On June 4, 1785, James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, met with John Adams, the first ambassador from the new United States to Great Britain.
On June 4, 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to always be right vote. In August 1920, enough states had ratified the 19th Amendment that it took effect.
The Battle of Midway began on June 4, 1942. During the battle, four Japanese aircraft carriers that had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor and one cruiser were sunk at the cost of one American carrier and one destroyer.
Today is the 31st Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, China.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Yesterday’s First GaPundit Lunchapalooza was less of a humiliation than expected a smashing success.
The most important thing I heard was from State Rep. Sheri Gilligan who discussed what happens if you don’t take your mail-in ballot when you go to vote in person.
“I’ll answer your question about what happens if you didn’t receive your [mail-in] ballot or if you don’t take it with you [to vote in person].”
“You can indeed vote and it will not be a provisional ballot. They will still cancel that Absentee by mail Ballot.”
“It’s better if you take it with you, but you can absolutely vote without having that ballot with you, and it’s another way to protect yourself.”
“If somebody took your, you know, you sent your application in, you never received your ballot, there’s a possibility somebody else is trying to vote your ballot. So, go in-person and vote, and that absentee by mail ballot is absolutely voided and canceled at the elections office. That’s according to our elections officials here in Forsyth County, and I am absoutely convinced she is 100% right.”
We heard via email about a GaPundit reader’s experience with the issue:
We had not received the absentee ballots yet and wanted to take my family to vote in person anyway. It could be a long process because the election’s office personnel has to look up the voter’s information. It took our family of 4 about 20 minutes and that’s in Dawson County with no one in line to vote. We got home that night and the ballots were in our mailbox.
Recommendation-if you have in possession of it, bring to the elections office or expect some wait.
Here’s an excerpt from a publication by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office:
If I request an absentee ballot, can I change my mind and still vote at my regular polling place?
If the ballot has been voted and returned to and received by the board of registrars, then the absentee ballot shall be deemed to have been voted. No other ballot shall be issued.
If you still have the absentee ballot and give it to the poll manager of the precinct in which your name appears on the electors list, then the elector may vote a regular ballot.
If you have not received an absentee ballot, or if you have returned the absentee ballot, but the registrars have not received the ballot, you may cancel the absentee ballot by making a written request to have the ballot marked “cancelled.” The managers of your precinct shall permit you to vote in person at that precinct.
Canceled absentee ballots are handled in the same manner as those returned too late to be cast.
From the AJC on the current voting situation:
Georgians planning to vote in person next week for the June 9 primary could face long wait times — and not just because of the coronavirus.
A surge in the state’s voter rolls over the past decade combined with poll closures or consolidations due to the removal of federal oversight of polling changes is now exacerbated by last-minute poll closures, relocations and social distancing measures.
Next week, there will be nearly 80 fewer places to vote in the greater metro Atlanta area, home to the bulk of the state’s voting population and largest minority communities.
Fulton has approved emergency voting location changes for about a fifth of the 198 polls originally planned for June 9, which will impact about 250,000 voters who could cast their ballots at an unfamiliar location.
During the first day of early voting in Fulton County, wait times topping two hours were reported with around 600 total voters, prompting the county to expand hours and shift to larger spaces within the polling places.
“The longest lines that we’ve seen in Fulton County were at C.T. Martin and South Fulton,” Cindy Battles, program coordinator with nonprofit Common Cause Georgia said. “There were 20 people ahead of me [at C.T. Martin] and I waited in line for an hour to vote.”
Even though nearly 800,000 of the record 1.5 million absentee ballots requested have been returned by voters a week before the primary, Draper said she has heard from hundreds of voters who never received their ballot and will likely have to vote in person.
“Most frustratingly, we anticipated this problem months ago, but the counties and Secretary of State failed to plan,” [Saira Draper, voter protection director with the Democratic Party of Georgia] said. “We need to take action now to ensure enough polling places next week, but also in August and November, and the state needs to take measures to further expand vote by mail access.”
For me personally, I will probably go today to drop my mail-in ballot in one of the county drop boxes. I fear the postal service might be too bogged down to get it there in time otherwise.
Waycross Police Officer Erreka Bennett is a hero after saving a baby by administering CPR, according to a Facebook post by the department.
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan and Speaker David Ralston announced that the Georgia General Assembly will reconvene in legislative session on June 15. From the Jackson Progress-Argus:
Ralston, who helms the House, initially called for a June 11 restart while Duncan, who presides over the Senate, pushed for May 18. The June 15 date marks a compromise between the two after weeks of disagreement on when to start wrapping up the 11 remaining days of the session’s 40-day schedule.
“I appreciate the Senate recognizing that we should reconvene the session in June as I proposed,” said Ralston. “I believe this will enable us to best serve the people of our great state.”
Duncan pitched the June 15 date after backing off his original May proposal, noting the mid-June timeframe would give lawmakers and the public a few days of breathing room following the state’s June 9 primary election.
“June 15 will give members enough time, after the primary election, to be tested for free at their local health departments, which all Georgians are able to do,” Duncan said.
Lawmakers have not yet settled on the logistics of holding the session in accordance with social distancing practices adopted during the pandemic. A task force set up by Ralston is expected to issue recommendations on measures like remote voting and physical separation inside the Capitol building.
They did, however, offer a preview of some social distancing measures during in-person committee hearings this week and last, at which speakers waited outside meeting rooms for their turn to give testimony and watched proceedings mostly on video monitors installed in the Capitol.
Governor Brian Kemp said state revenues will likely be down 11% due to COVID-19, according to the AJC.
Kemp’s projection means lawmakers will have about $2.6 billion less to spend in fiscal 2021 – which begins July 1 – when they reconvene this month to pass a budget.
“Tough decisions will need to be made in your agencies and under the Gold Dome to balance the budget without compromising our values,” the governor told agency leaders in a video message Wednesday. “This is a challenging moment but one we are prepared to overcome.”
But with healthy state reserves and a tradition of conservative state budgeting, Kemp said that Georgia won’t have to make the “draconian cuts” other states face.
“While near-term state revenue collections are uncertain, we are seeing reassuring signs of fiscal resilience in our state,” he said.
Kemp said education, health care and public safety would be budget priorities.
“With the closing of schools, Georgia families have a renewed appreciation for our teachers, counselors, specialists and staff. These men and women are unsung heroes,” he said. “… Now more than ever, we see that access to quality, affordable health care is essential and life-saving. There’s no doubt we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our doctors, nurses and frontline workers and above all, we must continue to put patients first.”
He said addressing human trafficking and gangs was another priority.
“We must reaffirm our commitment to keep all Georgians safe,” he said.
Kemp said he would send an updated revenue estimate to the chairmen of the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia State Senate’s appropriations committees.
Governor Kemp visited Savannah, where he discussed the pandemic, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Kemp was joined at the America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia by Georgia’s First Lady Marty Kemp, Congressman Buddy Carter, State Sen. Lester Jackson, and Georgia House Rep. Ron Stephens, along with local business leaders. Kemp’s food bank visit followed an alfresco lunch at Tubby’s seafood restaurant and a meeting with members of the local United Way branch.
After Executive Director Mary Jane Crouch welcomed the governor and his fellow dignitaries to the food bank, Kemp spoke briefly with members of the Georgia Army National Guard before touring the facility and speaking about his response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact.
“I’m trying to instill confidence in where we are right now in our fight against COVID-19,” Kemp said, adding that he is currently visiting cities across Georgia to engage with local leaders about the way forward, while defending his decision to reopen businesses earlier than other states. “We could not continue in the posture that we were in six or eight weeks ago.”
Kemp also made a point of thanking the National Guard troops who have been assisting the food bank while performing many other roles during the COVID-19 crisis.
“They have, quite honestly, been heroic, and I hope every Georgian understands how much they have delivered,” Kemp said, while also noting the security role they have played during recent demonstrations in Atlanta that descended into violent conflicts. “We have seen over the last four to five days the great work they have done to support people who would like to peacefully protest.”
Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey warned that protests could lead to spread of COVID-19, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
With social distancing nearly impossible in a group of hundreds — although many wear masks — it may not be enough to stop coronavirus from making its way through protesters and law enforcement.
“When you have this many people gathered together in close proximity,” she said, “you run the risk of viral transmission.”
Toomey said the department is in the process of setting up testing sites for protesters and law enforcement to try to identify and mitigate new infections as quickly as possible.
“We want to ensure that the pandemic doesn’t spread because of this,” she said.
The mobilized response of the Georgia National Guard to assist in containment of the protests has pulled guardsmen off testing sites which. Toomey said, will likely cause testing numbers to drop.
Governor Kemp is receiving higher marks for his handling of COVID-19 from survey respondents, according to the AJC.
The [UGA] poll of registered voters showed Georgians are evenly divided over Kemp’s decision to lift much of the shelter-in-place order, with about 40% on either side of the issue. That’s a 16-point improvement from the school’s April poll, which found about 24% supported the move.
About three-quarters of respondents say they’re concerned that they or someone in their family will be exposed to the virus. But the proportion of Georgians who say they’re “very” or “extremely” worried has dropped by 11 points since April.
A majority of voters say fighting the disease is more important than restarting the economy, though they are more sharply divided about other debates. About 42% said k-12 schools should resume in-person classes in the fall, compared with one-third who rejected the idea.
Athens-Clarke County Commissioners are criticizing the local police over the handling of protests, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Athens-Clarke commissioners are disputing their police department’s account of a Sunday demonstration against police violence that ended with police and National Guardsmen tear-gassing demonstrators and observers — including one commissioner and the son of another.
Commissioners said the police account does not match video they have seen, what they saw themselves, nor accounts they are hearing from constituents, including demonstrators and parents of the mostly young demonstrators at the protest.
Commissioners are also seeking video of the demonstration and tear-gassing, from police and from demonstrators or others who were there.
“We should not be talking like weapons were there (after the Boogalooers left),” [Commissioner Tim] Denson said. “The only violence that occurred during that time was violence instigated by the police and National Guard. The only weapons that were used were used by police and National Guard.”
There might be citizens out there who think tear-gassing politicians is a reasonable first step.
Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says his agency should not bear the brunt of budget cuts, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Butler told members of a Georgia Senate budget subcommittee the labor department, which had been averaging about 20,000 unemployment claims per month, suddenly was hit with an influx of about 1 million claims when the coronavirus pandemic shut down Georgia’s economy, a number that quickly mounted to some 2 million.
Forced to cope with that soaring workload is an agency of about 1,000 employees, fewer than half as many as were on the payroll during the Great Recession a decade ago, Butler said.
“The good news is we’re getting the payments out,” he said. “We’ve found ways to be more efficient. But asking us to cut more now … I don’t think [would be] fair.”
Butler said the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program has been particularly difficult for labor department employees to handle because it provides unemployment benefits to people not ordinarily eligible for them, including the self-employed, gig workers, independent contractors, or employees of churches or other nonprofits. The agency had to train 500 to 600 employees on how to process PUA claims, he said.
“It has been a very heavy hit because we’ve never done that type of system before,” he said. “We had to build the applications from scratch.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the number of tips alleging exploitation of minors have increased, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
“It has been steadily increasing every year. There has been a natural increase already anyway and we would have expected to see an increase during this time anyway, but it has increased more than we thought it would,” GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit Special Agent in Charge Debbie Garner said. “It’s due to many things, one of which is likely there are more children at home and predators know this.”
In March, the GBI received more than 1,000 cybertips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and received close to 1,400 in April. Last year, the GBI averaged about 600 cybertips from NCMEC a month.
“(Predators) are very aware that the kids are at home with nothing to do. There is not a lot of places that they can go during quarantine and (predators) are very aware (children) are spending more time online with classes, they are spending more time online on social media, YouTube, watching videos,” she said. “They are just on their computers more and makes it a more target-rich environment.”
“Technology is not going away. Predators are not going to go away,” she said. “Teaching your kids how to be safe, just like you would teach them how to cross the street or, when they are older, how to drive, it’s imperative parents teach their kids how to be safe online.”
The Rome News Tribune reports that nearly 28% of eligible voters have already cast ballot in Tuesday’s election.
County Manager Jamie McCord told members of a Joint Services Committee that more than 9,500 absentee ballots had already been returned to the local office and a little more than 2,000 residents had participated in early voting.
“That’s probably a little higher than a lot of people had estimated,” McCord said.
Through Monday, more than 18,100 Floyd County voters had requested an absentee ballot, so the numbers show that a little more than half of those ballots had been cast.
Chief Elections Clerk Robert Brady said Wednesday that, all things considered, 27.73% of the registered voters in Rome and Floyd County had already cast ballots.
Brady is not expecting much of a physical turnout at the polls Tuesday and is holding to his projection of a turnout in the range of 32%.
A push to bring the Republican National Convention to Georgia is gaining steam, according to the AJC.
Gov. Brian Kemp vowed the state can “safely host” the Republican National Convention amid a rollback of coronavirus regulations. U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and U.S. Rep. Doug Collins have appealed to President Donald Trump to choose the state.
And on Wednesday, the state’s entire Republican delegation penned Trump a letter extolling the virtues of the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta’s busy airport, and the city’s experience hosting other high-profile events.
The Mayor and Commissioners of Athens-Clarke County want to move the city’s memorial to Confederate dead, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
“We want it gone and gone quickly,” Girtz repeated in a Wednesday morning community update meeting coordinated by the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce.
“That monument has got to come down, immediately,” Commissioner Russell Edwards said at Tuesday night’s commission meeting.
The monument is in jeopardy where it is now, said Commissioner Tim Denson, who called for it to be put into storage indefinitely.
Macon-Bibb County District Attorney David Cooke is accused by his opponent of abusing the power of his office, according to WMAZ.
The conflict revolves around coin-operated gaming machines.
Challenger Anita Reynolds Howard argues Cooke’s approach is an overstep.
Howard, in an interview several weeks ago, argued Cooke never should have prosecuted that case.
“The (state) court of appeals and the (state) supreme court has said the district attorney went beyond the scope of the law,” she said.
One of her campaign ads makes that same case, arguing Cooke is “abusing his power.”
Now, a new ad supporting Cooke’s campaign accuses Howard of taking big donations from the gaming industry.
It argues the vast majority, as much as 90%, of Howard’s contributions come from people and businesses associated with the gaming machines.
13WMAZ could not confirm that amount, but campaign finance disclosure forms did show Howard’s campaign has received more than $70,000 from coin-operated gaming machine companies and convenience stores.
A new SuperPAC is supporting Teresa Tomlinson for United States Senate, according to OpenSecrets.
Undivided Purpose has spent $91,000 on ads supporting Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson over her competitors in the extensive Democratic field, which includes former House candidate Jon Ossoff and former lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Sarah Riggs Amico. Those ads cast Tomlinson as the most experienced candidate and the best positioned to challenge incumbent Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) in the November general election.
When Georgia primary voters go to the polls June 9, they won’t know who paid for the ad blitz. That’s because Undivided Purpose didn’t file a pre-primary report with the Federal Election Commission that would have revealed its donors. Some groups avoid filing these reports by launching their election activities within 12 days of election day. Others game reporting deadlines to dodge disclosure by registering to file at a different frequency.
“A loophole in federal disclosure law enables the super PAC to avoid pre-election donor disclosure, depriving voters of important information regarding who is trying to sway their vote on Election Day,” Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, told OpenSecrets.
Undivided Purpose’s operatives and consultants are closely connected to Tomlinson’s campaign. Washington fundraising firm Berger Hirschberg Strategies, which received $166,000 from Tomlinson’s campaign, is also raising money for Undivided Purpose, according to the super PAC’s donation page.
The Stacey Abrams vehicle Fair Count will start a statewide tour, according to the Albany Herald.
Fair Count is launching its first completely virtual bus tour in Dalton Wednesday in an effort to increase participation in the 2020 Census. After having to cancel an in-person bus tour in March due to COVID-19, Fair Count has re-imagined the effort, and its desired impact, and coined the new effort — I Count Bus Tour: Remix.
UVA Political Science Professor Larry Sabato‘s Crystal Ball ranks Georgia Governor Democrat Stacey Abrams as number ten in what they deem, “The Veepstakes.”
[Pros]
•May help minority turnout in states like GA, NC, and beyond
•Young, dynamic on the stump
•Emphasis on voting rights[Cons]
•No experience in traditional VP feeder positions (governor or Congress)
•May be too much of a lightning rod after failing to concede narrow 2018 loss
•Too overt in wanting the job?
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson is asking local lawyers to help residents facing evictions as the court system comes back online, according to the Savannah Morning News.
“We need our area attorneys to use your affluence and influence,” Johnson said in regards to the “huge backlog in eviction cases” currently awaiting hearings in Chatham’s Magistrate Court. “We need your help to donate your time.”
“Landlords have to pay mortgages. We understand,” Johnson said, while noting that the financial fortunes of tenants may improve as the economy reopens, and they may eventually be able to pay back rent. “Sometimes they just need a little time.”
The Gwinnett County Commission voted to add sexual orientation and gender identity to employee protections against sexual harassment, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
County commissioners voted 3-2 on Tuesday to amend the county’s merit system rules and regulations to specify that sexual orientation and gender identity will now be considered sexual discrimination, and therefore prohibited. Commissioners Jace Brooks and Tommy Hunter voted against the change.
“Specifically, these proposed changes are intended to address inconsistencies in some of these provisions and to ensure the same uniform nondiscrimination language appears throughout the rules,” county attorney Mike Ludwiczak said. “The changes are also intended to clarify that discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation or gender identity is considered to be a prohibited form of sex discrimination.”
Glynn County Commissioners cut $422,000 from the Sheriff’s budget of more than $14 million, according to The Brunswick News.
The Whitfield County school system is cutting spending in anticipation of budget cuts, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
[T]he Whitfield County Board of Education, which had previously approved roughly $90,000-worth of painting projects for this summer from Rocky Face-based Hackney Painting, cancelled those orders during Monday night’s meeting.
“With budget cuts, I’m afraid we can’t do it this summer,” said Judy Gilreath, Whitfield County Schools superintendent. “It’s just maintenance painting we wanted to do, not anything to do with our new schools.”
Savannah-Chatham County public schools will open registration for its new e-learning academy on July 1, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Mariah Parker has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Parker posted [on Facebook]: “I just tested positive for coronavirus. More in comments.”
Parker, an organizer of Sunday’s protest in downtown Athens, also commented that she is “asymptomatic but infectious. If you spoke on Sunday or were near [Parker] in the crowd, please get tested.”
Parker was seen wearing a cloth mask at the demonstration.
She asked her Facebook followers to comment coronavirus testing resources, and Parker noted that, due to her decision to self-quarantine, she will not be present at a protest planned for Saturday in Athens.
Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful faces a budget cut from the County Commission, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
Scratching My Head
A Bibb County Commissioner said police should “shoot to kill,” according to the Macon Telegraph.
A Bibb County commissioner apologized for writing that law enforcement should “shoot to kill” George Floyd protesters in Milwaukee if “they continue to destroy.”
Joe Allen, who represents District 6 in Bibb County, Georgia, wrote the comment on a Facebook live stream from a television outlet reporting on damage near the intersection Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Center Street in Milwaukee.
“It’s now time to SHOOT to KILL them if they continue to destroy,” Allen posted about three minutes into Fox 6 Milwaukee’s live stream. The comment has since been deleted.
“I regret my choice of words in the online comments and what it means to people,” he [later] said. “It was a poor choice, and I’m sincerely sorry for these hurtful comments. We should be working to help all people and making sure we are together.”
Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk confronted someone carrying a sign with offensive language, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk tussled with a protestor over a sign that had foul language Wednesday evening.
The brief struggle in downtown Valdosta was captured on video and posted on social media.
Paulk said he had an understanding with protestors that there would be no vulgar signs, and when he saw a sign he thought went too far, he went into the crowd to retrieve the sign but a female protestor intervened and the two of them struggled over the sign.
The brief altercation ended with Paulk and the protestors shaking hands.
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