia.”

Ali pointed to alternative means to reduce property taxes, like the homeowner property tax relief grants that passed. That measure caps property tax assessments at the rate of inflation.

Critics call a property tax-for-sales tax “regressive” as opposed to income or property taxes, since lower-income residents spend a greater percentage of their income on daily essentials.

Hatchett provided an alternative perspective, saying he was “disappointed.” He proposed legislation that would have given Stephens County property tax relief.

“This was simply a bill that would allow the people of Stephens County to decide whether or not to get property tax relief,” Hatchett told Access North Georgia.

Hatchett claimed that afterwards, Democrats in the State Senate came up to him and said they wanted to vote with them, but told him they had “gotten instructions” to not do so.

It is important to note that Senate Bill (SB) 33, which passed earlier this year, is the enacting legislation that sought to put a 1% Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (LHOST) up for referendum votes by taxable district.

Those are where the dozens of individual county and city LHOST bills came from.

That differs from the 2024 House Bill (HB) 581 that allowed municipalities to opt in to the Floating Local Option Sales Tax (FLOST), also capping property assessments at the rate of inflation. The primary difference is that FLOST spreads out the relief, whereas LHOST gets relief to homestead properties first.

Ali added that property tax relief should be in place for Georgians this year, and also gave an alternative idea to bring home prices down, especially for younger people and first-time homebuyers.

“When it comes to renting and when it comes to buying a new property, especially for the younger generation that are looking to get the idea of the American dream and home ownership, the main strategy that I’ve seen is tackling investor-owned housing,” Ali said.

Hatchett pushed back on the claims of sales tax being more regressive, at least for rural communities.

“I think that is just an example of how they don’t understand rural Georgia. They are used to living in metro-Atlanta, where a large majority of the people are renters,” Hatchett said. “I believe that they just denied people the chance to vote on something that would have made a real impact locally.”

Due to legislation passed in 2024, a deadline to start removing the QR code was set for July 1 of this year.

They pushed the deadline to make changes until 2028 in SB 3EX that lawmakers passed on Tuesday. The bill also requires hand-counting of certain statewide elections.

The statewide elections that are subject to hand-counting after the House made changes to the bill include governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Only the top two contests on a ballot would be hand-counted if the margin of victory is within a half percentage point.

“We had to push out the date to eliminate the QR codes, but we did put in hand recount to hopefully help with voter confidence, and those recounts would occur prior to certification, and we also established a committee that would be looking at other voting systems … that could be implemented as soon as next year,” Hatchett said.

State Representative for District 108, Dr. Jasmine Clark (D-Lilburn), spoke at the well on the House floor about the bill Tuesday, citing recent measures in Texas that were rolled back at the county level due to budgetary and logistical hurdles.

“Texas, just in 2024, they had arithmetic errors where the number of ballots cast did not equal the number of ballots counted, or each person counting got a completely different number than the person sitting next to them,” Clark said. “We are here doing this instead of doing the things that Georgians actually really wish that we would be doing. We’re not lowering grocery bills, we’re not lowering gas prices, we’re not helping families afford their rent, or their childcare, or their health care.”

Ali echoed Clark’s concerns, calling hand counting “inefficient.”

“[Hand counting is] wildly inefficient, lots of money that is going to be spent, and also a lot of inaccuracies that are prone to happen,” Ali said.

The 2026 special session has adjourned in both chambers, failing to pass property tax relief and redistricted maps. They succeeded in delaying the QR code deadline for ballot counting.

From the Associated Press via WJBF:

Legislation to keep Georgia’s embattled vote-counting method in place for this year’s midterm elections faced strong opposition from state Democrats on Monday after Republicans in the Georgia Senate approved an amendment that would require a hand recount of ballots.

Georgia’s governor, Republican Brian Kemp, had called lawmakers into a special session in part to address a July 1 deadline that was set to ban the QR codes used for the official vote count. Legislators passed a law two years ago that set that deadline, but then failed to find a replacement for tabulating votes.

Some voting rights activists had warned that any changes so close to the midterm elections could create confusion at polling sites. Georgia is a political swing state where voters will decide high-profile races for U.S. Senate and governor in the fall.

State lawmakers last week appeared to have reached a deal on a bill to push the July 1 deadline back to 2028. But Republicans in the Senate approved an amendment over the weekend that would require a full hand recount of the two races at the top of ballot. In November, that would be the governor’s contest and a U.S. Senate election.

The amended bill passed the Senate on a party line vote, but the House did not immediately schedule it for a vote on Monday.

Georgia Democrats say a hand recount in November would create chaos that could sow doubt about the results. Research has shown that hand-counting is more prone to error, costlier and likely to delay results. It has gained traction, however, with Republican lawmakers in some states amid President Donald Trump’s repeated false claims about a stolen 2020 election.

“What we are experiencing is a Republican Senate who’s acting extraordinarily irresponsibly with Georgia’s elections and people’s votes,” state Rep. Saira Draper, a Democrat, said Monday.

Republican state Sen. Max Burns defended the Senate bill, saying hand counts and machine counts can “coexist and confirm each other’s ultimate results.”

“This amendment to a good bill is to strengthen it so that the voters have confidence in election security,” he said.

Georgia’s current election system uses a QR code printed on ballots to tally the votes. It has drawn the ire of Trump, who claimed without evidence that voting machines in Georgia deleted or switched votes in the 2020 election. He narrowly lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden that year.

Georgia voting machines have been the subject of conspiracy theories, which manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems fought vigorously in court. But election integrity advocates also have raised concerns about the machines, arguing that they are vulnerable to hacking and that voters cannot be sure their selections are accurately reflected because people can’t read QR codes.

The Georgia Senate bill would extend the July 1 deadline to Jan. 1, 2028. It also would create a committee to recommend requirements for a new voting system. The committee would have until Jan. 31, 2027, to report its findings. State lawmakers would be responsible for funding, buying and implementing the new system for the 2028 election cycle.

The special session also was supposed to redraw Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts for the 2028 election, but state lawmakers postponed those plans.

From Georgia Recorder:

Georgia lawmakers dialed back a controversial change that would have mandated hand recounts of the two top-ticket races in every election before local officials could certify the results.

The hand-count provision was added by Senate Republicans over the weekend to a measure extending the state’s self-imposed deadline to stop using ballot QR codes to tally votes, prompting outcry from Democrats, local election officials and other advocacy groups.

The revised measure, which passed out of both chambers Tuesday largely along party lines, limits the use of hand recounts to only the governor’s or lieutenant governor’s race, and implements them only when the leading candidate’s margin of victory falls within half a percent of the candidate in second place. The state will reimburse counties for the cost of conducting a hand recount.

The bill also allows the state to continue using QR codes to tally votes until 2028, meaning they will still be in place for this year’s midterms, and mandates additional post-election audits on certain statewide contests and establishes a special committee to help select the state’s next voting system.

An amendment added by Covington Rep. Tim Fleming, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, instructs the committee to narrow their focus to hand-marked paper ballot systems, which would represent a shift away from Georgia’s current system that uses voting machines to mark ballots.

Sen. Max Burns, a Sylvania Republican who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, told lawmakers the language “ensures that Georgia moves forward, that our elections are safe and secure, that we are prepared for not only 2026 elections but also for ’27 and ’28 and beyond.”

Speaking to reporters after the bill passed, Burns added that the hand count provision was aimed at boosting voter confidence in the machine-tallied election results, despite the fact that studies have shown hand-counts of ballots are less accurate than ballots counted by machines.

“We’re not using the hand count as the primary method of determining election results,” he said. “When the machine tabulation suggests that a race is very close, we then say ‘review it,’ take a second count, and evaluate it.”

But Democrats questioned the measure’s reliance on hand recounts, citing high labor costs and the potential for human error. They also pushed unsuccessfully to have the bill changed to guarantee that a member of the minority party would have a seat on the special committee that will help choose the state’s next election system.

Rep. Jasmine Clark, a Lilburn Democrat who is running for Congress, accused Republicans of acquiescing to a small but vocal group of conservative activists who have continuously cast doubt on Georgia’s election integrity in the years since President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.

“You just cannot build a healthy democracy by catering to people who will just never accept the results of an election if it does not favor them,” she said.

Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo echoed Clark’s sentiments, criticizing the use of ballot hand counts and arguing that Republicans were “giving conspiracy theorists outsized influence over how Georgia’s elections are run.”

Opponents of ballot QR codes had long hoped that Georgia might find a way to phase out voting machines this year and replace them with hand-marked paper ballots, which they say can be more easily verified by voters. Voter GA cofounder Garland Favorito, who has been one of the main proponents of switching to hand-marked and hand-counted ballots ahead of the midterm elections, said he had conflicting feelings about the version of the bill that crossed the finish line.

“It’s a mixed bag,” Favorito said, arguing that the bill takes “steps in the right direction, but it doesn’t ensure that the 2026 elections are going to be secure.”

The last-minute addition of the hand-counting provision also risked compromising the support of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, which had initially supported the bill but reversed its stance after mandatory hand counts for the top two races in every election were added to the legislation.

Joseph Kirk, the Bartow County elections director and president of the association, said he was glad to see the hand recount provision scaled back in the final version, arguing that small discrepancies in vote totals can easily undermine voter confidence.

“When you see small changes in results, the question is why,” he said. “And most of the time when you’re hand counting, that’s an issue with people that are doing the hand count.”

He added that local officials may still have to adapt to some new audit and recount procedures for the midterm election, but said the bill is ultimately a “clear path forward” for election administrators.

Gov. Brian Kemp announced the special session in May, calling lawmakers back to the Capitol to address the QR code issue, to redraw the state’s political maps, ratify the recent gas tax suspension and consider local tax referendums. However, Republican lawmakers in both chambers ultimately backtracked on their plans to redistrict and Democrats successfully blocked the tax measures.

The bill now goes to the governor’s desk for his signature.

From the AJC:

As legislators left the Capitol for their summer breaks, they also knew the farewell might be temporary. Kemp could call them back later this year for another special session to redraw the maps, especially if Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms wins the governor’s race in November.

Before he adjourned the Senate chamberSine Die, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones left his Senate colleagues with that reminder, and a word of warning for the Republicans in the room.

“They say we might be back in November, so this might not be goodbye,” he said. “But if we come back to redraw lines in November, it ain’t the Democrats that need to be worried.”

Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms challenged Republican Rick Jackson to three debates in the race for Governor, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.

Georgians could get to see the state’s two gubernatorial nominees on the debate stage before the Nov. 3 general election.

On Tuesday, Keisha Lance Bottoms — former mayor of Atlanta and the Democratic nominee — called for three televised debates at least two weeks before the election. She invited Rick Jackson, the Republican nominee and billionaire founder/CEO of Jackson Healthcare, to participate as well.

“Georgians deserve to hear directly from their candidates for governor,” Lance Bottoms said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to share my vision for Georgia on the debate stage, and I call on Rick Jackson to join me. There’s a clear choice for Georgians in this race: I’ll fight for Georgians to lower costs and build a brighter future, while Rick Jackson will only fight to line his own pockets. Let’s debate!”

Lance Bottoms said she will attend the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young debate on Oct. 12 and is considering other offers. She said she wants the other debates to be in different regions of the state, with at least one including a town hall format to answer voter questions.

In response, Mike Schrimpf, a spokesperson for Jackson’s campaign, said, “Rick looks forward to contrasting his plan to lower taxes, improve affordability, strengthen education, grow jobs, and increase public safety with Keisha Lance Bottoms’ failed record of massive spending increases, higher fees, and skyrocketing crime.”

While Lance Bottoms soundly won the Democratic nomination during the primaries, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Jackson headed to a runoff. With the endorsements of Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump, Jones was the presumed favorite — but Jackson won with 52.7% of the vote, compared to Jones’ 47.3%.

Muscogee County certified results for the Primary Runoff Elections, according to WTVM.

Muscogee County has certified the results from last Tuesday’s runoff election, confirming the winners announced on election night.

Voter turnout came in at just under 25 percent. One statewide race is headed for a recount.

A recount has been requested in the Republican Public Service Commission District Three race. No major changes occurred from the unofficial numbers reported since election night in Columbus.

Muscogee County Director of Elections Nancy Boren said her office has finished counting every vote from the runoff, including four provisional ballots and seven military ballots that were postmarked by the election last Tuesday and arrived by Monday.

Voters in key local races chose Isaiah Hugley as the next Columbus mayor, Becca Zajac as the new District Seven city councilor, and Dr. Cathy Cook for the District Nine at-large seat.

“We counted four provisional ballots and seven military ballots that were postmarked by election day and received by today. So the process for the runoff is complete. The board has certified, we will send our results to the Secretary of State’s office,” Boren said. “Yes, so there is a request for a statewide recount for the Republican Public Service Commissioner District Three.”

The recount is set to begin Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Columbus Council Chambers at the City Services Center.

Boren also noted lawmakers are still debating changes to Georgia ballots, including whether to remove the QR code and require more hand counting. Those proposals are still in committee and have not been passed.

Whitfield County will audit ballots from last week’s Primary Runoff for Secretary of State, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen.

Whitfield County election officials will conduct an audit of all ballots cast in the Republican Secretary of State runoff after receiving a recount request from the Vernon Jones campaign, despite maintaining that the legal basis cited in the request does not require a recount.

The audit will take place Friday in conjunction with the county’s scheduled risk-limiting audit and follows days of public debate and multiple requests related to the statewide race.

The issue first arose when Whitfield County resident Stacey Doran asked election officials to manually review all Election Day ballots cast in the Eastside Precinct during the May 19 primary. Doran’s request stemmed from concerns about the Republican Secretary of State race after reviewing results from a state-directed audit conducted by local election officials on May 29.

The Whitfield County Board of Elections declined that request during its June 18 meeting.

Following that decision, representatives of the Vernon Jones campaign submitted requests seeking a recount of the Secretary of State runoff race. The campaign stated the review was necessary “to verify the accuracy of the results and to strengthen public confidence in the electoral process.”

Election Supervisor Shaynee Bryson told the Dalton Daily Citizen on Tuesday morning that her office had been working with Jones campaign representatives to clarify code references and procedural issues contained in the request.

“We are looking into other options, possibly doing a full hand count of that race in our audit on Friday,” Bryson said Tuesday. “We’re working to hopefully come to a resolution because neither party wants to go through the hoops. I understand the concerns and we want to make sure that we keep the voters’ trust.”

Later Tuesday, Whitfield County announced that it would conduct an audit of all ballots cast and approved in the June 16 Republican Secretary of State runoff race during Friday’s scheduled risk-limiting audit.

In other election news, the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office will begin the state’s post-election Risk Limiting Audit on Thursday with a public dice roll at the State Capitol to determine which batches of ballots will be reviewed by hand. The audit is part of Georgia’s election security procedures and will be open to the public.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Senate has approved legislation that would delay a scheduled ban on QR-code voting systems until 2028 and require hand counts of the top races on statewide ballots before certification, reflecting continued legislative focus on election audits, ballot reviews and voter confidence.

Governor Kemp’s veto of additional funding for domestic violence shelters may threaten their viability, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

However, when the budget landed on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk, he vetoed more than $300 million in new spending, including the additional funds for domestic violence and sexual assault services. Kemp made the cuts to help pay for an income tax package that lawmakers passed earlier this year that created a $1.3 billion deficit.

Kemp said at the time that he targeted new spending when looking for areas to cut.

For shelters like the one in Valdosta, those funding increases weren’t just nice to have — they were essential, according to Jan Christiansen, executive director of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

In 2024, the Georgia Commission on Family Violence reported that Georgia-certified domestic violence agencies answered 110,001 crisis calls. The commission also documented a 12% increase in domestic violence reports from 2023 to 2024, highlighting a growing need for survivor services.

“We’re going to have to redefine what helping victims looks like right now until we see what the next Legislature is going to do,” Girtman said.

The Haven, which runs a domestic violence shelter and sexual assault center, almost always operates beyond its capacity, according to Girtman. Serving nine counties in south Georgia, the organization often has to house women in hotels or send them to programs in other counties.

“Survivors are not going to be able to get everything they need from a reduced staff, and staff are going to burn out, and it’s going to be a vicious cycle, and it’s really heartbreaking,” she said.

State Rep. Karen Lupton, a Chamblee Democrat who is a vocal supporter of these programs, said she was “devastated” by the governor’s decision to cut the new funding in next year’s budget. Lupton emphasized how she and other Democratic legislators worked across the aisle with Republicans to push for the funding.

Lupton told the Georgia Recorder that when she went to the Grady Rape Crisis Center seeking care years ago, their help extended past just the initial health services.

“This is 29 years ago, but when I showed up in court, there was a Grady advocate there, holding my hand,” Lupton said. “I don’t think people understand that’s what they do. They don’t just give somebody a gown and take a swab and send them out the door.”

Rep. Bill Hitchens, a Rincon Republican who chairs the budget subcommittee that oversees public safety spending, said he also backed adding the $13 million in spending for domestic violence and sexual assault centers to the budget because of how “important” the resources are for communities.

“I just can’t imagine young women with small children being turned away and left out on the street to survive on their own,” Hitchens said.

The chairman also noted that federal funding for public safety programs has essentially “dried up” over the years, making state assistance even more crucial. Since 2018, federal funding from the Crime Victims Fund, which supplies grants to over 6,000 victim services organizations, has dropped by more than 70%.

“I’m kind of a conservative when it comes to money,” he said. “But we need to provide help when we can.”

Girtman lobbied Hitchens and other lawmakers earlier in the year, urging them to add funding for these programs to the next budget because of the increasing demand for services. Hitchens told the Recorder that while he pushed for the additional funds, he also understood that not every program could receive all of its necessary funding.

“Unfortunately, there’s not enough money to go around for everything everybody wants,” he said. “You have to make hard choices sometimes.”

The City of Quitman faces a $2.4 million dollar budget shortfall, according to WCTV via WALB.

Battling a $2.4 million deficit, Quitman City Council members voted to adopt a budget that includes potential cuts to the police department, while increasing some fees for residents.

Quitman City Manager James Lawrence said it is state law to have a balanced budget, and if more money isn’t generated, cuts will have to happen.

The most noticeable cut could come to the police department. Aside from the chief, Lawrence says there are 11 officers on staff with several vacant positions. He said in order to balance the budget, the number of officers would need to drop down to eight.

The city manager also pointed out the reduction in staff is dependent on the amount of money generated after the next fiscal year begins on July 1.

“The plan is to maintain the current staffing that we have and to manage that process through the budget year,” Lawrence said. “Based off of what currently comes in from the general fund side versus what the fire department and the police department currently expend, there’s no way you can get through the entire budget year without going over.”

Included in the new budget are increases to resident sanitation fees and an increase to the base rate for water and sewer. This will take effect on August 1.

Lawrence said the current base rate for water is $6.37, and that will increase to $13.37. He mentioned the consumption rate for city residents will not increase – only the base rate goes up. For sewer, that fee will jump from $5.86 to $12.86.

Additionally, sanitation fees will go from $14 per unit to $28 per unit for the first can. The second can will be $14 for residents, according to the city manager.

Residents outside the city limits can expect to see increases in both the base rate and consumption rates, according to Lawrence. He said that puts the city back in alignment with its current charter, which requires county residents to be charged 125% of the city’s rates.

Altogether, he anticipates the increases will generate roughly $600,000 in additional revenue.

Lawrence said he also cut $20,000 from his own salary to help with the budget deficit.

Separately, the city manager says they are on track to regaining financial compliance with the state. Earlier this year, the city was at risk of being dissolved after House Bill 1567 was introduced.

The city is now working to produce financial audits dating back nearly a decade in order to achieve compliance. “I feel comfortable with where we are right now,” Lawrence said.

He said the city already submitted reports for fiscal year 2017 to the state, and they plan to have 2018 complete next month. Several more audits should be finished by the end of this year, according to Lawrence. Ultimately, they must have all outstanding reports complete by May of 2027.

“An audit is not an investigation,” Lawrence said. “If we approach these internal audits as basically a report card of how your internal controls are, that is what will be able to help a city be able to operate more efficiently and more effectively to help the people that live here.”

Being out of compliance can heavily impact the city’s ability to receive grant funding, the city manager said. He pointed out the city had to spend an additional $100,000 to pay for the audits, but he says being in compliance is critical.

“That is Georgia Law, and so it’s very important as an administrator at least from my perspective that I follow the law first,” Lawrence said. “From a transparency standpoint, those financial reports or those financial audits show you in very great detail how money has been moved throughout the city – what’s been done well and what hasn’t been done so well.”

Dougherty County Commissioners are working to finalize their FY 2027 budget, according to the Albany Herald.

The Dougherty County Commission is putting the final touches on a budget proposal that totals $104.1 million, representing a 2% increase in overall spending from the current fiscal year while giving employees a 3% cost of living adjustment.

The good news for taxpayers is that the county’s spending package does not include a tax increase for the budget year that begins on July 1. To present a balanced budget package, the commission is using up to $6.1 million of reserve funds to plug any shortfall.

Richmond County Board of Education member Walter H. Eubanks has died, according to WJBF.