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Big overhaul planned for Georgia elections: Bills aired in state Legislature’s waning days

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3 days ago

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georgiarecorder.com – Stanley Dunlap – 2025-03-27 00:00:00

by Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder
March 27, 2025

Sweeping changes to election rules intended to increase paper ballot options, expand the powers of the State Election Board and remove the state from a voter registration sharing database are up for debate as the 2025 Georgia Legislature nears a close.

The Senate Ethics Committee held a two hour hearing on the latest version of House Bill 397, which could mandate big changes to Georgia election procedures if signed into law. No vote was taken on the bill sponsored by Covington Republican Rep. Tim Fleming.

The Republican backed election bill would prohibit Georgia from sharing voter information with third-party groups like the current participation in the Electronic Registration Information Center, known as ERIC The partnership allows  Georgia to share updated voter rolls with 24 other states.

Under HB 397, the Georgia elections board would evaluate the procedures and policies for withdrawing from ERIC. and provide recommendations to the Senate Ethics Committee and the House Governmental Affairs Committee by the end of this year.

It would also give the Secretary of State the authority to make agreements with other states to share voter roll data.

Secretary of State election officials asked legislators Wednesday to reconsider banning the state from participating in a multistate database  they say helps efficiently maintain accurate voter rolls.

Charlene McGowan, general counsel for the Georgia Secretary of State, said the proposals in HB 397 could undermine the states’ ability to conduct meaningful and secure data matching with other states, whether it be through a state to state agreement or a multi state compact.

“This bill does severely restrict the Secretary’s ability to share information, such as driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers with other states,” she said. “The problem with that is that states rely on that type of information in order to conduct accurate matching.”

The bill’s Republican sponsors were also urged by the statewide association of county election officials to make changes to the bill that would require hand counting of ballots as voting precincts are closing down for the day.

Fulton County is home to more than 750,000 registered voters, according to the secretary of state office’s website. State law requires that local election superintendents report to the secretary of state and post publicly the total number of ballots cast both on Election Day and during early voting, including absentee ballots.

Rebecca Anglin, the election director in Greene County, expressed concerns about the chain of custody and hand count of paper ballots at the precinct level, emphasizing the need for secure handling and timely reporting.

Bill offers more power to State Election Board

The election overhaul legislation proposes giving the State Election Board more independence from the secretary of state’s office by moving its administration under the state accounting office.

The controversial state GOP-controlled board that is now controlled by three supporters of President Donald Trump could also be the body to hear appeals to a controversial mass voter challenge after  complaints are settled by county election boards.

“This will allow for faster adjudication. If  you start with them and then you disagree with the decision, then you’ll  go to the superior court,” Fleming said.

Georgia Republican Party District Chairman Brad Carver said it’s important that the State Election Board gets enough backing from the state to be fully staffed  to afford more investigators and other support positions that  can trim case backlogs and handle new roles “

He mentioned the significant expenses associated with voter challenges going to superior courts instead of election officials.

Georgia election board majority that was praised by Trump resumes rulemaking push this week

“If you have an appellate authority in the State Election Board, you will have more consistent application to make sure that the laws are followed across the state by all 159 counties,” Carver said.

Another provision expands board duties to allow custody of all state investigative reports and communications between the secretary of state and election superintendents.

Fleming said the bill seeks to restore more autonomy to the state board that enforces election rule compliance.

“The State Election Board handles elections investigations and complaints, and having access to this information is necessary for them to do their job and for adjudication purposes,” Fleming said., “This continues to return autonomy to the State Election Board.”

State election officials could also spell out their rulemaking powers with proposed yearround authority to adopt election rules so long as they don’t take effect within 60 days of an election.

Paper ballot bill clears committee

The Senate Ethics Committee  passed a bill Wednesday that would allow Georgia voters to cast a hand marked paper ballot at polling places during early voting and on Election Day.

The Senate Ethics Committee voted Wednesday in favor of Senate Bill 214, a proposal to give voters the ability to cast their votes in polling places using pen or pencils, which can now be used to complete absentee ballots.

Sylvania Republican Max Burns’ said the legislation gives voters during early voting and election days the  option of paper ballots or the electronic touchscreen system that’s been used for statewide elections since 2020.

“At the end of the day 214 is designed to provide us a path forward beyond the current environment and move to paper ballot  hand marked paper ballot systems tabulated with an optical scan and then supported by a print on demand ballot system,” Burns said

Burns said he expects modifications to the bill as he tries to usher it through the legislative process.

Republican Sen. Max Burns and Sen. Marty Harbin, a Tyrone Republican, cast votes at a March 26 committee meeting in favor of Burns’ paper ballots bill. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder

If Burns can get his bill signed into law it will mark a big win for a movement that has long contended that hand marked paper ballots are a more transparent and safer than electronic machines.

The state’s electronic Dominion Voting  System was rolled out statewide in 2019, but by that time the state was already involved in a legal battle with Coalition for Good Governance and other plaintiffs who argue that hand-marking ballots is the safest way to vote.

The debate over electronic voting machines versus paper ballots later became the of focus of conspiracy theorists who blamed the Dominion’s system for Republican President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

Over the last couple of years, a prominent pro- paper ballot movement.has been led by VoterGa, a largely pro-Trump faction that has urged people to request that state officials get rid of the electronic voting system.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has defended the security of the voting machine system.

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Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

The post Big overhaul planned for Georgia elections: Bills aired in state Legislature’s waning days appeared first on georgiarecorder.com

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Georgia road project forcing homeowners out | FOX 5 News

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17 hours ago

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March 29, 2025

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www.youtube.com – FOX 5 Atlanta – 2025-03-29 18:00:09

SUMMARY: Residents of Villa Rica, Georgia, are fighting a proposed road project that could force them from their homes. The Mirror Lake Connector project aims to extend the road through properties, connecting Douglas County to downtown, but many homeowners have lived there for decades and do not want to move. Despite ongoing protests and concerns about transparency, the city continues to push the project forward, citing regional growth. Some residents feel the city has not communicated effectively, and they plan to keep advocating against the displacement, with one individual expressing frustration over their veteran father’s uncertain future.

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A group of residents in Villa Rica could be forced to move as a proposed road project that would go right through their properties is allowed to proceed. It’s a fight that has been going on for years.

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Gold Dome nuggets: No raises for powers that be, Senator Treasurer, Dem disarray

Published

1 day ago

on

March 29, 2025

By

georgiarecorder.com – Ross Williams, Stanley Dunlap – 2025-03-29 11:11:00

by Ross Williams and Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder
March 29, 2025

This story was updated at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, 2025. 

Back by popular demand, it’s nuggets, tasty little tidbits of news from the Gold Dome. 

Lawmakers are getting ready for the last day of the 2025 legislative session on Friday, but they still drop some nuggets everywhere they go.

This week: Democratic discontent comes to the dome, a ride-or-die always Trumper gets rewarded with a new gig and some funny money, and state leaders try to decide whether to add more real money into their yearly salaries. 

Pay bump flop

House lawmakers quickly swatted down a last-minute Senate plan to give the governor and other statewide officials pay raises. 

The Senate had added the salary bumps Thursday to a bill adjusting the pay of judges at higher levels in Georgia. Under the plan, Gov. Brian Kemp would have been tied with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for the highest earning governor in the country. 

Rep. Rob Leverett. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

“You may have seen a little something about the amendment in the news over the last 24 hours,” the bill’s original sponsor, Elberton Republican Rep. Rob Leverett, said to his colleagues Friday. 

“I think that is a discussion we as a body need to have at some point, but we shouldn’t have it as an amendment to a bill in the last two or three days of session,” Leverett said. “I believe it needs to be thought through a little more and it needs a little more study.”

Some senators also tried to increase lawmaker pay in another judicial pay bill focused on superior court judges.

Critics argued that the legislative pay amendment would sabotage a bill intended to create uniform statewide pay for Georgia Superior Court judges. The proposed pay raise amendment to House Bill 85 would have increased the salaries of lawmakers from $24,341 to about $55,000.

Sen. Randal Mangham, a Stone Mountain Democrat, argued it would put Georgia lawmakers in line with the national average of $44,320 in 2024, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

He referenced the limited funding he receives for his staff. 

“$7,000 for an entire year with my budget for expenses to run the people’s business. It’s a $40 billion enterprise,” Mangham said, referring to the state budget.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Macon Republican, urged senators prior to voting to consider how passing the amendment would come across to the taxpayers.

“Colleagues, are you willing to look at your constituents in the eye and tell them you need more of their tax dollars in your pocket and out of their pocket?” Kennedy said.

The debate ended with the legislative pay amendments failing 33 to 18 before the superior court legislation passed with nearly unanimous support.

Dems in disarray

In the wake of a bitter loss to President Donald Trump, Democrats across the country are trying to figure out where it all went wrong. 

A recent Politico analysis of a Quinnipiac poll found that for the first time in the poll’s history, a majority of Democrats view members of their party in Congress unfavorably. Just 40 percent of Democrats polled said the party is doing a good job, compared to 49 percent who said the opposite. 

A March NBC News poll found 65% of self-identified Democrats want the party to fight Trump rather than seek compromise, even if that leads to gridlock in Washington. Around this time in Trump’s first term, only 33% of Democrats felt that way, the pollster found.

That discontent could be springing forth at the state level as well. 

The Forsyth County Democrats released a statement castigating Democrats in Congress and the state Legislature for “voting like Republicans.”

“With democracy itself at stake – and with the public’s frustration with figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk high – we cannot afford to hand political or legislative victories to Republicans or to validate their agenda while our constituents and values hang in the balance,” the statement reads. “Likewise, here in Georgia, amid widespread discontent with Governor Brian Kemp’s hard-right legislative push, it is imperative that Democrats stand together rather than bolster Kemp’s initiatives that harm the public interest.”

The statement lists three pieces of legislation where some Democrats broke rank – Senate Bill 68, Kemp’s priority lawsuit overhaul bill, supported by three Democrats; Senate Bill 144, liability protections for fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers with the support of nine Democrats and House Bill 267, which bans transgender girls from playing on girls’ school sports teams and got votes from three Dems. 

The local parties in Fulton and Gwinnett counties have also issued statements co-signing the message from Forsyth County.

Trump U.S. Treasurer Legislature’s newly popular kid

Sen. Brandon Beach, who was recently tapped as U.S. Treasurer, signs play money in the Georgia Capitol. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder

Republican Sen. Brandon Beach’s selection as President Donald Trump’s choice to become the next U.S. Treasurer has boosted his popularity.

Beach signed fake currency featuring the face of Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch reading “In Goochie We Trust” that was passed around the Capitol last week. The 63-year-old Beach’s signature as U.S. treasurer could soon be emblazoned on the front of real legal tender in the future.   

The senator’s role in state government will end shortly after the Legislature gavels out on April 4 for the final day of the 2025 session.

Beach will act as a liaison between the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, as well as oversee the U.S. Mint and Fort Knox. The president is boosting a conspiracy theory these days that some of the gold is missing from Fort Knox and says he plans to go to Kentucky to see for himself if the country’s treasure is still secured. 

Inside the Senate chamber Wednesday, fellow Trump loyalist GOP Lt. Gov. Burt Jones celebrated Beach’s new job opportunity. 

Jones recalled that not long ago they were part of a small cadre of hardline Trump supporters in the Senate who were persona non grata, even among fellow Republicans.

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Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

The post Gold Dome nuggets: No raises for powers that be, Senator Treasurer, Dem disarray appeared first on georgiarecorder.com

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Budget cuts: Senior Citizens Inc. and other non-profits worry for the future

Published

2 days ago

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March 28, 2025

By

www.wsav.com – Sarah Smith – 2025-03-28 18:32:00

SUMMARY: Federal budget cuts may impact non-profits providing meals to seniors in Savannah, as a proposal aims to dismantle the Administration for Community Living, which supports older adults and the disabled. Mayor Van Johnson urges lawmakers to reject the proposal and calls for community support for organizations like Senior Citizens Inc. (SCI). SCI’s Meals on Wheels program is vital for many seniors, offering daily meals. Representative Buddy Carter stated that changes at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aim to improve efficiency but emphasized ongoing uncertainty. SCI is on track to deliver its seven millionth meal this year.

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The post Budget cuts: Senior Citizens Inc. and other non-profits worry for the future appeared first on www.wsav.com

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