Ups, Downs and In-betweens
Getting Out the Vote: Monday, Oct. 7, is the last day to register to vote in the upcoming Nov. 5 election. Early voting begins Oct. 14 and runs through Nov. 1. The secretary of state’s website (sos.ga.gov) has information about where you can vote early, where you vote on election day, and how to obtain and use an absentee ballot.
Phot0 credit: Parker Johnson
In addition to the hotly contested presidential race between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump, Georgians will have the opportunity to cast ballots for their U.S. House representatives, their state House and Senate members, some state Court of Appeals judges, some state Supreme Court justices, and a slew of local positions including district attorneys and circuit court judges.
Back to the Quarter System?: A Georgia House of Representatives committee is taking a look at whether the current semester system used throughout the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia, in place since 1999, is working better than the quarter system it replaced.
The aptly named House Study Committee on Assessing the Semester and Quarter Systems at USG and TCSG Institutions is a result of HR1384, a resolution passed during the 2024 session. It notes that “because the conversion from the quarter system has resulted in longer terms with more classes and fewer graduation cycles, some question whether semesters are the better option for students or for workforce development.”
Blight Tax: The Atlanta City Council has adopted a blight tax aimed at property owners who abandon or neglect their properties. It allows such owners, some of them corporate or absentee owners, to be taxed at a rate 25 times the millage rate. Occupied properties are exempt from the tax, which takes effect in January.
Hot Mess at the State Elections Board: If you wanted to come up with a plan to antagonize and bewilder folks across the political spectrum, you couldn’t do much better than Georgia’s State Election Board. Eleventh-hour rules changes passed by three of the five members have drawn widespread criticism from Democrats and Republicans.
The three, all Republicans praised by former President Donald Trump as “pit bulls,” are Dr. Janice Johnston, a retired ob-gyn; Rick Jeffares, a former Republican state senator; and Janelle King, a media personality and former deputy director of the state Republican party. The other two members are Republican John Fervier, chair, and Democrat Sarah Tindall Ghazal, an attorney.
The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials has asked the board to refrain from making more rules changes before the November election, warning such changes could create confusion for voters and poll workers. Among the changes passed by the board is one that requires county election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying results but provides no definition of what constitutes such an inquiry.
The three-person majority also sought to order Attorney General Carr to reopen an investigation into Fulton County’s 2020 election recount. Carr responded, in a formal opinion, that state law does not empower the board to so order him.
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been critical of late-in-the-game rulemaking on the part of “unelected bureaucrats who have never run an election” that could cause disruption in the upcoming election cycle.
Democrat and former Fulton elections board Chair Cathy Woolard has filed an ethics complaint against the three members of the state board, saying they are trying to “further their own political preferences.”
Course Correction: After considerable drama, State School Superintendent Richard Woods reinstated an AP African American Studies course as part of the state catalog, so it will have state funding and students who take it will qualify for a grade-point-average lift in their HOPE Scholarship scores.
Woods’ decision in July to omit the course meant school districts that wanted to offer it would have to pay for it themselves. Even if they did, students could not be guaranteed they would get the grade boost that typically comes with AP (advanced placement) courses. Among the many, Democrats and Republicans alike, taken aback by Woods’ dictum was Gov. Brian Kemp, who asked for an explanation. Woods said he feared the course violated Georgia’s divisive concepts law. The law, enacted in 2022, prohibits teaching that any race or ethnicity is inherently superior or that the United States and the state of Georgia are inherently racist.
Attorney General Chris Carr’s office subsequently said it was clear the course did not violate the law, and that, apparently, was enough to change Woods’ mind.
