Christopher Columbus “discovered” Cuba on October 28, 1492.
The Battle of Wauhatchie, one of a handful of night battles in the Civil War, began along the Georgia-Tennessee border on October 28, 1863.
The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886; the first ticker tape parade followed.
The United States Senate overrode President Woodrow Wilson’s veto of the Volstead Act on October 28, 1919.
The Cuban Missile Crisis ended on October 28, 1962 as Kruschev agreed to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba if the United States would respect Cuban sovereignty.
Democratic President Jimmy Carter debated Republican Ronald Reagan in Cleveland, Ohio on October 28, 1980.
The Atlanta Braves beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0 to win the World Series on October 28, 1995.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
More than 2.6 million ballots have been cast in early voting for Georgia’s November 5, 2024 General Election, according to StateAffairs.com.
Key Points
• Nearly 4 in 10 of Georgia’s active voters have cast ballots
• Small counties outpace metro areas in voter turnout percentage
• Early voting ends Friday, Nov. 1Georgians this week continued their brisk pace to the polls with nearly 4 in 10 of the state’s active voters having cast ballots in person or by mail by late afternoon Friday.
All told, over 2.6 million Georgians — or 36.2% — have cast ballots since early voting began Oct. 15, according to the secretary of state. Less than 3% of those — 160,900 — are mail-in ballots.
In addition to monitoring statewide voting, state election officials averted a midweek cyberattack bent on crashing the website that voters use to request absentee ballots.
Here’s where early voting stood at 6:30 p.m. Friday, the close of the second week of statewide early voting:
• Women continued to outpace men this week, 55.7% to 44.1%.
• Voters aged 60 to 69 cast nearly 573,732 votes, making them the largest age group participating in the election.
• Over 295 centenarians — those 100 and older — have cast ballots, including former President Jimmy Carter.
• Those between the ages of 18 and 29 accounted for almost 255,544 voters by 6:30 p.m. Friday.
• White and Black people accounted for the bulk of early voters. Over 1.5 million white people and nearly 659,00 Black people had cast ballots.
• Voters in small counties appeared to outpace their peers in metro areas. Nearly 6 in 10 voters — 58% — in Towns County in the northwest Georgia mountains, for example, had voted by mail or in person. Neighboring Rabun County saw 52.5% turnout.
• Many of the state’s 159 counties have seen, on average, around 20% voter turnout.
• Fulton County dominated in the sheer number of voters, with over 289,211 early voters.
• Oct. 15, the first day of early voting, remains the highest voter turnout of the 10 days of early voting so far with 313,412 Georgians voting in person.Early voting ends Friday, Nov. 1.
Fifty-six percent of early voters so far are women, according to WJBF via WSAV.
More than 2.2 million Georgians have already cast their ballots for the November election with one week still to go for early voting. That’s about 33% of the total active voter turnout.
We interviewed voters in metro Atlanta who cast their ballots during the second week of early voting.
Data from the Secretary of State’s Election Hub shows 56% of people who have voted so far are women. That’s why both campaigns are focusing on women voters and suburban women, specifically focusing on issues that are important to them, which include healthcare, abortion rights and gun control for school safety.
According to Georgia Votes, in the 2020 election, 78% of those who voted this year, voted early during the last election, and 6% of women voters cast ballots on Election Day.
Georgia’s Secretary of State said they expect around 70% of all active voters will cast their ballots during early or absentee voting instead of waiting on Election Day, which means we could get a bulk of results by 8 p.m. on election night.
Any demographic group could affect the election results, according to the AJC.
The countdown to Election Day is on, and more than 2 million voters have already cast their ballot in the Peach State for the 2024 election. Our latest polling from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows former President Donald Trump leading Vice President Harris, 47% to 43%.
But with such a narrow margin, any voting bloc in battleground Georgia could sway the outcome of the election.
Our poll is the latest to suggest that Harris is struggling to win enough support from this key constituency to gain victory in Georgia. Her backing among Black voters is 74%, lower than the 88% that favored Joe Biden in 2020 when he narrowly won the state. And there’s a large gender gap within the community, with more Black women supporting Harris than men.
“A whopping 31% of Black male voters are undecided. On the female side for Black voters, only 1% (are) voting for Trump, 88% for Harris and 10% undecided,” University of Georgia pollster Trey Hood said.
If those undecided Black male voters swing toward Trump or stay at home, Hood said the implications could be “seismic.”
The AJC polling also revealed a large gender gap in the Peach State.
“The gender gap has existed since 1980,” Hood said. “It’s very big this election cycle, though.”
He said about 60% of male voters who responded to the poll are backing Trump, with only 28% supporting Harris.
“And then it’s almost inverted,” Hood said.
Harris has the backing of about 55% of the women surveyed, and 37% favor Trump.
Former state Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democrat, called women “the most reliable voters” in Georgia.
“It’s pretty exciting to be able to vote for a woman who really could be president of the United States, and we’re seeing early voting tends to favor women, too,” she said.
Hispanic and Asian American voters could also sway this narrow presidential contest.
“If it’s super close, like it was last time, less than 12,000 votes, Hispanics could make a difference. Asians could make a difference,” Hood said.
Since the 2008 presidential election, more Hispanic and Asian American voters have been participating in elections. In 2008, the two groups made up roughly 2% of voters in the presidential election. In 2020, their share had grown to 5%.
Gwinnett County Democratic Chair Brenda López Romero emphasized the importance of the economy, particularly “inflation, jobs and affordable housing.”
A poll of Georgia early voters suggests Democrats have an advantage in ballots already cast, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Vice President Kamala Harris holds a double-digit lead over former President Donald Trump among early voters who have already cast their ballots in three key swing states, new polling reveals. Trump, on the other hand, has a similar lead among likely voters who have not yet voted in those states.
In the Peach State, Harris led Trump by 10 points — 55% to 45% — among respondents who said they’ve already voted. Trump had a smaller advantage — 52% to 46% — with likely voters who haven’t yet cast their ballots. The two candidates were tied among likely voters, including voters who are undecided but inclined to support one candidate.
However, the vice president had a 15-point lead — 55% to 40% — among independents. President Joe Biden won independents by a nine-point margin in 2020.
When the results are broken down by race, there are massive disparities. For example, more than twice as many white respondents said they supported Trump compared to Harris — 67% to 32%. And the vice president had an even larger advantage with Black respondents — 82% versus 15%.
Harris also received the support of most Gen Z/Millennial and Baby Boomer respondents — 55% and 54%, respectively. Trump, in contrast, garnered the support of most Gen X and Greatest Generation respondents — 55% and 62%.
Like in North Carolina, a gender gap was also present. The former president led Harris 56% to 43% with men, and Harris led him 55% to 43% among women.
“Nonpartisan” groups hosted an event in Macon to encourage early voting, according to the Macon Telegraph.
In honor of national Vote Early Day on Saturday, the nonprofit Go Vote Georgia will host a “United to Vote Early” rally at the Harriet Tubman African American Museum.
“We develop the infrastructure, execute joint strategies and employ new tools and technology to assure a government that is more responsive to the needs of our constituencies,” a news release from Go Vote Georgia said.
Organizations including Black Voters Matter, Collective Renaissance GA, Peach Concerned Citizens, RepGA and Voter Riders will offer tools and education to check your voter status, build a multilingual ballot plan, understand amendment questions on the ballot and advocate for inclusive, equitable access to voting.
Likewise in Albany, according to the Albany Herald.
On Saturday, Oct. 26, hundreds of South Georgians attended the “Get Out and Vote” event.
Organizations like “Black Voters Matter” and “Communities United for Justice” hosted this event to encourage early voting.
The event took place outside the SandTrap Club & Lounge. A motorcade kicked things off as they road through town, horns blaring. Volunteers of all ages were seen on every corner holding up signs encouraging drivers to vote and vote early.
“It feels tighter now to me,” said Nathan Deal, a Republican who served two terms as the governor of Georgia.
With 16 electoral votes, three fewer than Pennsylvania, it’s not the biggest prize. But the razor-thin margins, tantalizing demographics and a feast-or-famine record for both parties have led to a late onslaught that has startled even people who were expecting a frantic finish.
“Just by luck of the draw, we have helped determine not only the course of the country but the future of the U.S. Senate,” said Rick Dent, a veteran political strategist and former aide to Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, a career Democrat who nevertheless endorsed President George W. Bush in 2004. “The amount of money and effort that has been placed on Georgia in the last eight years, it’s just been incomprehensible.”
Since Oct. 19, Ms. Harris has spent parts of three days in metro Atlanta, including Thursday, when she held a rally that drew 23,000 people to see a lineup that included former President Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen and the entertainment impresario Tyler Perry. A day earlier, Mr. Trump returned to the state for the second time in eight days and held events in rural Georgia and suburban Atlanta. He is scheduled to stop in metro Atlanta again on Monday.
Ahead of Mr. Trump’s and Ms. Harris’s most recent visits, a pair of polls showed the Georgia scramble as a four-percentage-point race — with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s survey giving Mr. Trump the edge and one from The Washington Post showing Ms. Harris in the lead. The New York Times’s polling average places Mr. Trump a point ahead of the vice president — well within the margin of error.
Both candidates have poured millions into advertising and organizing in the state. Ms. Harris’s campaign and its allies have spent nearly $125 million on the airwaves while the operation backing Mr. Trump has shelled out more than $96 million, according to the advertisement data tracking firm AdImpact. On the ground, Democrats have been quick to highlight the more than 40,000 volunteers statewide who have joined their camp as Republicans rely on a network of campaign volunteers, well-funded conservative groups and key, if sometimes hesitant, allies in state leadership.
The closing rush comes as more than two million Georgians have already voted — an enormous number in a state where fewer than five million people cast presidential ballots in 2020, when Mr. Biden became the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state since 1992.
Mr. Deal, who was elected to Congress as a Democrat at the same time Bill Clinton won Georgia on his way to the White House, said the jockeying of that era for the state’s electoral votes was “nowhere near the intensity that we see now.”
Part of that, of course, can be attributed to changes in technology, communication and the science of presidential politics. Stacey Abrams’s first campaign for governor, in 2018, brought national attention to her strategy of turning out Georgia’s young, infrequent and hard-to-reach voters for Democrats and helped make her a heroine of the state’s presidential election in 2020.
Many Democrats and begrudgingly some Republicans saw 2020 as a proof-of-concept cycle for a party that had little statewide power for close to two decades: Not only did Mr. Biden win Georgia, but two Democrats, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, were also elected to Senate seats.
“What you see is a story of organizing,” said Jonae Wartel, a senior adviser to Ms. Harris’s campaign in Georgia who led the coordinated effort in the state between the presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns during the 2021 runoffs. Democrats’ recent wins, she added, are examples of “what it looks like when you invest in the state, when you meet voters where they are and when you commit to mobilizing supporters.”
But the 2022 elections offered Republicans far more solace. Mr. Kemp, who narrowly defeated Ms. Abrams four years earlier, beat her again — but by a margin of more than 7 percentage points. Still, Mr. Warnock, who had won a special election to ascend to the Senate, secured a full term in a runoff that year.
An audit by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office found very few noncitizens registered to vote, according to the Associated Press via WRDW.
Georgia’s top elections official say a check of voter rolls found that 20 of the 8.2 million people registered to vote in the state are not U.S. citizens.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says the voter registrations for those people had been canceled and that they will be referred to local prosecutors for potential criminal charges.
His office said none of those people has cast a ballot in November’s general election, but nine of the 20 had voted in previous elections and the other 11 had no record of voting.
Additionally, there are 156 people whose citizenship status requires additional investigation and his office has opened case files for those individuals, Raffensperger said.
Raffensperger says he expects 65% of voters to vote early and about 5% to vote absentee.
“We are not seeing long lines moving through, but during early voting, if you see a longer line and you think well how long is that going to take well even though it may look like it’s going to take a while, people are still getting through in 20 minutes,” says Raffensperger. “It’s still probably going to be less than an hour.”
Conspiracy theories about elections abound, according to the Associated Press via WRDW.
In the past week, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed a voting machine had changed a voter’s ballot in her Georgia district during early voting, and Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform X, has promoted various conspiracy theories about voting machines and voter fraud both online and at a rally for Trump in Pennsylvania.
A claim in Georgia’s Whitfield County was highlighted by Greene on Alex Jones’ “InfoWars” show. Jones has a history of spreading falsehoods and was ordered to pay $1.5 billion for his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre was a hoax.
County election officials issued a statement, noting the case involved one voter out of 6,000 ballots that had been cast since early voting began. The ballot was spoiled, and the voter cast a replacement that was counted. Officials said there was no problem with the voting machine.
Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, said every report they’ve seen so far of someone saying their printed ballot didn’t reflect their selections on the touchscreen voting machine has been a result of voter error.
“There is zero evidence of a machine flipping an individual’s vote,” he said. “Are there elderly people whose hands shake and they probably hit the wrong button slightly and they didn’t review their ballot properly before they printed it? That’s the main situation we have seen. There is literally zero — and I’m saying this to certain congresspeople in this state — zero evidence of machines flipping votes. That claim was a lie in 2020 and it’s a lie now.”
Former President Donald Trump will campaign in Atlanta and Cobb County today, according to WRDW.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, made a stop in Atlanta on Saturday.
“We’re going to turn Georgia red. We are going to take the whole country with us,” said Vance. “We don’t want San Francisco liberal policies. We want to close down borders. So Kamala Harris, you’re fired. Go back to California where you belong.”
Trump is expected to talk about inflation at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion on Monday. The doors open at 2 p.m., and Trump will speak at 6 p.m., according to his campaign.
Just ahead of that, he’ll speak Monday at the inaugural National Faith Summit. The event will be held at the Worship With Wonders Church, located at 4665 Macland Road in the Powder Springs area. Doors open at noon and the event is set to begin at 2 p.m.
Gov. Brian Kemp held a get-out-the-vote rally Saturday in Forsyth County.
“They brought in Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Julia Roberts,” said Kemp. “The thing about them, they don’t live here.”
On the other side of the aisle, Harris’ camp pushed for votes at the Morehouse College homecoming tailgate.
Sen. Raphael Warnock and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett were among the crowd.
Georgia is a battleground state and is shattering early voting records, with the number already over 2.5 million votes.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in metro Atlanta on Sunday. Trump will be stopping in Atlanta again on Monday, Oct. 28.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff campaigned in Jonesboro and Atlanta yesterday, according to the AJC.
About 100 residents in Clayton County gathered on the rooftop of Nouveau at Broad Street around noon to attend Emhoff’s first stop in Jonesboro, where Kamala Harris’ sister Maya Harris also made an appearance. Emhoff made several more stops at a local brewery in Sandy Springs, a pizza shop in midtown Atlanta and the campaign’s field office in Decatur that brought hundreds more out to back the Harris-Walz ticket.
“We’re nine days out and this is not only the most important election of our lifetimes,” Emhoff said in Jonesboro. “This is the most important election for the history of our nation.”
Maya Harris reminded attendees in Jonesboro of her and her sister’s upbringing in a middle class family, learning the importance of not just getting your foot in the door but getting ahead.
“We were raised to believe that every American deserves not only to find a good paying job but be able to buy a home and start a business,” she said. “You deserve to build wealth, to have something to pass down to your children, to live in a prosperous community.”
After visiting Jonesboro and Sandy Springs, Emhoff made a stop at the Triple Jays Pizza Bar in Midtown Atlanta where he picked up six pizzas and later delivered them to volunteers at the campaign’s field office in Decatur.
“The folks who haven’t made up their minds, we gotta get to them,” Emhoff said to volunteers. “The more doors you knock on, it can make a difference and it can swing the whole election.”Y
Team Trump Georgia Communications Director Morgan Ackley called Emhoff’s visit to the battleground state a fruitless endeavor.k
“His visit to the state will not hide the fact that Georgians are still suffering from nearly four years of Kamala Harris’ disastrous agenda,” Ackley said.
That thing with the pizzas for volunteers was a good move, but the better answer would have been to pick up from Grant Central East Pizza. IYKYK.
Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance campaigned in Atlanta on Saturday, according to Atlanta News First via WALB.
Just days after former President Donald Trump was in Georgia, his running mate, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, was in downtown Atlanta for a rally.
Vance spoke about issues including the economy and the cost of living at the Georgia Freight Depot on Saturday.
This marks another visit to the Peach State from the Trump campaign as the Nov. 5 election inches closer. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic challenger, was also in metro Atlanta on Thursday for a rally.
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz will campaign in Savannah and Columbus on Tuesday, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Walz is hitting the road in the Peach State for an early vote blitz, with fewer than 10 days until the election.
Walz will make his appearance in the afternoon to deliver remarks at a Harris-Walz GOTEV rally, according to a press release. A time and location have not yet been announced.
After his appearance in Savannah, Walz will head to Columbus for a similar event. Voters in Georgia turned out in record numbers Oct. 15 as more than 300,000 cast ballots.
According to campaign officials, Governor Walz will be in Savannah Georgia to deliver remarks at a Harris-Walz GOTEV rally on Tuesday, October 29.
Later that afternoon, Governor Walz is set to arrive at the Columbus Airport and deliver remarks at a Harris-Walz campaign rally in the Fountain City.
Details about the locations of the rallies will be announced at a later date.
With fewer than 10 days until the election, campaign officials say while in Georgia this week, Governor Walz will underscore the contrast between Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, and Democrats’ vision for a New Way Forward versus Project 2025.
Former President Trump is also scheduled to be back in Georgia this week. On Monday, October 28 at 6 p.m., he is scheduled to rally in Atlanta at the McCamish Pavilion, located on 965 Fowler St.
Walz will arrive at the Columbus Airport late Tuesday afternoon before making a political stop and then delivering remarks at a campaign rally later in the evening, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.
“With fewer than 10 days until the election, Governor Tim Walz will underscore the contrast between Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, and Democrats’ vision for a New Way Forward to lower costs and protect our freedoms versus Donald Trump and JD Vance’s Project 2025 agenda that would give Trump unprecedented and virtually unchecked power over our lives, raise costs on hardworking families, and drag our country back to the past,” the campaign said in a news release.
The Savannah Morning News has an online tracker for election lawsuits in Georgia.
United States Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Atlanta) rallied Valdosta-area voters for the Harris-Walz campaign, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff led Lowndes County Democrats in a rally Saturday before they headed into neighborhoods to urge residents to vote for Kamala Harris for president.
Organizers expected 40-60 participants for the rally, but only a portion of those went on the canvass afterwards.
“I’m here because the stakes are so high,” Ossoff told them. “… This is a pivotal moment in American history.”
Ossoff said Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, is unfit to be president again, especially following the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
By contrast, he said, Harris helped pass the bipartisan infrastructure law, and she cast deciding votes for a cap on the price of insulin for seniors and to fight climate change.
“She has used her power to fight for us,” Ossoff said. “The other guy just fights for himself.” Ossoff told the Democratic Party volunteers that Lowndes County will be critical on election night. He said the “talking heads” on television will be focused on this area to see who wins the presidency.
“Not just Lowndes County is going one way or the other, but Georgia is going one way or the other,” he said. “Not just that Georgia is going one way or the other, but that America is going one way or the other.”
Ossoff and Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, have led efforts to get relief for Georgia farmers affected by Hurricane Helene, but Ossoff said the process will take some time. Congress needs damage assessments not only in Georgia but the other states hit by the hurricane Sept. 24-29.
He said they’re making progress and hope to have those by mid-November. After that, Congress must move swiftly and without partisanship to pass the relief package, he said.
“After Hurricane Michael (in 2018) it took two years,” he said. “We can’t do that again.”
Senator Jon Ossoff [made] two stops in South Georgia on Saturday, Oct. 26, as part of his Get Out The Vote tour.
Sen. Ossoff first stopped in Tifton at 10 a.m. and plans to stop in Valdosta at noon.
The Savannah Morning News covers Chatham County Commission District elections.
District 7 – Republican incumbent Dean Kicklighter versus Democratic challenger Orlando Scott.
The Georgia Department of Insurance is rolling out their Georgia Access health insurance exchange, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald.
Starting Nov. 1, a new state-based exchange — Georgia Access — will replace healthcare.gov as Georgia becomes the 20th state to trade in the federal exchange for a state-specific model.
“The ACA envisioned that each state would operate their own exchange,” Whitney Griggs, health policy director for the nonprofit Georgians for a Healthy Future, said. ”States know best how to reach their residents. … (Georgia) has a real opportunity to create something better than healthcare.gov.”
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved a waiver in August allowing the state to launch Georgia Access. The state-based exchange will give the Georgia insurance department more flexibility to pursue innovative solutions, John King, the agency’s commissioner, said at the time.
“We are restoring control over our health coverage to the people of Georgia,” King said.
But Griggs said some aspects of ditching healthcare.gov for a state-based model are cause for concern. She said Georgia’s decision to sign up enrollees to Georgia Access through web brokers or insurance companies as well as the program’s own website could lead “bad actors” to enroll people in coverage plans that are not ACA-compliant.
“Other states are really pushing enrollment through their own websites,” Griggs said. “Georgia is going to be the only state relying on this model so heavily.”
But Cheryl Gardner, executive director of Georgia Access, said the direct-enrollment approach is one of the program’s advantages. She said more than 15,000 licensed and certified agents will be available to help steer enrollees toward the best coverage options for them.
“Agents offer consumers localized help and a personalized customer experience,” Gardner said. “They are integral in our mission to providing multiple pathways for consumers to enroll in health coverage and to reducing the number of uninsured residents in Georgia.”
Griggs said she’s also wary of the technical components that will have to fall in place for Georgia Access to successfully enroll the approximately 400,000 Georgians eligible for coverage who don’t have it. She and other health-care advocates who have worked in the field for years have long memories of the glitches that occurred when healthcare.gov was first rolled out in 2013.
“I still have PTSD from trying to use the (federal) exchange,” Griggs said.
To address any trepidation that might occur with the new state-based exchange, Georgia Access will offer a preview of the program’s 2025 health insurance plan offerings beginning Monday at GeorgiaAccess.gov.
“We want the enrollment process to be as convenient and accessible as possible for Georgia consumers,” King said. “Plan preview provides consumers an opportunity to browse and determine which plan best fits their wallets and needs before open enrollment begins.”
Griggs said she is optimistic Georgia Access won’t go through the same growth pains as healthcare.gov experienced in its early days.
“Now, the technology is so commonplace,” she said. “People are used to using these websites.”
Coverage through Georgia Access will begin on Jan. 1 for those who select a plan by Dec. 16. For more information, visit GeorgiaAccess.gov or call the Georgia Access Contact Center at 888-687-1503.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R-Cobb County) hired an engineering firm to investigate the collapse of a dock at Sapelo Island, which killed seven people, according to The Brunswick News.
Carr’s office retained Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates to look into the cause of the collapse of the 80-foot aluminum gangway on Oct. 19 at the Marsh Landing dock on Sapelo Island that left seven people dead and multiple people injured. The firm specializes in investigations, testing and design of repairs for buildings, bridges and other structures, the DNR said.
The investigation by the DNR’s Critical Incident Reconstruction Team and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will continue during the firm’s investigation.
DNR Commissioner Walter Rabon said this week that the gangway at Marsh Landing should have been able to handle the load of about 40 people who were on it when it collapsed. About 20 people fell into the water when it collapsed.
The gangway fell into the Duplin River shortly before 4 p.m. Oct. 19 as people were boarding the ferry Annemarie during a very low tide after visiting the island for Sapelo Island Cultural Day, a celebration of the Gullah-Geechee culture.
Dozens of people live in the Hog Hammock community, also called Hogg Hummock, on Sapelo Island who are descendants of freed West African slaves who practice Gullah-Geechee ways.
The DNR estimates there were around 700 people on the island that day for the festival before it ended in tragedy.
From the Savannah Morning News:
DNR owns and operates the ferry dock where the incident occurred as visitors left the island’s annual Cultural Day, which celebrates the community’s Gullah Geechee history.
The agency reported that the gangway was removed from the site a day after the collapse and taken to a “secured facility” where DNR’s Critical Incident Reconstruction Team and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation would look for causes of the 80-foot structure’s failure.
When asked why Carr initiated the outside investigation, his spokeswoman Lauren Crowley noted that the attorney general functions as legal counsel for the executive branch of state government, which includes DNR.
“Due to the ongoing legal nature of this matter, we are unable to provide any further comment at this time,” Crowley added.
Valdosta hosted the Georgia Municipal Association’s fall meeting for District 11, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
Key topics of discussion included legislative updates, municipal policies, and strategies to enhance economic development and community engagement across cities within the district. The meeting provided an invaluable opportunity for local leaders to exchange ideas, network, and share best practices aimed at improving the quality of life for citizens throughout South Georgia, the city said.
Mayor Scott James Matheson expressed his pride in hosting the GMA meeting, highlighting its significance for the city. “We are honored to have GMA’s District 11 leaders here in Valdosta,” Matheson said.
“Valdosta has always been a hub of progress and innovation, and hosting this meeting reinforces our commitment to regional collaboration. The initiatives discussed today will positively impact not just our city, but the entire district. Working together through GMA helps all of us improve the lives of our residents and shape a stronger future for South Georgia.”
The Georgia Municipal Association has been instrumental in supporting Georgia’s cities since 1933. Through advocacy, training, and direct assistance, GMA plays a crucial role in ensuring that Georgia’s municipalities remain resilient and forward-thinking.
Ray Davis was sworn in early as Bulloch County Seat 2-A Commissioner after his predecessor Curt Deal resigned, according to the Statesboro Herald.
Since former Bulloch County Seat 2-A Commissioner Curt Deal resigned his seat effective Monday, Oct. 21, local judges appointed Ray Davis, already de facto commissioner-elect, to fill the final two months of Deal’s term, and Davis was sworn in Friday morning.
Davis, 70, a farmer active in the Stilson and Leefield areas, had unseated Deal for the next four-year term, which will begin in January, by capturing 62.6% of the District 2 votes in the May 21 Republican primary. Although technically still a candidate in the Nov. 5 general election, Davis has no Democratic opposition and so was in effect already elected to the new term.
Then Deal sent a resignation letter Oct. 18 to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
The day Deal submitted that letter, a current county commissioner called Davis with the opinion that he could go ahead and be appointed, Davis said Friday. That other commissioner did not want to be identified as having made this call but indicated other commissioners were supportive, Davis said.
The Deals and the Kemps are family friends. A copy of the letter obtained from the county shows that someone, apparently the governor, crossed out the last name in “Dear Mr. Deal,” to write “Curt” by hand in the address line and wrote, “Thanks for your service! God bless!” next to Kemp’s initialed signature.
With the governor’s acceptance, the question went to Chief Judge F. Gates Peed, of the Bulloch County Superior Court and Ogeechee Judicial Circuit, whether to leave the seat vacant until Davis’ new term begins in January or appoint a commissioner for the remainder or the unexpired term.
All four of the circuit’s Superior Court judges – Michael T. Muldrew, Lovett Bennett Jr., Ronald K. Thompson and Peed – signed the order issued Thursday, Oct. 24.
“Whereas, Ray Davis meets the qualifications for the office of Bulloch County commissioner, having been elected to represent District 2-A in a primary held on May 21, 2024,” the order states, in part.
“Whereas, a majority of the Superior Court judges of the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit consent to the appointment…,” it continues. So, Davis was appointed to fill the remainder of Deal’s term, to Dec. 31.
Bulloch County Manager Tom Couch resigned effective November 29, 2024, according to the Statesboro Herald.
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