Georgia's Very Own Megathread! (v2)

[GeorgiaModerate]

Libertarian SoS candidate endorses Barrow in runoff.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Voted early today at one of the Forsyth County satellite locations.  The poll worker said turnout had been decent for a runoff.  There was no wait and 3 or 4 other voters present.  At the same place and time of day before the general election, I had about a 20-minute wait.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Finally saw a Raffensperger ad (there have been plenty of Barrow ads) attacking Barrow as a threat to the integrity of future elections.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Stacey Abrams hints at another run, either for Senate in 2020 or Governor in '22: https://politics.myajc.com/blog/politics/the-jolt-abrams-hints-another-run-first-speech-since-gov-defeat/3S1IZ8jB3P5mWX23bhiKsI/.

[GeorgiaModerate]

In a display of amazing consistency, Fulton County manages to foul up yet another election: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/two-fulton-precincts-remain-open-later-due-early-morning-issues/tjEYsoja0NyJIlTyoCnrgN/.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Well, so much for the Dem hack talking points that all runoffs wouldn't be the same as 2008 because "Dems are more energized now."

If Abrams had made it to a runoff, I suspect we would have been seeing a very different turnout right now.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Ouch, Raffensperger wins the Cobb early vote.

I can't prove this of course, but I think Abrams sore loser shenanigans turned off a lot of voters and hurt Barrow.

I agree fully. Abrams should have conceded gracefully and pivoted her attention to helping Barrow with the runoff. Instead, her arrogance has helped to cost Democrats this race.

Can you stop being so moderate? It literally hurts.

I would call that hackish.

Cathrina isn't a hack. Whoever says that is the worst Atlas poster ever and is put on her ignore list.

*his

Landslide Lyndon continuing to lob out insults. And for the 1,000th time, I am not a woman!

That's a lot of transitions!

[GeorgiaModerate]

Here's a weird story.  We apparently have an AWOL state representative.

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/searching-for-stover-georgia-state-representative-reportedly-no-longer-in-united-states/85-b4457f06-9b15-46ce-a0f9-42b19d20306b

[GeorgiaModerate]

How long has "Demosaur" been around?  I feel like I have never heard it until this year, LOL.

I didn't either, but will admit it's pretty clever.

[GeorgiaModerate]

After counting absentees and provisionals in the HD-28 Republican primary do-over (which was ordered by a judge after some voters in the May primary received ballots for the wrong district), the incumbent trails by...

2 votes. 

This is effectively the general election for the seat, as no Democrat filed in this extremely Republican district.

https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/georgia-house-election-over-separated-just-two-votes/DKecF1f6dzulYMEWvXyjAK/

[GeorgiaModerate]

yeah there is no excuse to lose that SE. IT was a trump +2 seat.

If Ossoff had moved into the district 6 months before the election, he'd have won.  The carpetbagging accusations hurt him (even though he lived only a few blocks outside the district boundary). 

[GeorgiaModerate]

A recount has been ordered in the HD-28 GOP primary (the de facto general election) do-over that was ordered after the original primary had many voters given ballots for the wrong district.  In the current count, the incumbent trails by two (2) votes.

https://politics.myajc.com/blog/politics/trailing-votes-georgia-house-incumbent-seeks-recount/8wg4An68mOYGiNG5KNOy5M/

[GeorgiaModerate]

Michael Williams, the worst of the GOP candidates for governor this year and my (thankfully on the way out) state senator, has been indicted for insurance fraud, making false statements, and false report of a crime.

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/former-candidate-for-governor-indicted/mFyt65azxuJhQPu5ANuRbJ/

[GeorgiaModerate]

Teresa Tomlinson will be the Senate nominee.

I think so too, assuming Abrams doesn't run for it.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Abrams to decide on next move by end of March

[GeorgiaModerate]

Changes recommended to Georgia's voting systems: https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/voting-changes-recommended-georgia-lawmakers/D9DFmwyJh5JeZPeFxHSaKJ/.

Some pretty good ones in there.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I still think her dragged out concession irreparably hurt her image in the state. I would like to see some polling to back this up but while it was a good cause I can't imagine it reflected well on her with most voters.

It did hurt, but I think it's temporary, not irreparable.  Most voters will not care about it in 2 or 4 years.

[GeorgiaModerate]

AJC/UGA state poll, Jan. 7-17, 702 registered voters

Favorability numbers:

Donald Trump 37/56
Brian Kemp 37/47
Nancy Pelosi 39/48
Sen. David Perdue 45/31
Stacey Abrams 52/40
Nathan Deal 57/26
Affordable Care Act 52/37

37/47 for a newly inaugurated governor seems...not good.

[GeorgiaModerate]

This might be a record.  A judge has ordered a SECOND new election for HD-28: https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/botched-election-for-georgia-house-must-redone-yet-again/bFrQtU59wLCTSvXL8UM68J/.

The story so far: this is a very Republican district in northeast Georgia.  No Democrat filed, so the R primary last May was effectively the general election.  The incumbent, Dan Gasaway, apparently lost by 67 votes to challenger Chris Erwin. 

However, it was discovered that mapping errors had placed about 100 voters in the wrong district.  Gasaway sued, and a judge ordered a new election on the date of the state runoff in December.   Erwin appeared to win that race by two votes after a recount.

But Gasaway sued again, claiming that 21 votes had been cast illegally.  The judge found that four of those voters had moved out of the district more than 30 days before the election, invalidating their votes.  He's ordered a second new election.  Erwin, who took office in January, must vacate the seat while the election remains in doubt.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The legislature introduced another one of those dumbass religious liberty bills this week. Wonder what Kemp will do. FWIW Ralston says he’d rather work on other things.

My guess is that it will never come up for a vote in the full legislature (it gets withdrawn or tabled or dies in committee).  I'd like to think, although this could be overly optimistic, that there are enough pragmatic legislators to not risk the business backlash from passing such a bill.  Among other things, the NCAA basketball Final Four is in Atlanta next year, and the NCAA's past actions with the Carolinas have demonstrated that they're willing to put pressure on a state.

[GeorgiaModerate]

On Tuesday, March 19, Gwinnett County will hold a referendum on joining MARTA, the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.  MARTA was initially conceived as including four counties (Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, and Gwinnett), but the initial 1971 referendum passed only in Fulton and DeKalb, so only those two counties received MARTA's bus and rail services.  Clayton subsequently voted to join in 2014.  If Gwinnett also votes to join, it would be a very significant development for public transportation in metro Atlanta.  Conventional wisdom seems to be that the referendum is slightly favored to pass, but by no means a sure thing.

Interestingly, both Stacey Abrams and Eric Erickson, who are about as far apart as you can get on the political spectrum, are supporting the referendum.

https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/stacey-abrams-and-eric-erickson-agree-something-marta-gwinnett/Rc79r9CpEmKbzTn3LsbgRI/

[GeorgiaModerate]

The legislature passed a bill updating Georgia's voting machines and laws.  Among other things, it increases the time voters must be inactive before they can be purged from the rolls.  The bill is awaiting Gov. Kemp's signature.

https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/measure-would-change-georgia-purges-vote-counts-and-voting-machines/lk1muv5jrC5SXI1wt29dzN/

[GeorgiaModerate]

Gwinnett County MARTA referendum:

No 4,193 58%
Yes 2,981 42%

I believe this is just some of the early vote, which totaled about 32K.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Gwinnett MARTA referendum:

No      20,855   53%
Yes      18,479   47%

15 of 157 precincts reporting

[GeorgiaModerate]

Not looking good for MARTA:

No      30,019   55%
Yes      24,915   45%

59 of 157 precincts reporting