Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for October 23, 2018

On the Presidential campaign trail, Franklin Delano Roosevelt arrived in Atlanta on October 23, 1932, speaking to 10,000, and continued on to his “second home” at Warm Springs, Georgia.

FDR campaigning in Atlanta and Georgia in 1932.

When he arrived at Warm Springs, FDR gave a short speech:

“Two more weeks to go. . . . First, let me say this: this old hat, a lot of you people have seen it before. It’s the same hat. But I don’t think it is going to last much longer after the 8th of November. I have a superstition about hats in campaigns, and I am going to wear it until midnight of the 8th of November. . . . Well, it’s fine to see, and I’m looking forward to coming down here for the usual Thanksgiving party at Warm Springs, and having a real old-fashioned Thanksgiving with my neighbors again. I thank you!”

On October 23, 1971, the Coca-Cola Company launched the advertising campaign “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke.”

Georgia-born Clarence Thomas was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court on October 23, 1991.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Governor Nathan Deal ordered flags on state properties to half-staff in honor of Gwinnett County Police Officer Antwan Toney, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The order goes through Wednesday, the day that a memorial service for Toney will be held in Gwinnett County. In his order, Deal said lower the flags was a “mark of respect” for Toney, who died Saturday after he was shot while approaching a vehicle near Shiloh Middle School.

“Officer Toney honorably served the citizens of Gwinnett County for three years,” Deal said in his order. “It is fitting and proper to recognize Officer Toney’s service to Gwinnett County and the state of Georgia by lowering the flags on the State Capitol building and in Gwinnett County to half-staff.”

County Administrator Glenn Stephens previously sent out an email to county department heads, asking them to lower their flags to half-staff, county spokesman Joe Sorenson told the Daily Post.

Gov. Deal also said he will call a special legislative session to address hurricane cleanup issues in South Georgia, according to the AJC.

Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday announced he will call lawmakers back to Atlanta on Nov. 13 for a special session to cover the cleanup costs associated with Hurricane Michael, which devastated parts of the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia earlier this month.

Deal made the special session announcement two weeks before heated midterm elections in which his successor — either Republican Brian Kemp or Democrat Stacey Abrams — will be chosen. The special session will begin a week after the election and is expected to last at least five days.

Chris Riley, the governor’s chief of staff, said the state tab for the cleanup will be in the neighborhood of $100 million, including about $70 million for debris removal alone. The state will pay part of local government costs, including overtime for staffers who worked long hours during and after the storm.

While federal disaster aid will likely pay state and local governments back for their costs, Riley said those reimbursements can take one to two years and bills need to be paid in the coming months.

“It’s a pretty severe financial impact, and we want members to vote on it,” Riley said. “We just don’t have the money in their (agency) budgets to cover these costs.”

Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) campaigned with Brian Kemp, the Republican nominee for Governor, according to the AJC.

Rubio appeared with Kemp and a host of other down-ticket candidates at a diner in Buckhead and a get-out-the-vote rally in Cobb County, where he focused almost entirely on state issues as he urged conservatives to unite behind the GOP ticket.

“What happens at the state level — just because it doesn’t get national coverage — it matters,” he said, adding that state governments have far more flexibility to bring “innovative” solutions than Congress.

“They want to nationalize these races, make them about what’s happening everywhere but here,” he said of Democrats. “When it’s over, they’ll pack up. You still live here. And your children still live here.”

“We’ve got to turn out if we’re going to do that,” Kemp said, echoing Deal’s line. “We can’t leave one single vote at home. This is about the future.”

Democrat Stacey Abrams helped burn a Georgia flag at the State Capitol during her college years, according to the AJC.

On the eve of her first gubernatorial debate with Republican rival Brian Kemp, the campaign of Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams late Monday confirmed that she participated in the 1992 burning of the Georgia state flag and the Confederate battle emblem that had been attached to it during the ‘50s fight over segregation.

Asked about an AJC article from the period posted on Facebook, campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo pointed to a New York Times article that had been published minutes earlier.

The protest occurred just as Gov. Zell Miller was making a first, unsuccessful attempt to remove the battle emblem from the state flag – an attempt that nearly cost him re-election in 1994.

The flag-burning could become especially sensitive, given Abrams’ 2017 statement advocating the removal of the massive bas relief carving on Stone Mountain, featuring three Confederate leaders: Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and Confederate president Jeff Davis.

Democrat Stacey Abrams speaks at Valdosta State University on Wednesday, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

The Macon Telegraph looks at whether traffic roundabouts improve safety.

Take the College and Oglethorpe streets roundabout for example. Prior to the roundabout installation in 2014, there were five to six right-angle collisions a year, according to Macon-Bibb County Traffic Engineering.

“Since the roundabout has been built, we haven’t had any right-angle collisions,” said Macon-Bibb traffic engineer Nigel Floyd.

“It’s a national trend. Roundabouts are prevalent all over Europe. I guess the Federal Highway Administration is now adopting roundabouts in the United States. So, a lot of communities are implementing roundabouts just because of their safety features,” Floyd said.

In Georgia, locations for roundabouts are chosen once the transportation department has conducted a traffic engineering study.

“These studies are a very comprehensive analysis that looks at multiple factors of an intersection, traffic data, crash data, roadway geometry, land use and right of way,” Peek said.

Jill Nolin writes for the Valdosta Daily Times about the Constitutional Amendments on the ballot. It’s a good, balanced piece that is worth reading as part of your research before you vote.

Republican Congressman Rob Woodall (Gwinnett and Forsyth) leads his Democratic challenger in a bipartisan public poll, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Bold Blue Campaigns and JMC Analytics and Polling released the results of their polling of 500 potential voters in the Seventh Congressional District on Monday. The findings show Woodall leads Bourdeaux 49-43 percent with eight percent of voters undecided and a 4.5 point margin of error, meaning the Democratic candidate could still be within striking distance.

The results also show Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is narrowly leading Republican candidate Brian Kemp 47-46 percent among Seventh Congressional District voters in the governor’s race. About 1 percent of the poll respondents said they would vote for Libertarian candidate Ted Metz and another 6 percent were undecided.

“There are two main takeaways from this poll,” pollsters said in their report “(One is) demographic changes in the northern Atlanta suburbs are beginning to affect the district’s politics, (and the other is) polling shows a tight race for Governor, and a modest lead for Rep. Rob Woodall in the Congressional race.”

Fifty-one percent of respondents said they disapproved of President Donald Trump’s job performance.

That is in spite of the fact that, among the potential voters surveyed, 43 percent said they identified as a Republican while 41 percent said they identify themselves as a Democrat. Another 16 percent said they considered themselves to be independents.

“A district that supported Mitt Romney 60-38 percent in 2012 supported Donald Trump by a narrower 51-44 percent,” pollsters said in their report. “While some of this was due to weakness among white-collar suburban voters, the Democratic tendencies of the growing non-white population have also played a part.

Statesboro City Council voted to create citizen boards on youth issues and workforce development, according to the Statesboro Herald.

Some Savannah activists are seeking assurances a new areana will generate new jobs and economic development, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Neighborhood association presidents and residents of Carver Village, Cloverdale and Hudson Hill made it clear they did not want the $140 million project to move forward without the input of the communities it will impact during a meeting last Wednesday night. The meeting at the Temple of Glory Community Church was two blocks south of the arena site on the northeast end of Gwinnett Street and Stiles Avenue.

While holding a sign demanding the negotiation of a community benefits agreement, Hudson Hill Neighborhood Association President Bernetta Lanier said she was concerned about gentrification and forced displacement. She also raised concerns about the current Savannah City Council’s ability to provide SPLOST projects that would benefit her community after it was revealed $1 million in funding for a Hudson Hill community center was never included in the last tax referendum as promised.

“We’re not sure the people who are administering the SPLOST are competent enough to make sure what’s promised happens,” Lanier said.

The Georgia State Board of Education heard from the state turnaround officer and from superintendents with schools that are eligible for the turnaround program, according to the Savannah Morning News.

The state board of education heard Monday at its fall retreat meeting, held at Coastal Pines Technical College in Brunswick, from Eric Thomas, the state’s first chief turnaround officer, and from six superintendents of school systems in which turnaround-eligible schools have been identified.

“There’s some things that you don’t control … the kids you have are the kids you have. The parents you have are the parents you have,” Thomas said. “But all the other pieces — your purpose, your leadership philosophy, your design decisions and your organizational culture — a school controls that.”

The state’s Chief Turnaround Office was created through the First Priority Act, passed in 2017, to improve Georgia’s lowest performing schools. Over the past year, 19 schools have been identified to be a part of the effort, and the office has begun working directly with those school districts to collaborate and come up with innovative turnaround plans.

“The focus of House Bill 338 was not simply to turn around schools,” Thomas said. “It was to create best practices and innovations that can be shared throughout the state.”

The Georgia State House Rural Development Council met in Brunswick this week, according to The Brunswick News.

The state House Rural Development Council set up shop in Brunswick this week, at the College of Coastal Georgia, and Monday legislators heard from leaders in industry and education discuss ways to build what Lee Bechmann of the Georgia Ports Authority called a more capable, well-trained workforce.

Specifically, that meant apprenticeships and work experience opportunities for young people during high school and after graduation. David Bridges, president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, said there are a number of advantages to apprenticeships.

“It combines training with employment — you’re not just going to school, you’re off the street and earning some money, an advantage,” Bridges said. “No. 2, or maybe No. 1 in importance, it ascertains the apprentice’s willingness to work. Think about it — you’re going to work, and in the process, you’re not only assessed on your skill and learning the trade, but you’re assessed on whether you’ll show up to work. It can be very focused and skill-specific. For example, I’ve used the term welding — there’s all kinds of welding.”

Jay Neely of Gulfsteam said the aerospace company has run a set of programs for decades and partnered with a number of schools, including an internship program that creates the pool from which 80 percent or more of their new graduate hires come. Their youth apprenticeship program has been around since 2005 and they have around 80 students in it currently, split between 60 job functions — the students get paid and most get high school credit.

“My personal opinion is the first and foremost obstacle that we have is not money, it’s awareness,” Neely said. “It’s awareness of a few things. It’s awareness that this immutable truth that we have pounded into our kids, our parents and our teachers for about 30 years, is wrong. And that immutable truth is, if you don’t go to college, you’re a failure. And if you don’t go to college immediately after high school, you’re a failure. That’s nonsense.

Hall County Public Schools expect to spend more than half-a-billion dollars over the next ten years, according to the Gainesville Times.

Hall County Schools is projecting $537 million in building, technology and other big-ticket expenses over the next 10 years

And 1-cent special purpose local option sales tax revenues, which have been used to cover past construction and major capital needs, may not be enough to foot the bill, Superintendent Will Schofield said during a presentation before the Hall County Board of Education on Monday, Oct. 22.

“Ultimately, it’s going to come down to the community having to vote on this,” he said. “If they’re going to pay for any kind of a plan like this, it’s going to involve bonded indebtedness.”

The biggest category of potential expenses is new construction projects, estimated at $192 million.

Floyd County and the Rome Braves are negotiating a lease for the stadium, according to the Rome News-Tribune.

The City of Grovetown and Georgia Community Services Probation Department will host registered sex offenders at Grovetown City Hall on Halloweek, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

“It’s a good tool to remove temptation or those thought processes from those individuals,” Grovetown Mayor Gary Jones said.

Approximately 25-30 sex offenders will be housed at the Council Chambers from 6-9 p.m. on Halloween with probation officers and an officer from the Grovetown Police Department present, Jones said. While crime overall is relatively low on that night, he said they are taking precautions to ensure the safety of the community.

Despite criticism from followers on Facebook about the action, Jones said that it is legal to house those individuals as they are on probation.

Early Voting

Morning Fix:

All Early Votes Cast: 638,231

All EV cast by someone who voted in any GOP Primary in 2016 or 2018: 260,452

All EV cast by someone who voted in any DEM Primary in 2016 or 2018: 181,419

All EV cast by someone who voted in any DEM Primary in 2016 or 2018 or by an African-American voter: 247,153

Columbus reports high levels of early voting, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

At 7 p.m. Monday, after the first 12 hours of early voting in Muscogee County, 1,436 ballots had been cast in the City Service Center at 3111 Citizens Way, off Macon Road by the Columbus Public Library.

Tuesday tallied 1,414 votes; Wednesday 1,410; Thursday 1,498; and Friday 1,587.

The total for the first five days: 7,345, averaging almost 1,470 a day.

Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registrations Executive Director Nancy Boren said the swarm of voters last week did not crowd the poll. The line stretched down the hallway leading from the service center lobby to the community room, but it never stretched so long it had to zigzag in the lobby to accommodate everyone.

“It moves very quickly,” she said.

The poll gets the most voters first thing in the morning and again at midday, and the fewest after 5 p.m., she said.

From the Valdosta Daily Times:

In Lowndes County, 6,895 voters cast ballots during the first seven days of early voting, which includes Saturday and Sunday, according to the Lowndes County elections board.

“We had people lined up at 8 a.m. Monday (Oct. 15), and it seems the line hasn’t stopped,” said Mary Hammontree, who is the registrar in Whitfield County. “We’ve been voting 450 to 500 people a day.”

Hammontree said the pace of voting so far has felt more like a presidential election than an off-year midterm, when voter turnout usually drops off.

The number of people heading to the polls on the first day of voting was about three times higher than in 2014, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Early voting is available in every county.

From the Savannah Morning News:

Chatham County is seeing a spike in early in-person voting for the November mid-term election.

During the last mid-term election in 2014, the daily average for early in-person votes in Chatham County was 669.

The daily average for the first five days of early in-person voting this year is 1,212. After the first five days, 6,061 early in-person votes had been cast in Chatham County, according to election officials.

In Bryan County, election officials say 2,872 people have cast early in-person votes so far.

Chatham County Board of Registrars Chair Colin McRae said most people vote early to make sure their ballot is cast, in case something comes up on Election Day.