Ballot Change & Costs, Sheriffing

Sunday Solutions — May 5, 2024

Good morning! A new reader told us this week that she wants food for thought and dinner-table conversation on Sundays. We’re here for that: sheriffs, a new scan on ballots, rusty jails, child care as workforce driver. The buffet is open.

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EXPLAINER: ELECTIONS

Who’s counting …. the money?

Tuesday is the deadline for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to sign legislation from the 2024 General Assembly session. Last year, several pieces and line items ended up with vetoes instead of signatures because the measures had no funding mechanisms. This year, one item stands out in that manner: the bill to strip QR codes from ballots within 2 years, affecting 40,000 pieces of voting hardware statewide. Legislators were told that the change could require an overhaul and/or replacement of current voting systems costing $25 million to $300 million. It passed without any way to pay for it all. The bill also requires “human-readable text” although no voting system currently exists that meets that requirement. What would the change mean to counting and what else is in the legislation? Here’s an explainer piece from elections expert Jessica Huseman at the nonprofit,nonpartisan site Votebeat. Want to keep up with signings and vetoes this week? Here’s a link to do that.

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EXPLAINER: GOVERNING

The work of sheriffing

Four stories last week brought home the independent nature of Georgia sheriff work. While some counties cede law enforcement to the sheriff’s department, many do not. In general, their state-mandated responsibilities are to run the jails, serve subpoenas, execute warrants and provide security for court and elections proceedings. As elected officials, they stand alone when it comes to decisions on their roles. On the other hand, they depend on the county for their budgets to pay for cars, jails, detainees and other responsibilities. Finding a balance can be tough, and those calls sheriffs make inevitably draw challengers each election.

• Deputies arrested. Jail in disrepair. Camden sheriff election brings issues to forefront: Challengers say current sheriff’s budget needs review after incidents bring scrutiny.
• Camden’s sheriff let us tour the deteriorating county jail. Here’s what we saw: Incumbent sheriff says county has short-changed jail budget for Spaceport and other projects.
• 4 Liberty County sheriff candidates seek to oust incumbent: Challengers take incumbent to task for buying items for schools from speed-zone ticket windfall. (County took the proceeds away.)
• Kemp signs bill into law forcing sheriffs to enforce federal immigration law: In a bill sponsored by Savannah Rep. Jesse Petrea, Georgia sheriffs can be charged with a misdemeanor if they don’t check immigration statuses for detainees.

What do various types of judges do? What are sheriffs and DAs supposed to do? Curious about roles and responsibilities under state law for many jobs on the ballot? Here’s a glossary of jobs and state-mandated responsibilities.

MONDAY NIGHT: If you are in Chatham County and you want to know more about the Democratic challengers to incumbent Sheriff John Wilcher, don’t miss this forum: 6:30 p.m. Monday, Coastal Georgia Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. Sponsored by League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia and WJCL. More info here

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Have you been reading? Let’s find out.

Every Sunday, we challenge your Current news knowledge with a few short questions related to stories we published in recent weeks. Here are the standings for the week and the year, so far.

Want your chance to be featured in next week’s leaderboard? It’s not too late to challenge board leader, Peaches. Leave a first name or nickname so we can keep track of your score.

Click here for this week’s challenge.

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NEWS

From the week

• Doctors plead with Congress to help improve U.S. maternal mortality rates: With all of the largesse of new business growth, Georgia remains stubbornly the worst state in the country for pregnancy-related deaths among mothers during or within a year of pregnancy. A report last year said 56% of pregnancy-related deaths in the state from 2018 to 2020 were Black women. A hearing this week in Washington asked for funding to bring more medical training to Historically Black Colleges and Universities campuses, including those in Georgia
• Coastal Georgia communities prepare to monitor, treat water for ‘forever chemicals’: Water management officials stay ahead of EPA standards for drinking water, but they anticipate the job to get harder, reports The Current’s Mary Landers.
• Georgia Southern students protest termination of LGBTIA+ program: A program designed to educate and stem discrimination was ended at both university campuses, drawing hundreds in protest. Photojournalist Justin Taylor brought back images from the event.
• Slideshow: Protesters in support of Gaza gather at Georgia Southern Armstrong: While other campuses saw large crowds, area schools had more watchers than participants. The Current‘s Craig Nelson and Justin Taylor documented the crowd.
• U.S. Senate Dems Smith, Markey to push warehouse worker safety bill: The new bill would force companies to disclose quota practices for warehouse employees, especially those that could result in injury.

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EDITOR’S CHOICE

☕ Your second cup: Child care as workforce catalyst

We’re always looking for stories that offer ideas or potential solutions to common challenges. This one addresses something near and dear to Coastal Georgia right now: worker shortages. Maybe Kentucky has an answer. Today’s story comes from the education-focused site Edsurge and describes an innovative program in the Bluegrass State that’s bringing more early learning workers and teachers back to work — free child care. The idea was to help retain current workers and attract even more. And, better-staffed programs would increase the supply of child care, allowing parents to re-enter the workforce. It’s been so successful, other states are considering it. Here’s the link.

Enjoy.

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